customer feedback

Definition
Information coming directly from customers about thesatisfaction or dissatisfaction they feel with a product or aservice. Customer comments and complaints given to acompany are an important resource for improving and addressing the needs and wants of the customer. The information is procured through written or oral surveys,online forms, emails, letters, or phone calls from the customer to the company.

Types of Customer Feedback

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By Laila Alvarez, eHow Contributor updated September 30, 2010

Customer feedback is often received by phone.

Businesses often rely on customer feedback to inform them how well their business is running. Feedback about products, store cleanliness, customer service or other business aspects can help management fix problems they may not have known were there. There are many types of feedback that businesses need to take into consideration when determining what is going right and what could be going better.

2. Comment Cards
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In-store comments are often left via comment cards, which are are usually index-card sized and allow the customer to tell the business about their experience. Often, they are blank, leaving room for the customer to fill out a note with nothing but their imagination. Other times, they include questions for the customer to answer such as "did you enjoy your experience today?" Businesses like this type of feedback because there is usually a mix of good, neutral and bad comments, since customers have time to fill them out while waiting in line at the register. It also gives management hard-copies to review and to show employees.

Phone Calls
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While comment cards offer businesses a mix of comments, phone calls usually offer a limited variation of comments. Because it takes effort for a customer to call a business customer service line and speak to a representative, the comments are usually either very good or very bad. For a customer to call in comments, they usually must be either really thrilled with something they experienced or really disappointed. This type of feedback is good for management to know about

out-of-the-ordinary experiences the customer may have had. However, the feedback is not typical and, therefore, cannot be used to accurately judge a store's performance, unless the calls happen frequently.

Online Submissions
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It's common today for customers to make purchases online, and leave feedback online as well. Often, businesses will include a survey or comment section at the end of a purchase. This type of feedback works similarly to comment cards, since the survey is convenient for the customer to fill out. Online submissions left in a general "contact" form on the business website, however, works more similarly to phone call feedback, since it takes time for customers to seek out the contact page and write an e-mail to the business. This type of feedback allows for the information to be easily forwarded and passed on to all members of management via e-mail.

Spoken Word
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Customer feedback may also come directly from the mouth of a customer. Often, this can come as an answer to a direct question at the register. A customer service representative may ask "Did you find everything you were looking for?" or "How did you enjoy your experience in the store today?" This feedback, though, may be easily forgotten in the moment. Often, a customer will volunteer spoken feedback if he's experienced extraordinary service, good or bad, that he wishes to share. An example would be a customer telling a manager that an employee did a good job and should be rewarded.

Social Media and Blogs

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Indirect customer feedback is not new, but being able to track it is. Although it's still not likely for a business to track comments that a customer has shared with a friend, a business is able to track comments posted on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace) and blogs. Sites that mix social media and reviews, such as Yelp, also give businesses an insight into the true feelings of a customer. While customers may give standard "good" responses on comment cards or in-store questions, what they say to friends is usually the truth.