Not knowing what customers think is one of the main reasons brands fail to meet their business goals. By listening to feedback and actioning changes, you can show them that their opinions are important to you.
Find out how creating a customer feedback loop can fuel brand loyalty for your business.
Why brand loyalty matters
Brand loyalty is the key to long-term growth for organizations. Loyal customers are those who trust your brand and make repeat purchases.
Existing customers are 60-70% more likely to purchase a new product or service than new prospects. One Accenture study found that 57% of consumers spend more on brands that they’re loyal to. With this in mind, it’s clear that brand loyalty is not only great for your retention rates, but also drives sales and has a direct impact on ROI.
Furthermore, loyal customers are more likely to spread the word about your product or service to the people around them - which is ideal for businesses as referrals are the number one source of new leads.
What is a customer feedback loop?
The interactions a customer has with a product or service define the future direction of a company as they seek to improve the customer experience.
The customer feedback loop refers to the process of gathering customer feedback and using this feedback to improve and refine your product or service.
It involves responding to and analyzing feedback, and is based on the concept of “mutual causal interaction” where both the customer and the brand have an impact on each other.
In practice, customers will leave their feedback, the company will analyze the feedback and conclusions will be implemented before the loop is repeated.
Benefits of customer feedback loops
There are many benefits to using customer feedback loops and they can act as a foundation for your customer engagement strategy.
First of all, it enables you to stay on top of the evolving needs of your customers by finding out what they like and dislike about your product or service.
By analyzing feedback loops, you can identify issues and new opportunities for product or service enhancements and other elements of your business to create lasting relationships with customers.
What’s more, by quickly reacting to their needs identified in the feedback loop, you can reduce the number of complaints you receive and improve customer satisfaction levels.
How to create a customer feedback loop
If you’re considering implementing a customer feedback loop, you’ll need to follow a few steps. It’s important to note that for the feedback loop to be effective, it needs to be constantly reapplied and take into account feedback from different channels.
1. Gather information from customers
The first step is to start collecting customer feedback. You can do this in various ways, including through surveys, social listening, email marketing, live chats and so on.
Surveys are probably the most effective way of collecting customer opinions. Users are able to leave their thoughts directly, and the surveys can be tailored to allow for more detailed responses.
2. Analyze the data
Once you’ve gathered your data, it’s time to start analyzing it.
Look at what the data is telling you about how your customers feel and the way they interact with your products or services. Consider placing feedback responses into categories like major product bugs, minor product bugs and feature requests.
This should provide you with insight into any questions they might have, as well as what they like and dislike. For instance, you can look for reasons why they are abandoning their carts before checkout or why your net promoter scores remain low.
Armed with this information, you can begin to make informed decisions about how to fix the issues you identify and enhance the user experience for your customers.
3. Close the loop
Closing the loop involves taking the data and feedback insights you’ve gleaned and analyzed and putting the results into action by making changes to your products and services.
Tackle the critical issues that you’ve identified first, then make steps to fix the less pressing ones.
Be sure to share the customer feedback with other team members and departments, such as your product development and customer service teams. This can help ensure that the customer’s needs are being met across the organization.
During this step, it’s also important to ensure the customer is aware that changes are being applied and bugs are being fixed.
Additionally, be sure to let them know that their feedback was appreciated and contributed to the product enhancement process with a thank you email. It’s crucial to tailor your email to the specific customer, as 72% of consumers will only engage with personalized messaging. This shows that you were truly listening to what they had to say and forms the base of a strong customer relationship.
Reduce churn and boost retention with customer feedback loops
When customers feel that the brands they engage with are listening to them, they’re more likely to remain loyal rather than choose one of your competitors.
Customer feedback loops are useful tools for learning and analzing what makes your customers tick and ensuring you remain on top of their evolving needs while retaining their brand loyalty.
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