5 Secrets to Soliciting Rich Customer Feedback

I read an article recently that said 96% of unhappy customers will not complain to you, but they’ll tell 15 friends. This is true now more than ever, especially over the past several years with the increased use of social media platforms that we all leverage to tell our stories. Think about your own service encounters. When was the last time you had an exceptional experience walking into a huge stadium for a sporting event or concert, navigating the chaotic parking situation, getting to the venue, figuring out the security and ticketing processes, finding your seats, etc.? You might love the game or the show, but what about the overall experience for you and for the tens of thousands of others who also attended? Chances are, when you consider the overall experience in its entirety, it was neither seamless nor enjoyable.

When most people think of the term “customer service”, they immediately think about stores, restaurants, hotel front desks, and other service-oriented businesses. For the purpose of this discussion, I want you to think non-traditionally about service oriented environments. Think about places like doctor’s offices, hospitals, government agencies, airports, and other high volume, super-stressful scenarios where great service is needed more than ever. These types of businesses are all focused on processing hundreds, if not thousands, of people in a short period of time. They are complex, transactional environments that focus all of their efforts around processing as many people as they can in a day. They provide the customer with a “transaction”, not an “interaction”, and this a key point when you begin thinking about ways to improve the experience in these types of scenarios.

Perception is very rarely reality. Sometimes we THINK our teams and our businesses are delivering exceptional service, but do we REALLY know? Are there processes in place to capture and react to customer feedback? Are you in tune with what your customers are saying about your company? Do you listen and respond to their feedback? Are you in touch with how your support staff delivers on your service expectations?

Let me tell you about an experience I had recently which illustrates this point:

For years, the front office staff at my doctor’s office has been incredibly efficient in how they process their patients, but they generally fall well short on the customer service aspect of their roles as representatives of the business. They don’t always return calls promptly, telephone wait times are excessive, explanations are not provided when something goes wrong, etc.

After watching the service levels slowly deteriorate over time, I finally brought it up to my physician and gave specific examples of situations and potential solutions. He listened intently, apologized, and said he would address my concerns with his staff. He completely understood my point that his staff is a direct reflection of him as a professional.

On my next visit, I saw good improvement in the service levels for all patients, so it was obvious he had addressed the problem. He even posted a sign in each exam room asking for patient feedback. He had taken some very good steps to improve, and they were paying off, but he could have done even more! Why not ask each patient personally how the staff performed that day? How about inquiring about a patient’s experience when phoning in with questions? What about their website…is it seamless and easy to navigate? He went from poor to good, but now he needs to go from good to GREAT!

When you look at your business, regardless of the industry, and evaluate your service levels, consider gathering feedback in non-traditional ways. Here are five ideas on how to go beyond relying on generic, after-market surveys from customers:

• • Personally solicit feedback face-to-face by asking your customers how the entire end-to-end experience was for them. Walk your location, lobby, site, etc. with customers present and observe what’s happening. Seek out and approach people yourself and ask them how it’s going. When I was a theme park executive at Walt Disney World, I would carve out blocks of time on my calendar daily just to be visible in the parks and actually talk to guests. It builds huge credibility with customers and employees and will pay monumental dividends for years to come.
  • Develop a simple but telling survey process to get feedback. This can be as simple as a very short, real-time interview conducted in the moment, or it can be as deluxe as a post-visit online questionnaire. The point here is to get the feedback and actually act on it every time.
  • Monitor and respond to social media posts related to your business. You absolutely cannot ignore this medium. I recently posted a comment on the social media page of a company I was trying to contact via their website. Within 30 minutes of my post, they had replied to my comment and had reached out to me to resolve the issue. Within a few short minutes, problem solved! This is how great organizations leverage social media to respond to and correct shortcomings in their service levels.
  • Larger companies with multiple layers of leadership are likely to rely on their teams to gather guest feedback. If you’re an executive and this is the case, insert yourself regularly and deeply in that process. Read customer comments yourself. Pick up the phone and call your clients, even the ones loudly complaining. Most high level managers are shocked at the favorable reaction they get from even the most irate customers when they reach out personally. And contrary to popular belief, the overwhelming majority of complainers are not looking for freebies to buy their satisfaction, they simply want to feel like they’ve been heard and that their concern will be addressed.
  • I love the phrase “inspect what you expect”. Make sure everyone, employees and customers, know you’re watching what’s going on. Be there for them. Demonstrate compassion, credibility, and confidence in dealing with issues. Solicit feedback from both groups of people. In most cases, your own employees can provide rich feedback on the service they deliver to your guests.

Competition is fierce everywhere and it’s only going to become more pronounced in the future. Customer service can be and is a critical differentiator in taking your business to the next level. Businesses will always fail if they don’t get this right.

How are you and your teams performing when it comes to service levels? Are your guests satisfied with the end-to-end experience? Are your employees motivated and inspired to deliver on your expectations? If you have doubts, or if you feel like your current situation will not take you to the next level, my Customer Experience Transformation Program can help! Reach out to me here to schedule a free phone consultation or visit my website for more information on my services. Let me tell you how I can scale Disney’s incredibly successful customer service techniques to your business environment.