Getting feedback from customers about your products and services allows you to measure customer satisfaction, improve product and service quality, build customer loyalty, and make more informed business decisions. But first, you need to know how to approach for these actionable insights.

Learning strategies on how to approach your customers can help you find the best method for getting their feedback. In this article, we discuss why getting customer feedback is so important.

How to Get Feedback from Customers

When you ask for feedback from your customers, it’s important to consider the best way to approach them. Here are strategies you can use to get customer feedback:

1. Send follow-up email

This is the most common method companies use to follow up on customers. Companies usually send follow-up emails after the customer receives the product or service provided. There are many different companies that automate this process.

2. Use surveys

Surveys are easy to set up, analyze and scale. We recommend that your survey be short with only five to 10 questions that customers can answer quickly. Be careful to only ask important questions. This will save time for you and your customers and prompt a better response. Also, while asking multiple choice questions can make it easier for your customers to respond, you’ll better understand what your customers are thinking if you use open-ended questions.

3. Offer live chat support

Live chat allows companies to get closer to their customers by better understanding the challenges they face. By receiving feedback in this way, you can ensure customer questions are answered promptly and that they receive the information they are seeking. Increase the efficiency of any online chat by setting the chat window to appear if the customer has been on the page for more than 20 seconds.

4. Engage in social media

Listening socially is a great way to gain access to customer feedback. Monitor social networks for direct mentions or comments to learn what your customers are saying about your company and products online. You can also use the built-in polling tool that most social networks now offer.

5. Provide a customer feedback form on your website

While email feedback is a simple way to allow customers to provide feedback, a dedicated feedback form on your website can encourage people on your site to leave feedback. Your form should be short and include all relevant questions. If possible, give the customer the option of emailing feedback or completing an online form.

6. Contact your customers

While this method is more “frontal”, it is also highly personalized and produces the best customer response. By talking to the customer directly, you can show the customer that you usually want to help them and, by hearing their tone of voice, you can feel their level of satisfaction.