Working with small (and large!) businesses over the last 25 years, I am still surprised at how few businesses invest resources in finding out what their customers think.
Without customers, you have no business. As a business owner or manager, you cannot second guess how your customer feels or thinks.
Customer research can cost a lot if done with an outside agency etc but we can also find ways to listen to our customers for little or no outlay too.
- Customer Satisfaction Survey – create a short version on surveymonkey and include on customer emails. Include the famous “Net Promoter Score” question, this is a really effective way to measure customer experience. You may feel that “no-one will fill it out” “we might get bad feedback”? A poor response may actually be an indication that you are doing the right thing and your customer has no need to vent. Just being invited to give their opinion may make your customer feel good about your business in that you show you care what they think about your service. If you get bad feedback – great! It gives you the chance to do something about it!
- Every now and then, pick up the phone and chat to a customer – tell them you appreciate their business and ask how they feel about some aspects of it. In the course of a few minutes you may find out some really interesting things about how your brand is perceived and hopefully your customer will feel really valued.
- Try polls on social media, ask questions of followers – opinions on your brand, product – be careful though as this is a public forum
If you’d like to talk to me about your brand or marketing strategy – email me at paula@ronanmarketing.ie
