5 Reasons Why Customer Feedback Matters

This article originally appeared on Indispensablemarketing.com

Customer feedback has always been like a secret hideout. Generally, when people talk about marketing, they only talk about direct mail, email, copy, Facebook, LinkedIn and promotions — you know, more tactics.

But many entrepreneurs and business owners ignore that Customer Feedback is actually an essential step, where you can learn how to market your business more effectively.

Before you determine whether Facebook is better for your organization than LinkedIn or if direct mail is still an effective way to generate leads, start at the point where you will ultimately create the greatest possible impact —customer feedback!

1. The best way to develop strategy

You know you should develop a marketing strategy before diving into every tactical marketing effort they can. The problem is, few can tell you how to do this because any real marketing strategy is highly personal and involves your: customers, market, competitors, suppliers, products, and services.

The best way to approach developing a strategy for your marketing, and perhaps all of your communications, is to listen really, really well.

Customer feedback interviews are one of the greatest listening tools on the planet.

2. The best way to develop a USP (unique selling proposition)

Your customers are telling you about what’s truly important, they’re telling about what they like about your products and dislike about the competition, they’re telling you what they wish someone would make — and now you can use that to find and communicate exactly the greatest reason (that matters) for doing business with or buying your products or services.

3. The best way to make sales and marketing decisions

What products and services to offer, how much to charge, how to invoice, where to advertise, where to network, what to create content about, what keywords to focus on — all should be based on customer feedback. After all, you’re not going to make many sales if you don’t offer something that’s personalized and in the pathway of how customers want to buy.

4. The best way to get better and plug gaps

The real value in feedback is in your customer identifying or describing something your company, service or product could do to provide added value or just do 10% better. What kind of question should you use to get this type of feedback from customers? There’s no limit — Get started with this question:

• What’s one thing we could do to create a better experience for you?

5. The best way to stay relevant

Far too often businesses create advertising campaigns around irrelevant pain points and features, referral programs that don’t create referral motivation, and optimize their websites around industry-specific jargon and terms when their ideal customers really pay attention, engage and respond to other communicating factors.

Remember, asking for feedback is the best way to stay relevant, but it’s just the first step. To truly help your sales and marketing efforts, make sure you find ways to act on their suggestions.