Feedback Matters #1 – Online Reviews

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest sources of learning.”

Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft

There are many ways to get feedback from your customers. The most abundant and visible sources are online product and company reviews.

When was the last time you researched a product or service and checked out the company or product reviews? About 5 minutes ago…right?! Yeah, me too.

Needless to say, reviews and feedback are important!

Even if you don’t have the resources or desire to host reviews on your own site, there are plenty of places online that will do so whether you like it or not. Depending on what is being reviewed, there’s Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Houzz, Facebook, GlassDoor, Amazon, and many more.

While it isn’t necessary (or possible) to monitor all these sites, it reflects well on your business if you make the effort to do so on one or two key sites.

  • Find out where your product / company / service is being reviewed.
  • Choose the most popular site(s) for your type of business.
  • Commit to checking your reviews on a regular basis; e.g. weekly, bi-weekly, etc.
  • Respond to each review, good or bad or ugly, with a customer service mindset.*

Reviews can be hilarious, nasty, neutral, misguided, and more, but they will all tell you something about your customers. Share your most memorable reviews (and how you handled them) in the comments below!

*I’ll go into HOW to respond to reviews in a future post. Or contact me directly for personalised recommendations.

© 2021 Tracey Copeland, Rolling Sands Consulting.

3 Ways to Love the Data You Got

Many a time I’ve been frustrated with the lack of detailed data available to me. Some organizations are on the data bandwagon but have yet to hook up the horses to the cart.

Regardless, you have to work with what you’ve got. Even the most basic data can reveal interesting tidbits about your business or, at the very least, it can support / contradict what you ‘know’. These three sets of data are relatively easy to develop if you don’t already collect this information.

  1. Analyze sales by month – Compare past and present to look forward
    • Is your business seasonal?
    • Affected by weather events?
    • On target for the month / quarter / year?
    • Compare your growth data with that of your overall industry.
  2. Analyze sales by customer (or persona) – Look for opportunities to upsell
    • Have their buying patterns or items purchased changed?
    • Are there additional products or services related to what they currently buy that might be of use for them?
    • Keep sales team up to date on any red flags or new opportunities with existing clients.
  3. Analyze customer service calls – Improve your customers’ experience
    • Is there a common issue that comes up over and over?
    • Can you be proactive in avoiding some issues?
    • Are there gaps in your marketing and/or technical collateral?
    • Empower Customer Service to bring these items to your attention.

These may not be the most sophisticated bits of data, but they can certainly help you when other data is scarce.

© 2021 Tracey Copeland, Rolling Sands Consulting.