How to Obtain Customer Feedback? (15 Best Ways & Tips)

Customer feedback can be your valuable assistant if you want to improve your customer experience and achieve business goals. Without knowing how to obtain customer feedback, you can get lost while trying to improve your business.

Learning about customers' struggles, pain points, and recommendations can give you better insight into making improvements.

By applying creative ways to collect feedback, you can get the data you need to make certain adjustments. Apart from that, you can also get new ideas that can interest your target audience.

Without further ado, let's discover how to obtain customer feedback with 15 ways and tips together!

Importances & Benefits of Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is among the most essential aspects you should focus on if you want to provide a better customer experience. By prioritizing feedback, you can provide a better customer experience.

15 Best Ways to Get Customer Feedback

Here, we gathered traditional and creative ways to collect feedback easily. By exploring these 15 best ways to get customer feedback, you can form better customer relationships and provide a better experience!

1. Popup Surveys

Popup surveys can be your best friend if you want to collect customer feedback in an engaging way. Since popups can be customized to be attention-grabbing, you can easily create a popup survey that helps you gather feedback.

There are various ways that popups can be used for a survey. You can use quiz popups, create an NPS popup to learn more about customer experience, and ask questions with multiple choices.

Choices are endless here, and using form elements like rating, opinion scale, NPS, multiple choice, and short & long text inputs can help you create a survey popup easily.

You can show an exit-intent triggered popup while people intend to abandon their cart and learn the reasons why they decided to leave. If you own an e-commerce store and aim to reduce your cart abandonment rate, collecting feedback that way can be extremely helpful.

By using fun ways to encourage popup survey participation, you can increase survey participation and collect feedback more.

2. Email Surveys

Email surveys can be an effective way to obtain customer feedback, especially if you have an existing customer email list.

You can divide your email list into relevant segments based on customer behavior, purchase history, or demographics. That way, you can tailor your surveys for different customer groups.

Start by creating a compelling subject line that grabs the attention of your recipients. Include your survey questions in the style that suits your business in your email, and keep it short and sweet.

Long emails with overwhelming questions can discourage survey participation. You need to keep your email surveys brief, and if you have a bunch of questions that should be asked, let your recipients know how much time it will take to complete the survey.

Don't forget to thank your customers for their feedback and time, and express your gratitude in your email for stronger relationships.

3. Usability Tests

Usability tests can provide you an insight into how people experience your product. By seeing how a person interacts with your product or service, you can see whether they struggle with some parts or not.

By organizing usability tests occasionally, you can see the point of view of your customers.

Regularly watching usability tests can help you get an insight into your customers' common pain points, etc. If you struggle to get started with this method, you can use tools like UserTesting for your usability tests.

Don't forget to take notes while examining usability tests, and make a plan to improve your business. As these tests provide valuable feedback, keeping them in mind can help you enhance your product or services accordingly.

4. Website Feedback Forms & In-Product Surveys

Feedback forms and in-product surveys can provide a simple way for customers to express their opinions and suggestions. You can include these forms on your landing pages or on the dashboard of your product.

Don't overwhelm customers with lengthy forms. Keep the forms and surveys concise and easy to complete.

Encourage customers to be specific in their responses. Rather than asking for general feedback, ask about their experience in a particular part or during a specific interaction.

Let customers know that you've received their feedback and appreciate their ideas.

5. Conduct Interviews

Choose a representative group of customers for interviews. Diversity in age, location, and behavior can provide more comprehensive feedback.

Instead of yes/no questions, use open-ended questions that encourage participants to share their thoughts and feelings clearly and in detail.

Allow customers to express themselves without interruption and follow up on their responses by asking additional questions to dig deeper.

After each interview, take detailed notes and summarize the key points. Look for common pain points, shared ideas, and insights to take the necessary actions properly.

6. Online Review Platforms

Ensure your business is listed and claimed on popular review platforms like Yelp, Google My Business, and TrustPilot. This allows you to monitor and respond to reviews regularly.

Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on these platforms. The more positive reviews you have, the stronger your online reputation becomes.

You can also respond to reviews to strengthen your relationships with your customers. Engage with both positive and negative reviews. Thank customers for their feedback, address concerns, and demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction.

7. Calculate Customer Satisfaction & NPS

Customer satisfaction score, also known as CSAT, and NPS, which is the Net Promoter Score, are valuable metrics that you can use to gather feedback from your customers.

Calculating how satisfied your customers are with your product and service can help you take the necessary steps to make them more satisfied. You can ask questions like "How would you rate your experience?" or "Have you found what you were looking for?" to evaluate customer satisfaction.

Net Promoter Score also indicates customer satisfaction and displays how likely your customers are to recommend your business to others. You can ask simple questions such as "How likely are you to recommend our product/service?" and conduct an NPS survey.

While you calculate your customer satisfaction score and NPS, you can include additional form inputs on your surveys to gather additional feedback. You can ask reasons for certain answers, and people can leave their overall feedback and ideas about your business.

To calculate these KPIs, you can show popups on your website or send relevant emails with CSAT and NPS forms.

8. QR Code Surveys

QR codes are everywhere nowadays, and they can increase user engagement with just a single scan.

You can use QR code surveys if you are looking for an engaging and creative way to collect feedback.

Integrate QR code surveys into your website or attach your QR codes to physical products or your store. Since people want to scan a QR code once they see it, you can increase your survey response rates as well.

You can use QR code generators like QRCodeDynamic to create dynamic QR codes and improve your surveys. All you have to do is attach your survey link to your QR code and customize it to grab people's attention.

Then, you can monitor the results of your QR code survey and evaluate the quick feedback you get from your visitors.

9. Community Forums

Find online forums or communities that are relevant to your industry or products. These are often places where customers discuss their experiences and seek advice from other users.

Join these forums to offer helpful advice, share knowledge, and build relationships with community members. When appropriate, ask for feedback on your products or services. Forum users are usually open to sharing their experiences and suggestions.

You can also create a community forum for your website and business and encourage your customers to interact with other members. That way, they can share specific comments and feedback for your products or services.

While gathering feedback with community forums, you can also improve your customer service process by helping your customers and target audience quickly.

10. Social Media Listening

Your customers are most likely sharing their opinions, experiences, and suggestions on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. By actively listening to what they're saying, you can gather unfiltered feedback.

You can set up alerts by using tools like Google Alerts, Mention, or social media management platforms to receive notifications whenever your brand is mentioned online.

Evaluate the sentiment of these mentions. Explore whether your customers sharing positive experiences, expressing concerns, or offering suggestions.

When you encounter mentions, don't just observe them without any action. Engage with customers by thanking them for positive feedback and addressing any issues they've expressed.

You can participate in discussions related to your industry, products, or services on social media platforms. Share your expertise and insights to build relationships with customers. Don't hesitate to ask for your customers and your target audience's opinions on specific topics or questions. Their responses can provide valuable feedback.

11. Live Chat Data

If you are using a live chat for customer support, using that data can be helpful in obtaining customer feedback.

As people address their questions, pain points, and requests during live chat support, examining the data can provide valuable insights.

You can note down these common questions and requests and make necessary improvements. Apart from noting down common questions, you can also collect feedback at the end of your support sessions.

By asking simple questions like "Did you find this helpful?" or "Rate your support experience," you can gather valuable feedback from customers about your customer support process. You can also ask open-ended questions and collect feedback at the end of your support chats.

12. Customer Feedback App and Tools

Customer feedback tools can simplify the feedback collection process.

These tools can provide you with heat maps, survey capabilities, customer reviews, and so on. By discovering customer feedback tools with various features, you can apply suitable strategies easily.

Consider factors like ease of use, features, and pricing while choosing a tool. Use these tools to create customized surveys and feedback forms that align with your specific needs.

Most of these tools offer automated data collection and analysis. This can save you time and provide real-time insights into the feedback you have collected.

That way, you can spare less time to gather customer feedback and focus on improving your business, considering the ideas and requests of your audience.

13. User-Generated Content

User-generated content, also known as UGC, is effective in reaching target audiences and boosting user engagement. Thanks to UGC, you can also gather feedback from your audience.

Encourage customers to share their own stories and experiences about your product or service. This can provide deep insights into their interactions with your brand.

You can create unique and shareable hashtags that customers can use when posting about your products or services.

After you collect UGC, you can share them on your website, social media, or marketing materials and increase your brand's recognition. That way, people who come across your website or marketing channels can explore user-generated content and make decisions easily.

Try to use different types of user-generated content that suit your business type, and evaluate the feedback you get with these types of content regularly.

14. Contests and Challenges

You can create contests where people share their thoughts in return for incentives. They can send their thoughts as videos, photos, or testimonials.

Ensure your contests have clear goals and rules for winning. Be specific about what kind of feedback you're looking for and inform participants clearly.

You can reward people with discounts or gifts in exchange for their reviews on a review platform. Make sure you explain how you'll evaluate the contests.

Spread the word about the contests through email marketing and social media. This way, you can get more people involved and get more feedback while boosting your online presence.

15. Customer Stories and Testimonials

Ask satisfied customers to provide written or video testimonials that you can use in your marketing efforts. Offer a dedicated platform on your website for customer stories and testimonials, making it easy for customers to share their experiences.

You can also ask your loyal customers who find your product beneficial for case studies. Ensure that people describe their full experience with your product and offer discounts or gifts to encourage them to prepare customer stories and testimonials.

Stating that you will share these customer stories and testimonials on your website can also encourage other businesses.

As they will also get a chance to promote their business, other businesses will be more likely to share testimonials and prepare customer stories.

Tips for Maximizing Quality Feedback from Customers

Turning customer feedback into actionable insights is essential for business success. While gathering feedback is valuable, collecting quality feedback that will help you take action is crucial.

Conclusion

Gathering feedback from customers can guide you in improving your business and customer experience.

We explained how to obtain customer feedback in this blog post with 15 ways that can work wonders! Apply strategies that can suit your business, and start increasing your customer feedback.

Don't forget to regularly analyze customer feedback and apply creative ways to collect feedback occasionally. Actively listening to your customers and making data-driven improvements can result in the growth of your business.

Focusing on both your strengths and weaknesses can help you a lot. Apart from these, focus on appreciating the feedback you receive and always pay attention to strengthening your relationships with your customers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Customer Feedback Important For Businesses?

Customer feedback is essential because it provides valuable insights into customers' experiences and needs. It can improve customer satisfaction and product enhancements and positively impact your brand's reputation eventually.

How Can I Encourage Customers to Provide Feedback?

To encourage customer feedback, you can offer incentives, such as discounts or rewards, express appreciation for their time and input, and integrate feedback requests into your customer loyalty programs. Making the feedback process enjoyable and engaging, such as through gamification, can also boost participation.

How Often Should I Collect Customer Feedback?

The frequency of feedback collection depends on your goals. For real-time feedback, consider collecting it after specific interactions, like purchases or customer support queries. For broader feedback, schedule surveys at intervals, but pay attention to not overwhelm your customers with constant feedback surveys.