Do you talk to your customers about how to improve your products or procedures? A “yes” answer is good — but only the first step in the process.
Here’s what’s often missing, according to a study by Swallow Information Systems: Companies gather customer feedback but rarely make use of the information. Here are the numbers from the research:
- 93% of the companies that responded said they gather customer feedback in some way — via sales contacts, customer-feedback forms, etc.
- Only 33% said they had a system in place to use the feedback to improve or change products.
Two problem areas
The researchers dug deeper and uncovered the main faults in the companies’ data collection programs — faults you should avoid:
- Failure to establish a focus. Many companies gathered data but had no clue about what they were trying to accomplish.
- No one in charge. When asked to identify the team leaders in charge of using customer data, most of the respondents drew a blank. No one had the responsibility.
