Ensure that Customer Feedback Improve Customer Service

Does customer feedback actually make a difference when it comes to improving customer service? The answer to that question depends on what the company does with that feedback and how well it resonates with employees at the store level.

Management Should Take All Reviews Seriously

Customer feedback is should be taken as seriously as possible because poor reviews could result in less money being made. At the store level, management should always take the words of the customer to heart whether the feedback is positive, negative or an incoherent rant. Therefore, the corporate office should try to implement policies that takes customer feedback into consideration in an effort to improve customer service and improve sales.

Determine Whether You Can Implement Feedback

In some cases, the customer makes suggestions that are not easy to implement or simply don't make sense from a business standpoint. For example, a customer may complain that he or she stood in line for 15 minutes late at night because there were too few cashiers at the time. While it makes sense that you don't want your customers to wait in line for too long, there are certain times of the day when adding staff doesn't make sense because payroll costs would be too high in relation to how much business is being done. In these cases, pay attention to trends. If more than one customer complains about an issue, it may be worth making some changes.

Make a Game Plan

If a customer gives a great suggestion, or more than one customer complains about the same issue, it is time to make some changes. Decide what are some feasible and responsible things you can do to listen to customers. Present those changes to supervisors, and then employees. Present the changes in a positive and exciting way, especially if they're big. Whenever possible, reward employees who do well implementing the improvements.

Contact the Customers

Whenever possible, contact the customers who gave feedback. Explain to them how you are implementing their ideas or suggestions. If they had complaints, you could explain how you are rectifying the situation. If you can leave comments on customer review sites to make these changes public, that is a good idea as well. If potential customers read a bad review and see the comment underneath explaining how they fixed the problem, they are much more likely to use your business.

Customer feedback is only useful if you utilize it. Don't ignore or pass over suggestions and complaints. Your customers can be your greatest source of ideas as long as you listen to them. You can read verified customer reviews at OpenTell.com