DC Insights

Customer Feedback Monitoring 101

As a follow up to last weeks post on using customers as a marketing resource, I want to provide some guidelines on how a company might take advantage of this great resource they have – their customers. Customer feedback on products and services, as a part of a company's online reputation, can be hugely beneficial in marketing those products and services. Best part is customer feedback monitoring does not require a large budget or resource allocations; just a set strategy, consistent processes, and the heart of customer service that makes businesses successful.

First, if you question whether customer reviews make a difference, consider:

• 70% of online customers say they trust posted customer opinions
• 24% of small businesses say an online review had a positive impact while only 4% reported a negative impact
• 88% of consumers perform internet research before they buy a product online

You also get to directly identify happy customers who can become primary influencers. As for negative reviews, ask yourself about some of the more confrontational consumer or business experiences you've had that were resolved to your liking – did that solidify a longer term commitment for you?

Policies and Procedures: To make this manageable and successful, be sure to establish a procedure for addressing feedback. First, be consistent with customer service across the enterprise (online and offline), i.e., leverage what already exists internally as a starting point. Just make sure to keep the customer experience and the goal of converting a repeat customer in mind.

Also, given the power/cost of 'space' on the web, be sure to publish customer-centric feedback policies for customers to see. Let them know you are listening/engaging to help them. Just make sure that you keep it KISS (keep is simple sam) for employees and customers. This is what a process could look like at the highest level:

If you still need to be sold, consider these benefit bullets and then contact me – there is so much unlocked potential in your customers:

• Converting unhappy customers creates repeat business and advocates for recruiting new customers
• Working through resolution processes allows companies to learn about and prevent issues from happening in the future
• While not all issues can be resolved – a few negative reviews will make positive reviews look more realistic

Have folks out there initiated similar strategies? How have initial or long term results looked? Any improvement suggestions for the high level process?

Recognizing Customers as Best Social Marketing Resource

Small to medium sized businesses ("SMB") can and should leverage their customer base to effectively promote business at a low cost through social marketing. I love sharing this concept with SMB owners, many of whom are too busy to have their companies engaged at any level of social media. Some owners are not even engaged personally (i.e., Facebook with friends and family – the simple stuff), making the term 'social media' even more foreign. Once the conversation converges on where people go to inform purchase decisions or find service professionals – the web – these folks know they miss out by not having space on that virtual billboard.

I recognize three key tenets that make this concept viable, effective, and usually low cost:

People want to contribute: It's funny, but we do. Here are some talking points. . .

• "users love to talk and listen to each other," as Bryant Shea puts it
• eMarketer predicts that 114.5 million internet users generate content by 2013 (note: eMarketer also challenges the benefit– see 'success' note below, and let me help you be successful)
• It's not always positive. . . so be sure to monitor the buzz; ReadWriteWeb speaks a bit to this

User generated content ("UGC") drives business (sales and development):

• Here's a slew of case studies from Bazaarvoice on their clients' success
• I use the term business because the initial outcome might not be direct sales, but design concepts, marketing content, and product improvements, as noted by Publishing Trends
• Through positive customer service elements in there as well

Here's that 'success' note – the right focus on social marketing is required for success

Plenty of opportunity to leverage the customer's voice: Here are some options. . .

• Company website, while a given, may seem technically difficult; here's a few starting points:
• • Start off with Vangie Beal's Five Tips for Soliciting Product Reviews
  • And even consider accessible, inexpensive tools like PowerRewviewsExpress's Customer Reviews Solution

• But the richest source - public sites (sans Angies) that folks are going to already (with a local plumber example, zip 60657):
• • bing Local: http://tinyurl.com/ybqxzuj
  • dexknows: http://tinyurl.com/yexe9y2
  • Google Local: http://tinyurl.com/yc8a8oa
  • Kudzu: http://tinyurl.com/yk3zvt3
  • Yahoo Local: http://tinyurl.com/yblq257
  • Yelp: http://tinyurl.com/yaets8f
  • Wildcards exist: servicemagic, Angie's List (I'm not a fan)

What is key about these public sites is the placement, and sorting implications, of customer ratings and comments. That's the free, UGC that people like to give. And it is the free social marketing that SMBs can take advantage of. FYI, if you want to know which one's above you should focus on, try a quick evaluation using my previously mentioned framework.

With the above, free resources being used by SMB customers to find the best products or services based on ratings and comments – it's just a matter of these businesses engaging with their customers to ensure the SMB image is positive and proactive for driving traffic. If that sound's like a hard feat to accomplish, you'd be surprised at just how easy it is.

What do you think? Have you tried this successfully? Are you intrigued but less then optimistic?