When you think about creating content for your business, I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind is creating content that will benefit your customers and help move them along in their buying journey; content like blogs, videos, and content offers. You know, all the things that we and other marketing blogs, spend a majority of our time talking about and dispensing advice on creating.
But what about creating content that is beneficial to both you and your customers? Content like surveys, polls and landing pages. Content that lets customers interact with you and give their feedback; and lets you learn and grow accordingly.
Often times as marketers, we spend so much time thinking about how we can help our customers and not enough time thinking about how we can create content to help ourselves. I think one reason that we don’t spend time thinking about and working on creating content that will help us get customer feedback is because we are scared. Scared of asking people for favors, and probably a little scared that they might have feedback that is less than positive.
But we shouldn’t let that stop us. It can be a great experience for everyone. So if you are hesitant or unsure about how to get started gathering customer feedback, we’ve put together this list of tips and tricks to help you get started.
Make giving feedback easy and fun for customers.
Think about the last time you bought a product or received a service and afterwards they asked you to complete a “quick” survey. Fifteen minutes later, you were only part way through the survey and deeply regretting your decision to participate. We’ve all experienced it.
The next time you are trying to get feedback from your customers, remember the never-ending survey and do the opposite. Make it easy, painless or even fun (gasp!) for them to give you feedback. Here are some types of content you can create that will make the process better for everyone involved:
- A short email survey – And when I say short I mean it will take them 3 minutes or less to complete. Craft very targeted questions that can be answered using check boxes or rating scales. As with most things in the world of digital marketing, make your email and the survey it contains, visually appealing so people will be more compelled to complete it. One thing that you can do is, use fun graphics in the rating scale. For example, if you are a dog groomer use little dog icons. Or if you are a restaurant, use pint glasses as your rating scale. Don’t be afraid to have a little fun!
- A creative social media campaign – Another way to get feedback from customers is by creating a social media campaign that urges them to complete a survey, write a review, give any other kind of feedback that you choose. Keep things conversational, and maybe even add a little humor. For example, if someone in your office has a cute pet, you could create a campaign where the adorable critter asks customers to review a product or service. Whatever you choose to do, just make sure it’s something that will grab people’s attention and make them want to take action.
- A strategically placed feedback pop-up – Are there certain key pages of your website that you would rank as most important to your customers and your business? Consider adding a feedback pop-up to these pages so you can learn from your customers and make key pages even better.
Give customers an incentive.
People are much more motivated to do things if they get something of value in return. So, when you are asking customers to provide feedback on a product or service that you offer, give them something in return. That could be:
- A coupon or discount code
- A small, free promotional item
- First access to a new product, service or event
It’s important to note that taking this give-to-get approach to getting customer feedback might make your reviews a bit biased. Think about it, if someone didn’t like your product or service, they aren’t going to leave their negative feedback in exchange for getting more from you. But taking this approach doesn’t mean that you won’t receive any feedback that you can learn from.
Personally ask for feedback.
Even though we have a plethora of tools and technologies that can help us gather feedback, sometimes it’s best to just keep it old-school and have a face-to-face conversation with your customers. Ask a few trusted customers that you feel will be open to giving in-person feedback, to have lunch or drinks where you can talk and get candid. While this method of getting customer feedback isn’t straight up content creation, you do still have to do some critical thinking and research to come up with questions and talking points that will make your feedback session fruitful for everyone involved.
I’ve touched on a few methods of gathering customer feedback, but if you are interested in learning more, give these blogs quick read:
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/best-ways-to-get-feedback/
https://www.helpscout.net/resources/customer-feedback/
So, if you are interested in starting to gather customer feedback, don’t be afraid to put yourself and your organization out there! By creating the right content, you can make getting customer feedback a much less scary process.
Want more tips on improving your digital marketing and sales strategy? Check out our upcoming event, Hubspot on Tap!
