What is Customer Feedback Management and How to do it

In 2024, to build a great brand, customer feedback management is an extremely important component.  Brands like Amazon have earned sustained customer loyalty by keeping their ears close to customer feedback to improve their services and offerings.  Customers are getting more vocal than ever about their brand experiences and they have many more public forums and review platforms to call out brands. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative for modern brands to manage customer feedback smartly and rigorously.  

What’s more? 

Modern B2B and B2C consumers consult online reviews from peers throughout their customer journey. Quite naturally, if you turn a deaf ear to customer feedback or fail to action it, you will hear about it on review platforms and end up losing potential customers.

To garner positive reviews and feedback, you need to provide the experiences your customer's desire. This is where feedback management enters the picture. It streamlines the process of gathering feedback, analyzing it and actioning it to ensure your customer feels heard and valued. 

Before we delve into the entire process, let’s first understand what customer feedback management is.  

What is customer feedback management? 

Customer feedback management or CFM is a strategic approach to collect, analyze and action feedback from customers on their experiences with a product, service or overall brand. The objective is to get key insights from customer experiences and use it to optimize the customer journey and win customer trust.  

In other words, it entails proactively gathering data on customer sentiment, complaints and suggestions to become proactive about consumer’s needs and desires. It is usually done through four steps: - 

1. Ask: Companies solicit customer feedback through surveys, reviews and other explicit requests. 
2. Categorize: Feedback is sorted into separate groups based on themes or topics. 
3. Analyze:  Feedback is analyzed to identify patterns, trends and common themes to make informed decisions. 
4. Act: Relevant parties receive the feedback and solutions are developed to address any issues. 
5. Follow-up: Companies gauge the effectiveness of their efforts by following up with customers. 

Remember, CFM is all about using customer feedback to enhance the overall service experience and product quality. But customer feedback comes in various shapes and sizes, how does one collect them and what are their type.  

Types of customer feedback (+How to collect them) 

Let’s explore different types of customer feedback and effective methods to collect them:  

1. Direct feedback: This is feedback that customers provide directly to your business through customer surveys, feedback forms, emails or in-person interactions. To collect direct feedback, you can use online survey tools, deploy feedback forms on your website or simply ask customers for feedback during interactions. 

2. Indirect feedback: This type of feedback is gathered through customer behavior, such as purchase patterns, website interactions or social media engagement. To collect indirect feedback, you can use web analytics tools, social media monitoring or customer interaction analytics. 

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3. Solicited feedback: This is feedback that is actively sought out by your business, such as through surveys, feedback forms or customer interviews. To collect solicited feedback, you can use the same tools as for direct feedback, but make sure to clearly communicate your request for feedback to customers.

If you use Sprinklr, you get survey prompts for your websites and apps. You can leverage them to get contextual feedback and key insights on visitor behaviour.

4. Unsolicited feedback: This type of feedback is given voluntarily by customers without any prompting from your business. To collect unsolicited feedback, you can monitor online review sites, social media channels and customer service emails for feedback from customers.

5. Qualitative feedback: This type of feedback provides detailed insights into customer opinions, feelings and experiences. To collect qualitative feedback, you can use open-ended survey questions, interviews, focus groups or social listening tools to capture customer sentiments and opinions. 

6. Quantitative feedback: This type of feedback provides numerical data about customer satisfaction, preferences or behavior. To collect quantitative feedback, you can use rating scales, multiple-choice questions or numerical scoring systems in surveys and feedback forms.

Now that you know the types of customer feedback and how to collect them, let’s venture a bit deeper and understand the difference between customer feedback management and enterprise feedback management.  

Customer feedback management (CFM) vs Enterprise feedback management (EFM)  

The term enterprise feedback management (EFM) at times is used interchangeably with customer feedback management. However, there’s a sea of difference between the two. To begin with, enterprise feedback management (EFM) focuses on broader stakeholder feedback, while customer feedback management (CFM) on customer feedback. Plus, there are other differences:  

Five benefits of customer feedback management 

Customer feedback management, if done with impeccable precision and honesty, can lead to long-term benefits and transform your company into an everlasting brand. Here are five major benefits you can get from feedback management.  

1. Enhance customer satisfaction by identifying and addressing customer needs, leading to higher satisfaction levels. 
2. Validate hypotheses by engaging with customers, gathering feedback and aligning product development with customer expectations. 
3. Increase customer loyalty by addressing feedback, which improves loyalty and reduces reduces customer churn. 
4. Gain a competitive advantage by understanding market trends and staying ahead by adapting to customer preferences. 
5. Improve brand reputation with positive changes based on feedback that enhance brand image and reputation. 

Since customer feedback management has some incredible benefits, let’s throw some light on how to do it strategically.  

How to manage customer feedback [Detailed process]  

Managing customer feedback involves several key steps to ensure that feedback is collected, categorized, analyzed and actioned effectively. Here is a detailed process with best practices and pro-tips for each stage: 

Step 1: Ask for feedback 

When you ask for customer feedback, follow these key steps.  

• Clearly define your objectives and goals to guide the survey design.  
• Consider using event-triggered surveys to capture responses based on specific user actions or events.  
• When crafting questions, strike a balance between close-ended (quantifiable) and open-ended (expressive) formats.  
• Ensure your survey is mobile-friendly with a responsive design. This will help assess the mobile experience of your customers. 
• To prevent survey fatigue, limit the number of surveys you send out, keep them concise and skip logic. 
• Additionally, supplement surveys with non-survey methods like observational research, diaries, interviews, and biometric measures for a comprehensive understanding 

Last but not least, gather feedback from all the channels your customers use to interact with you. Utilize omnichannel tools that can integrate feedback from multiple sources into a centralized system for easier management.

💪 One omnichannel survey is enough 

Creating a survey for every one of your channels is a daunting task, no doubt. That’s why you need an omnichannel survey solution that creates one survey to seamlessly deploy across multiple channels. 

Be it social media, website or any other customer service channel, a unified survey adapts with ease as per your brand taste making customer feedback collection easier. 

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Step 2: Categorize the feedback 

Use a feedback management system to organize feedback into categories like: - 

1. Product performance 
2. User experience 
3. Feature requests 
4. Technical issues 
5. Customer support 
6. Pricing and billing 
7. General feedback 

Tag and label feedback with metadata (e.g., customer demographics, feedback source) to enhance organization and analysis. Prioritize the feedback using techniques like the Urgent vs. Important matrix or feature prioritization frameworks. Assess the impact and feasibility of addressing each piece of feedback to ensure the most critical and actionable items are addressed first.  

❓ Having trouble categorizing your feedback and survey responses?   

With feedback pouring in from all sides, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and lose track of which issues pop up most frequently.   The solution? An AI-powered survey platform (Sprinklr is one) that uses AI to detect the top contact drivers or pain points of your customers. These become your “categories” which can be tracked over time to understand which issue erks your customers the most.   

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Step 3: Analyze the feedback 

Use dedicated dashboards and AI-powered analytics to streamline the analysis process.  

• Feedback analysis can be done basis customer service metrics like: 
  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) 
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) 
  • Customer Effort Score (CES)  
• Generate reports on common issues, feature requests and sentiment trends to identify key areas for improvement.  
• Utilize visualizations such as heatmaps to pinpoint frequent pain points, sentiment analysis charts to understand the emotional context of feedback and trend graphs to track changes over time.  

These tools provide actionable insights by highlighting critical areas needing attention, enabling you to prioritize responses, and optimize your strategies for enhanced customer satisfaction and product development. 

⚡ Get to the Root of the Problem 

Effective CFM culminates in process and product improvements that ensure improved customer satisfaction. This happens when your feedback analysis tools are able to pinpoint the root cause of negative or dissatisfactory feedback objectively and unambiguously. 

Sprinklr’s AI-powered root cause analysis identifies underlying issues behind customer complaints, recurring poor CSAT scores and customer churn. The AI also gives recommendations to uproot the problems by making relevant systemic changes.  

Addressing these root causes not only improves customer experience but also demonstrates your brand’s commitment to resolving challenges effectively. 

Step 4: Action the feedback 

Act on feedback by addressing user pain points and needs in innovative ways. Involve cross-functional teams in the implementation process to ensure comprehensive and effective solutions. 

• Assign feedback points to concerned teams for specialized attention.  
• Develop action plans that fix accountability and set timelines to resolve issues efficiently.  
• Drive urgency by setting up reminder emails and triggering manager alerts to ensure timely follow-ups.  
• Automatically create cases out of negative feedback and communicate progress to concerned customers to maintain transparency and trust.  

This structured approach ensures feedback is addressed promptly and thoroughly, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

🔮 AI can predict escalations just by looking at feedback!    

Yes, it’s possible for AI-powered customer service software to:    

• Monitor interactions for tell-tale signals of escalation and satisfaction  
• Identify positive, negative or neutral sentiment based on past conversations and algorithmic logic  
• Give a predicted CSAT score to the ongoing conversation  

Keeping an eye on the predicted CSAT, agents can change their resolution approach when things go downhill. Likewise, they can capitalize on “positive moments” by pushing surveys or upsells confidently.   

  

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Step 5: Follow-up 

Follow up with users to let them know how you’re going to act on their feedback. Closing the loop on feedback is an excellent way to touch base with customers and build stronger relationships. 

• Communicate openly and transparently, detailing the steps being taken to address the customer’s concerns.  
• Encourage customers to submit positive feedback on their social pages or review platforms once their issues are resolved. This fosters a sense of collaboration, helps improve your brand’s net promoter score (NPS) and brand reputation. 

Regular updates and transparent communication demonstrate your commitment to their satisfaction, turning feedback into an opportunity for engagement and deeper customer loyalty. 

Top five ways to handle customer feedback 

By addressing customer feedback promptly and strategically, you can turn potential issues into positive outcomes. Here are the top five ways to handle customer feedback, providing practical advice to enhance your customer service approach and strengthen relationships. 

🙇‍♂️ Immediate acknowledgment: Promptly acknowledge customer feedback, whether positive or negative, to show that their input is valued. Responding quickly demonstrates attentiveness and care, even if a resolution is not immediate. 

🚴 Use feedback for training: Use customer feedback as a valuable training tool for your customer service team. Analyze common issues and incorporate feedback into training materials to improve service quality and address recurring concerns.

 🔎 Internal review and action: Regularly review customer feedback internally to identify trends and areas for improvement. Take actionable steps to address feedback, whether it involves product enhancements, process improvements or service adjustments. 

📢 Public response strategies: Develop strategies for responding to feedback publicly, especially on social media platforms and review sites. Craft professional, empathetic responses that acknowledge the issue, offer solutions and invite further discussion or resolution offline. 

📈 Continuous improvement culture: Foster a culture of continuous improvement within your organization. Encourage all team members to actively seek and utilize customer feedback to drive positive change and enhance the overall customer experience.

Real life examples of managing customer feedback for businesses

Companies who became efficient at managing customer feedback eventually became one of the most sought-after brands in their niche. Be it Apple, Amazon or Netflix, all of them are true examples of how adhering to customer feedback can do wonders for their business. Here is how these three brands did it. 

1. Apple 

Challenge: Ensuring customer satisfaction post-purchase. 

Solution: Efficient non-invasive survey delivery. 

Example: Apple collects feedback through unobtrusive surveys. They send these surveys right after customers make a purchase. This helps them understand customer satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement.  

2. Amazon 

Challenge: Ensuring timely and safe deliveries. 

Solution: Monitoring customer feedback on delivery quality. 

Example: A customer writes, "Package arrived two days ahead of schedule. The box looked like the delivery guy had driven a tank over it, but everything was packed so well that not one of my items was damaged. Amazon thanks the customer profusely and encourages them to compliment the delivery partner:  

3. Netflix 

Challenge: Enhancing content recommendations. 

Solution: User ratings and thumbs-up/down. 

Example: Netflix’s rating system allows users to rate shows and movies. These ratings influence personalized recommendations, ensuring users discover content aligned with their preferences  

Ready to excel at customer feedback management? 

You’ve discovered the power of customer feedback management in enhancing customer satisfaction and building a customer-centric brand.  

To ensure you manage customer feedback and understand the voice of your customer with impeccable precision, a powerful solution like Sprinklr Service can be your partner.  With Sprinklr, you can:  

 🚀 Create, launch and deploy online surveys in minutes.   

📲Deploy unified surveys across 30+ channels.   

📊Predict CSAT scores for ongoing conversations. 

 📈 Convert survey results into readable reports. 

Impressive, isn't it? Understand your customers better with Sprinklr Service today and witness your brand make a place in the hearts of their customers. Hit the button below and claim a FREE 30-day trial of Sprinklr today ⏬