Customer feedback

Responses to customer feedback means asking customers for their views, then taking action on what they say. Asking is the easy part; the response is what changes anything.

Why businesses ask for feedback

Businesses collect feedback to listen to customers and find out how they really experience the product, rather than guessing. It shows what is working and what needs fixing, so money and effort go where they are needed most. Typical methods include:

• Surveys sent by email or printed on a receipt
• Online reviews and star ratings on a business's own website or a review site
• Complaints made in person, by phone or by message
• Conversations with customers at the till or after a delivery

For example, a small independent cinema that emails a short survey after each online booking might learn that several customers found Screen 2 too cold in winter. Without asking, the owner would never know the temperature was putting some people off booking again.

Acting on feedback

Feedback is only genuinely useful if the business acts upon it. If the cinema asks for views and then changes nothing, customers feel ignored and stop bothering to reply. If it repairs the heating in Screen 2, the feedback has done its job: the customer experience improves, customers feel valued, loyalty grows, and they return and recommend the cinema to others, increasing ticket and snack sales. Acting on feedback in this way builds repeat business.

Some feedback is unreliable

Some feedback may be biased. Customers who had a bad experience are more likely to write a review than those who were satisfied, and a single angry comment can make a problem look bigger than it is. A business should look for patterns across many responses before spending money on changes.