Giving you the Ellis Edge

You’ve decided to survey your customers? This is great news.

Engaging with customers is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your business, plus it’s risk free, right?

Well, actually it’s not 100% risk free.

We’ve all at some point received a survey which is ill-timed or too long and felt that the sender was just completely off kilter and weren’t thinking about us as individuals.

If I’m being honest, I’ve even sent out a survey which was waaaayyy too long and I learned my lesson very quickly to never do that again.

Asking your customers for feedback on your product or service is tricky. You need to ask the right questions for it to be valuable, however you also need to keep it on the right side of not asking too many questions or causing annoyance.

That being said. You can’t avoid annoying everyone, it’s just not possible. No matter how much time and effort you put into creating what you think is the perfect survey – not too long, not too intrusive – there will always be someone who finds your survey both too long and too intrusive. It’s just the way it is. And that is the risk you take when surveying your customers

As long as you have put as much effort into creating a survey which they will enjoy, yes that’s possible, then the chances are you’ll get a decent response, and you’ll avoid annoying your customers in the process.

And what you’ll end up with is valuable feedback from your customers about why they value your product or service, and how you can retain them as loyal customers. Or something like that, it depends what you want to know.

If you want to survey your customers but you're not sure where to start, get in touch and we'll be happy to walk you through it.

As with yin and yang, there will always be positives and there will always be negatives. You can’t really have one without the other.

But we prefer the positives. And of course we do, they make us feel good and make us happy. Why would we want to proactively go looking for the negatives? Surely that’s just unnecessarily poking the proverbial bear.

Ah but what if the bear is waiting to be poked? Maybe the bear has something important to say but you’re not listening because you only want to focus on the positives?

If you only have Google Reviews to get your customer feedback, then I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably guilty of only focusing on the positives. Unless you’re getting really bad reviews, in which case reading this article may be of help!

Now is the time to be brave and poke that bear. Find out what she thinks about your product or service and face the reality that not all your customers think you’re great.

So here we are. You’ve poked the bear and she’s given her thoughts and feedback on your product or service. And, as expected, it’s not all good stuff.

What should you do?

First, you should listen. And that’s not just giving the bear time to air her grievances, thanking her, and then moving on. You need to actually LISTEN to what the bear has to say, because she is providing valuable insight into your how your business functions.

Then what?

Once you’ve got over your initial panic about receiving negative comments from a customer, you stop, and you think. No action should be taken at this point as any action would be an overreaction, a knee-jerk reaction based on an emotional response and not backed up by any data or facts.

The bear’s comments need to be considered in full and analysed internally to identify where the issue is so that a solution can be found.

Does the issue relate to a specific department? Or perhaps an internal process is not functioning as well as you had assumed? Is there a lack of communication occurring and causing confusion?

Whatever the issue, once you have found it, you can address it, and then work on fixing it.

But that’s not where this should end. You want your customers to think you’re great, right? Then you need to go a step further, that extra mile, so to speak.

To go the extra mile, you should get back in contact with the bear and thank her for her comments and reassure her that you have put them to good use and are working on fixing the problem. The bear will most likely be grateful for the feedback and being made to feel that she was heard. She may even post about her positive experience on social media and tag your brand.

Your other customers will also be grateful because they will no longer have to deal with the issue raised by the bear.

And you will be grateful because the business is running a bit smoother now, which can only be a good thing all round.

And there you go. That’s why you shouldn’t avoid negative customer feedback.

Apart from anything else, just because you’re avoiding it, doesn’t mean it will go away. In fact, the longer you ignore it, the bigger it will get.

Better to face it head on and start finding solutions whilst the problem is manageable, and you hopefully don’t have too many unhappy customers.

Facing negatives is a challenging thing to do and at Calm Blue, we recognise that. Working with us will require you to step outside your comfort zone and we know that for most people, that isn’t the most enjoyable or natural thing to do.

However, it can be the most rewarding.

So why not get in touch and let's have a chat about poking your own bear and finding out what negatives you could use to your advantage.

It’s a question that any business, no matter its size, will most likely ask at some point.

“Where are all our new customers and how do we find them?”

The first thing to ask yourself is this: “Who is it that I want to attract?”

And then you want to ask:

• Who is my perfect customer?
• What matters to them?
• What drives them?
• What challenges are they experiencing that I have the solution for?
• Are any of my existing customers my perfect customer? If so, what are their key traits?
• Are any of my existing customers not particularly appealing and, actually, I’d quite like to not have any more customers like them!?
• Without knowing who it is that you want to attract, and perhaps not attract, you might as well just stand in the middle of a large crowd, shout out a random name and see if anyone responds.

A lot of time and energy can be wasted trying to attract the perfect customer with too broad an approach. AKA the ‘scattergun’ approach.

You know the one, where you throw as much out there as possible in the hope that someone hears it and thinks “Oooh I think they’re talking to me!”.

We’ve all experienced that type of marketing tactic at some point, and we all know that it doesn’t hit the mark, because it’s not personalised, and we feel that it’s not talking to us directly, and it’s just a bit lazy.

Even so-called personalised, automated emails feel impersonal because we know that the bulk of the email is generic, and they’ve just auto filled our names to make it seem like it’s come from a real person direct to us.

Where to start? Start with you.

If you’re trying to work out how to attract your perfect customer and how you're going to connect with them, a good place to start is to think about yourself as a customer and how you like to be contacted and communicated with.

Do you prefer a phone call? Do you like a truly personalised email which demonstrates that some thought has gone into their reason for contacting you? Do you like to do your own research before committing?

You can learn a lot from your own behaviours and preferences so it’s good to consider that your target audience may also be influenced in the same way as you. And it's a good place to start if you're really unsure as to who your target customer is.

By getting into the mindset of your target customers, identifying what’s important to them and what their challenges are, you will be much more likely to have greater success when it comes to engaging with them and getting them interested in finding out more about your product or service.

If that sounds like something you think would benefit you, drop us an email and book a free 30 minute, no obligation consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.

As a business, putting investment into understanding your customers better is hugely beneficial.

Knowing who they are and why they are a customer is essential to being able to communicate with them effectively and provide products and services which will meet their needs.

You might be looking to validate your next product idea, or make sure your positioning and marketing is on point for your next launch. Maybe you’re looking to identify areas of the business which offer the greatest opportunity for growth.

What ever the reason, customer research is a fantastic way to get the insights you need to grow your business.

So, you need to start with the customer, right?

In a word, no. Before you even think about contacting your customer you need to ask yourself and your business some questions first.

Here’s the 5 questions you need to ask your business before even thinking about contacting your customers for their feedback.

1. What do I want to achieve with my customer research?

We start with the most important question. If you haven’t yet asked and answered this question, then contacting your customers for feedback should definitely not be happening any time soon until you know the answer to this.

What are you looking to achieve by contacting your customers?

Do you want to know what their experience of a specific product has been? Or perhaps you want to understand how they perceive the service they’ve received, or your brand overall?

There are many reasons for wanting to contact customers and if you dive straight into it without thinking about your reasons and desired outcome, you’ll come away with vague insights which have no meaning or value to your business.

Plan your research objectives thoroughly to ensure you get the most value out of your customers.

2. How do I know what to ask my customers?

Start by looking at your internal processes and how they impact on the customer experience.

Invest time in doing the internal research to find out your customer pain points and what really matters to them when they engage with your business.

Make sure you’re asking your customers about specific things which will benefit your business and have a direct impact on your customer experience.

Perhaps you are already aware of an internal process or service that causes your customers frustration, and you want to fully understand it from their point of view. That’s a good place to start because their feedback will enable you to improve that process or service and, as a result, not enhance the customer experience, but cause your customer to feel valued through asking about a specific experience.

So be clear about your intentions for contacting customers before contacting them. Otherwise, if you’re not sure what you’re looking to achieve, then your customers won’t be either.

3. How am I going to contact my customers?

How do your customers like to interact with you, if at all?

Do you have good relationships where you’re constantly engaging with them?

If not, you may find it more challenging than you realise to get information out of them. You may need to put in some groundwork beforehand.

Asking for feedback from customers out of the blue can rub them up the wrong way. You’ve not been in contact with them for ages, if ever, and now you want something from them. Always put yourself in their shoes and think about how you would feel.

If you haven’t got time or resources to put in the groundwork, then it’s wise to make sure you’re contacting them in a way that will get the best out of them and make them feel valued as a customer.

The last thing you want to be doing is bowling up to them and asking for something when they hardly ever hear from you.

Put some effort in first and make sure they customer is clear as to why you’re contacting them and that you’re doing it in a way that is convenient for them. Just because you want their feedback, doesn’t mean they will want to provide it.

4. How much have I got to spend on my customer research?

Sending out some emails to your customers might sound like a cheap endeavour, but it’s not. If you’re going to be emailing your customers to ask them to complete an online survey it’s advisable to ensure you’re first compliant with GDPR, and second to be collecting performance analytics. Otherwise, you might as well print your emails on paper and throw them into the wind hoping someone will pick them up and read them.

Marketing and commerce providers such as mailchimp have this all sorted for you and provide everything you need to ensure the communications you send out to customers will provide valuable analytics into the performance of your message. They will also show you if your email list needs updating.

Prices will vary depending on your needs, but it is an extremely worthwhile investment to know who is opening and reading your communications and when. It also provides the opportunity to test your contact and tone of voice, seeing what most resonates with your customers.

If you’re not sending emails, you might want to get some qualitative feedback in the form of one-to-one interviews or conduct focus groups with particular customer types.

These are all fantastic ways of getting genuine feedback from customers provided you have a healthy budget to entice customers to provide their valuable time and feedback. Mostly, focus groups offer a financial incentive to participants as a thank you for their time.

If you’re intending to interview 10 or more customers, those incentives can start to add up. So be clear as to your budget at the start.

5. How long do I think this customer research will take?

Getting feedback from customers can be a lengthy process. Not all customers are going to engage straight away, requiring some chasing to even get them to open your communication and read your request, let alone respond to it!

If your requirements are for a quick response, it may be necessary to engage a professional research agency which will be able to contact and obtain responses in a shorter space of time due to the resources available to them.

Again, this will come down to your budget and what you’re aiming to achieve.

 
Whichever way you decide to contact your customers, it’s essential to think realistically about the timeframe for your research and allow sufficient time for your customers to engage and respond.

Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes and contact them in a way that you would want to be contacted. This way, you will get the most out of your customers, and further strengthen your relationship in the process.

If you’re looking to get closer to your customers through research but you’re not sure how to go about it, get in touch with Calm Blue for a free, no obligation 30 -minute consultation, and we’ll find the right outcome for you.