Getting and Using Customer Feedback

Why is customer feedback important?

Think about it – have you ever been to a new restaurant or ordered from a new takeaway without first checking what their reviews say? Statistics show that 68% of people try new restaurants based solely on positive reviews online, and 45% regularly check these reviews before visiting any new establishment.

Good reviews carry a lot of weight and with 90% of consumers using the internet to find local businesses, seeing an excellent 5-star review whilst doing so, really can put you ahead of the rest!

Everyone naturally has a competitive streak, so why would you want to sit idly by whilst another brand does your business better? It's not just about getting good reviews either, it's the feedback on your business that's important too. Feedback is everything and can help you in several ways:

• Allows you to know what customers want. They're the ones browsing your products and website so knowing their opinion is vital to growth.
• Hearing what works well in your business can allow you to know what to promote, what to push forward in both physical stores and eCommerce platforms.
• Fixing holes in your customer services. If your website only allows customers to email and they are disappointed with long waits for replies, you can add a phone line.

Turning a blind eye to customer opinions can be a costly mistake as you are potentially giving business away to brands that will take the time to listen. Be the best!

Take us for example, at Interparcel we listened to our customer feedback and the biggest request? Good old fashioned Customer Service. To be able to talk to a human. Our phone lines are open from 8 am – 8 pm Monday - Friday with live chat, telephone and email avenues available. We've recently extended our Call centre opening hours too based on the feedback we received, so we're now open weekends 9 am - 1pm too. Your parcels don't stop for the weekend, so why should we?!

By predominantly listening to our customer's feedback, we also developed our Shipping Manager so that you can connect your business not only with our discounted shipping prices but also import all your orders into one portal in a couple of clicks. By listening to our customers, we created this easy to use area that will save you hours of processing time and money. You can integrate your business with all the major eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify through us. Try it today, if you haven't already!

These are just a couple of examples. Many of the Interparcel features online came from customer suggestions. Who better to know what you should offer than the ones purchasing from you!

How do I get feedback from customers?

This area is worthy of its own blog entirely, but for now, we'll go through some of the tried and tested ways you can get customer feedback on your products and website. Be it review sites, pop-up surveys or live chat features these are all great features to include on your website to allow customers to air their thoughts!

Review sites

Take it from us, getting your business on review sites is one of a few sure-fire methods of getting customer feedback. As well as talking to customers directly through our customer service contact lines, setting up space for your business on review sites is just as important when learning how to get positive customer reviews. The four biggest and most trusted review sites are:

• Trustpilot
• Reviews.io
• Google My Business
• Product Review

These review sites are suitable for any business so even if your business intends to sell taxidermy hedgehogs you can still get reviewed! At Interparcel we like to celebrate all our reviews as they help us to provide the be one of the best-rated shipping services so our customers can have the best experience. With over 19,000 reviews on Trustpilot we take time to read every one of them and use it to make improvements, so our customers can have the best possible experience when using our shipping services!

Don't be afraid to simply ask for a review, we're always asking our customers where we can improve so we never fail to provide smooth service. There's no harm in being on all these review sites, all it means is that your customers will have more access to reviews about your brand.

Remember - You can't please all the people, all the time (although we try!) so beware of companies that only have 5-star reviews. These tend to be businesses that buy-in top notch reviews to appear top of their game – so don't be fooled.

Pop-up feedback surveys

This tool can grab customers attention and offer them a way to leave a review whilst browsing certain pages or when viewin specific products on your eCommerce website. Website optimisation helpers like SurveyMonkey can help with creating pop-up surveys for your website so have a look around to find one that's right for you!

An on-page survey

This tool is commonly used as a sliding bar that appears as a customer arrives on your website or clicks onto a particular page. This tool makes room for open-ended or multiple-choice questions like Amazon's 'How often do you browse an online store on your mobile device?'. A customer can scroll past this or stop to answer it, so you can give them the choice.

ChatBots for live website feedback

ChatBots are popular these days as they provide customers with immediate answers to their questions and appear as a little live chat box for any browsing customer to type into. At Interparcel, we've benefitted a lot from using a live chat feature. It's the next best thing to a phone call with an instant response and another great way of collecting customer thoughts. It's certainly been invaluable to us and customers love it - if you have any questions about shipping or our services why not give it a try!

Set up a feedback page

A simple fix, learning how to set up a feedback page can be easy with website builders like Squarespace and is a straightforward way to collect reviews from customers. This designated page can have structured questions or be a blank sheet for customers to fill with their feedback, either way, you've made a clear space for them to air their opinions and experiences of your store.

What do I do with customer feedback?

Improve. Improve. Improve. There's not much more you can do. Take these small portions of customer feedback as constructive criticism or praise for a job done well and push yourself and your brand to do even better.

Any feedback you get is an opportunity for growth by asking positive reviewers to promote your brand or tell others about your services. Or showcase getting positive feedback on social media via Instagram or Twitter to show potential customers how much you care about your customer's experience. This process is constant, so keep the conversations going between your business and your customers!