Customer feedback
is the process or specific instance of providing information to businesses about products, services and customer service. Management, marketing and sales departments can all use customer feedback to streamline processes and improve profitability.
Information
Customer feedback should address the satisfaction level of individual customers, as well as allowing room for customer comments.
Types
Different types of customer feedback include surveys, product or service review cards and telephone hot lines. Customer feedback may be solicited or unsolicited by the company.
Challenges
Customer care expert Leslie Pagel writes that some challenges of customer feedback include proper design of surveys and management of large amounts of data. Limited resources or lack of organizational commitment can also hinder customer feedback.
Considerations
Data collection is not the goal of customer feedback; interpretation of the data is. In a study of customer feedback, Stewart Nash noted that companies are often adept at collection of feedback. Yet challenges arise in using customer feedback to improve the business.
Benefits
Marketing director Greg Sherry believes that customer feedback can help a business improve its people, processes and products (or services). Improved service quality then aids profitability in a competitive global marketplace.
