Addressing Feedback Through Direct Customer Communication

Only part of the task at hand is done once you receive feedback from clients, partners and customers. The next step is analyzing this feedback. The method of addressing feedback through direct customer communication can provide you with an organized, clear picture of what is going right and what could be improved.

Addressing Feedback through Direct Customer Communication


Step 1: Work to obtain honest, relevant customer feedback. There are many ways to do this, including talking with customers in person, phone calling them, surveying them and watching their behavior.

Step 2: The next step in addressing feedback through direct customer communication is to determine whether that feedback was “positive” or “negative,” technically.

(With a “glass half full” kind of mindset, it would be advantageous to consider all feedback to be positive. If you never hear that negative feedback, you can’t use it to improve. That can be more detrimental in the long run than having to listen to the criticism early on, when you would have been in a stronger position to do something about it for the benefit of your company.)

Step 3: After you determine whether feedback was positive or negative, you should document, analyze and report the results. You don’t want results of your communication with customers to be scattered; instead, you want them to be organized, accessible and meaningful.

By the way, if a piece of positive feedback was exceptionally outstanding, interesting or unusual, it could make for a great public relations opportunity.

Consider talking with your communications department about spreading the word, and internally, don’t forget to congratulate your employees on a job well done.

For the more negative feedback, other steps should be taken. …

Step 4: The next step after documenting “negative” feedback is to resolve it. Take steps to uncover what caused the problem and if it is something that you have the ability to correct. At this point, you should take the time to determine why this happened and take corrective action to do so.

Step 5: Finally, after you take that corrective action, you must determine if that action did the trick. If it was effective, perhaps the problem was eliminated entirely, which would be fantastic. In other cases, your corrective action may be technically effective but it might take more time before you see the results.

Don’t Forget to Remain Positive


Always keep your eyes and ears open and be on your toes, but also be patient at the same time. If you have faith in your program and the services you are providing, don’t let some “negative” feedback that you can turn into positives bring you down. Eventually, you will reap the benefits of addressing feedback through direct customer communication.

That may be easier said than done, so if you need some encouragement or more technical advice, let us know. You can reach us through our Trident QMS website or by phone at 520-314-4343. We’re here to help.

Addressing Feedback Through Direct Customer Communication

Posted in Customer Satisfaction, Problem Solving, Public Relations and Outreach and tagged , , .

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