Customer Feedback: 5 Proven Strategies and Tools

Customer feedback and tools is something many managers and decision-makers keep their eyes on. Since companies like Amazon and Apple showed how effectively honing customer data to create value and keep customers hooked, decision making on customer data is key to a long-term growth strategy. Collecting customer feedback at an early stage can become your best marketing time; referrals are the absolute best source of new leads. Using effective customer feedback strategies to engage customers will save you 5X the money when you retain existing customers rather than try to acquire new ones. Having a strategy and the tools in place to collect customer feedback as soon as possible will be very helpful in keeping customers engaged with your product as you continue to make changes and improve. Additionally, knowing exactly what your customers want to see happen with your product is a huge advantage when you make strategic decisions in the early growth stage.

Here are the customer feedback strategies and tools you can easily implement for long-term success.

Be accessible for customer feedback on all platforms:

Don’t make your customers look for ways to get in touch with you. If they feel like your product has gone stagnant and there is no real movement forward in terms of adding new features or updates, they will stop checking and move on to another alternative. Open up opportunities for conversation and customer feedback on all platforms. Adding a customer feedback request or form clearly on your site or at the bottom of emails lets customers know there is a place for their suggestions. Having a quick response rate on messages and social media is another way to show customers you are open to feedback. You will get honest straightforward feedback if you prompt customers. Add an in-app customer feedback tool like rating system for a quick snapshot of how you are doing while your customers are actually using your product.

Look beyond just direct customer feedback:

It’s really easy to just ask customers directly for feedback and get a response, but some important data lies beyond that. Using tools like Beamer that help measure your customers reactions and engagement with new updates and features is helpful to really gauge what their initial interests are and what is less exciting. Beamer is in an in-app changelog where you can announce new features and updates to users and get their feedback. There are often times where you launch a feature that you think customers will be crazy about but it ends up with a lukewarm response. Checking the analytics Beamer collects will help make good strategic decisions on the direction of your product.

Get specific about what you’re getting customer feedback on:

We all dread getting the “How would you rate your overall experience?” questions because it’s vague and not quick to answer. The more specific the questions, the more likely you are to get answers and the better it is for you to have specific information. To make it even easier, add dropdown and checkbox answers or a scale for your users to quickly give their opinions. For example, ask users “How often are you using our new feature?” With Beamer's Feedback and Reactions tool, whenever you announce a new feature, update or news users have the option to leave feedback with "smiley-face" satisfaction ratings and more detailed comments. By asking users for feedback in context you get much more rich information and suggestions that can truly helpful to identify areas for improvement and the actual success of new initiatives.

Communicate to users that customer feedback is important to your team:

Customers definitely notice when their feedback is well received and acknowledged. Take the extra effort to make sure specific customer feedback is heard and addresses where users will see it. Announcing plans for upcoming changes or revisions based on specific suggestions frequently and showing follow through will strengthen the relationship customers have with your product. They will have something to anticipate and know that your product is not “stagnant”. Sending emails and messages is easy, but using an in-app announcement right within the interface like Beamer is a great way to keep users informed on how you’re using their feedback.

Make customer feedback engaging:

Customer feedback should be simple, convenient, and engaging for the best results. If it is too difficult to get feedback, customers won’t do it. Either that or you will only get feedback when something goes terribly wrong, which isn’t helpful. Users of any platform are used to simplicity and have an intuitive way of interacting. Beamer has a new comments and smiley reaction feature that allows users to give their reactions to your new features and updates in seconds in a way they’re very similar to on Facebook posts. It’s too simple not to do after reading a quick visual update on Beamer.

Companies using Beamer have seen 10 times more engagement from their users. It’s direct, clear customer feedback that doesn’t require reading into to make fast, educated decisions from. Having a clear strategy is important to have down from the beginning so your team can build relationships with customers and make strategic decisions as you grow. Having dynamic, engaging ways of collecting customer feedback will make a huge difference in the long run in both your advantage and your customers’ sentiments. Try Beamer, the perfect tool for simple, engaging customer feedback for free.Read our blog "How can PLG Teams Build Better Products from User Feedback" for a deeper dive into best practices.