Anthony Dexmier

Anthony likes helping people reach their true potential. Being the victim of his own fears and insecurities in his own business, he has decided to help others create more opportunities.

Most companies are now well aware of the importance of customer feedback. It is what helps you improve your services constantly, making business growth almost inevitable. The puzzle is how to collect it nowadays. Gathering data and going through it is hard work. Not to mention, websites like Trip Advisor often publish your customers’ opinions in less time than you had to gather them. That is why some companies have specialised in feedback generation. This article shows you three simple ways to gather customer feedback and dramatically improve your services.

The good old-fashioned comment box

The comment box has the advantage of costing nothing. You can have complete control over it, unlike TripAdvisor. Yet, as tempting as it is to only post 5-star reviews, it never seems genuine. Generally, you and future customers learn more from 3 or 4-star reviews. The reason is that these people were generally satisfied, but they were just disappointed by a few things. These are what you can act on. And generally, they are the kinds of details that don’t deter prospective customers. By all means, publish your 5-star reviews, but also your 4-stars.

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Depending on the website service that you use, your comment box options will be different. You want the comment box to be in plain sight so people don’t have to look for it. Ideally, it is good if people need to enter their email address to be able to comment. This way, if you have a really bad review, you can contact them and see whether you can correct their experience. Very few businesses show that level of care.

If you have a small place and are not looking to expand anytime soon, this solution may be all you need. If you keep a constant flow of reviews by rewarding customers with vouchers when they leave one, you can improve your services on the basis of real people’s experience. Of course, all of this takes a lot of time, which is why there are apps that have specialised in feedback.

Feed it Back

Not all feedback is helpful. A customer may say that service was poor, but if you don’t know which waiter was in charge, it is hard to act on the problem. Feed it Back have done their best to contextualise feedback. They also reward your customers for leaving it via an automated system. Customers need to enter the pin number on their bill so you know exactly what they have ordered. This also ensures immediacy.

Very often, people want to give you feedback. Many people actually had a great experience and want to leave you a stellar review. Then life comes in the way, and they forget. Apps like Feed it Back have worked around that problem so that you could obtain feedback quickly. Other apps require for customers to be at your location in order to give feedback.

Tipps

Tipps is also an application that rewards your customers for giving feedback. Because customers need to be within your premises to be able to give feedback (on the Daily Feedback App), you can be sure that you are getting real reviews, in real time.

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They have three ways to collect customer feedback. You can choose to stick to one. Being part of their Daily Feedback app starts at £20 a month. That includes being part of their network of restaurants. Any person looking for a place to eat through that app will be more likely to see you than with a wider search.

Another feature they have is the Tipps Mystery, which is a mystery customer they send to give you feedback. The price of that starts at £15 per guest. The mystery guest is a well-known technique that some companies can charge you a lot for. Their price seems much more reasonable.

They also have a Tipps Survey, which costs 50p per response. In that case, they send out surveys to your customers, who get rewarded when they fill them. As long as you have one efficient way of collecting feedback, you may not need to have them all.

Wrap-up

There are solutions for all budgets when it comes to collecting customer feedback. And even the solutions that do require an investment are not very expensive, considering what a series bad reviews on Trip Advisor can do to your reputation. Of course, it is not just about gathering feedback. It is what you do with the feedback that counts in the end.