How to Analyze Customer Feedback to Your Advantage

how to analyze customer feedback

So you have finally started a business, connected to social media, and are finally getting feedback from customers. Whether it is through a satisfaction survey they filled out post-purchase or from information inputted on a landing page, customer feedback is vital to helping your business grow. 

While positive responses from customers are uplifting, negative reviews and comments should be appreciated as well. Even the nastiest review might provide some insightful content that you can use to show off your stellar customer service and boost your brand's image. 

But how do you discern which customer reviews to take to heart and which to brush off? Are there different methods of analyzing consumer feedback? We'll tackle both those questions as we give you the 4-1- 1 on how to analyze customer feedback to your advantage. 

Reach Out 

Maybe you stumbled upon this article and are wishing you had customer feedback to review. Businesses with beautifully designed, responsive websites, killer content and active social media accounts can still struggle with engagement. This is normal. Often, people are more likely to view a page to see what they can get out of it. This means that instead engagement actions that express admiration or appreciation such as Facebook and Twitter likes are far more frequent than actual written responses. 

One way you can gain customer feedback is to contact business customers directly. Don't use their personal emails provided during purchases unless they agreed to receive additional content from you; instead, create a free customer survey online with a site like SurveyMonkey and post the link on your social media pages. 

People can answer anonymously (where they are more likely to be honest). Since you create the questions, you are able to target the exact areas of customer satisfaction and needs that you are most interested in. 

Use a Marketing Strategy like Voice of Customer 

Voice of Customer (VoC) is a type of analysis that identifies both spoken and unspoken customer desires and needs and prioritizes them in a hierarchical format. There are four aspects to a VoC analysis: customer needs, a hierarchical structure, priorities, and customer perceptions of performance (MIT). 

You can acquire customer feedback through a variety of ways during the research period; choose whichever suits your style best. Some common methods of receiving VoC feedback include direct interviews, surveys, complaint logs and social media/blog comments. 

Establish a Goal Before You Review 

Instead of gathering as much feedback as you can and pouring over it hoping something will stick out and prove itself relevant, define a goal you hope to achieve during your analysis. Are you seeking snippets from positive business reviews and comments that could be used in promotional material? Do you want to identify the strongest and weakest areas of customer satisfaction? Perhaps you want to see which features customers talk about most in order to improve your current offerings and incorporate the feedback into product development. The choice is yours. Starting a feedback analysis with a goal is the best way to take away the most valuable information and save time. 

Consider Both On & Off-Radar Input 

Some companies only assess the feedback received in surveys and forms, but this is a surefire way to miss out on critical information. Make sure that you research your brand through Google, hashtags and other searches when you analyze customer feedback. Just because customers aren't reaching out to you directly doesn't mean they aren't talking about you online. 

Look For Patterns 

What your customers say is almost as important as how often they say it. Gather complaints and look for frequency and repetition. If there is a particular product or service that 50 percent of your clients are complaining about, then it's an issue that needs to be addressed. If you notice a desire for features or services expressed in various reviews and comments, then you should listen up and consider adding it to your roster. 

Be An Active Listener 

Don't wait for the valuable customers to come to you. In a modern age where companies have their own personalities online, it's more than acceptable to engage with clients on social media and reach out to them. 

You don't have to do all the work, though. Many times, customers are already talking about you, whether you're aware or not. Apart from reading any direct mentions, messages and reviews about your business, become an active listener and seek out conversation online. 

By setting a specific goal before conducting a customer feedback analysis, you'll decrease stress and boost your likelihood of finding something useful among a sea of comments, surveys and questionnaires. 

Customer Feedback Conclusion

Make sure not to get discouraged by an overwhelmingly negative response either; analyzing customer feedback is a way to catch problems before they turn into lost profit. Every business has weaknesses, but the strongest ones seek theirs out and vigilantly strive to amend wrongdoings, improve their products and make their customers happy. Keeping your customers happy is the key to long term business success.



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I hope you enjoyed this article about analyzing customer feedback and data to your advantage.

Interested in more articles about Customer Service and CX?

Read My Posts:

- How To Modernize Your Customer Service 

- 4 Strategies For Customer Relationship Management

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