I have (as millions of others have done in the last couple of days) just finished choosing the New Year's resolutions that are to be broken during the next twelve months. Among the usual suspects of doing more exercise, spending less money and eating healthier food I have also, perhaps surprisingly chosen to add the slightly more original one of giving more feedback. And this one I mean to keep. I will explain.I was in an unnamed shop a couple of days before Christmas, buying a last minute Secret Santa present which needed posting that lunchtime. I asked the shop assistant if there was anything they could use to protect the delicate purchase and I was genuinely surprised when she spent the next 7 minutes wrapping this inexpensive gift in layers of bubble wrap, free of charge. I was a satisfied customer; I smiled and wished her a good day. On leaving the shop I realised I had done nothing to tell her employer how she had gone beyond my expectations in delivering excellent customer service.
Having now worked at Fizzback for a number of months, a company which gathers customer verbatim comments via numerous channels and feeds these back in real time to our clients, I have come to appreciate the importance of taking part in feedback programs. The Voice of the Customer is a very powerful thing but only draws its “power” if people contribute.The results Fizzback have seen makes this point abundantly clear, in some cases clients increasing their Customer Satisfaction scores by 30 points. This is the effect that gathering feedback can have. As a customer, if I want good service, how can I expect improvements if I don't pass on my thoughts about the service I received. Companies are not psychic and need their customers to tell them what they are doing well, and in what ways they need to do better and improve.
There are also more immediate benefits for customers who give feedback, other than an expectation in an improvement in the service they receive. Fizzback clients are able to quickly identify dissatisfied customers and bring them back to the business. You don’t me need to say anything about the importance of retaining customers in the current economic climate.
I am in many ways, quite far behind millions of people, as in this year alone Fizzback has recorded over 37 million customer interactions. But this is not to say that there are many out there who, like me, still do not give feedback. For the coming year Fizzback will make the process of giving feedback even easier, whether it is through our traditional methods of SMS, email, and IVR or the beast that is social media, so the excuses not to, are quickly reducing in number.
So I challenge you to join me and start giving feedback whenever you can, and in return see real improvements in the service that you receive. Second to this, I would also like to challenge companies to have their New Year’s Resolution to ACT on the feedback they receive, as we at Fizzback like to say, you cannot fatten the pig by just weighing it!
Tom Lynam