Capturing Customer Feedback in Home Furnishings
Everyone knows that an unhappy customer tells between 8-10 people about their dissatisfaction with your brand. Even more dangerous is the impact that same person has when/if their post goes viral on social media. So, what’s a brand to do?
Protect yourself against rants with effective and immediate avenues for customer service.
Toot your own horn, of course! Solicit as much positive feedback as possible and share it with the world.
Ready to get started?
Provide an easy avenue for customers who have a legitimate customer-service issue and/or simply want to kvetch.
When you dedicate an email address, phone number or feedback form that lives on your website, it provides unhappy customers with a direct line to the people who can make it right. Hopefully this offers fast resolution of the problem (plus the emotional release of a rant) without their taking your mistake to the streets.
ProTip: Once the issue is resolved, ask for feedback on their customer service experience to learn how your team can be even more responsive to other furnishing or design clients in the future.
Create an email survey to elicit customer feedback from your clients.
Your email capture lists aren’t just for sales related emails. Send a feedback survey to your furniture or design clients to find out how you’re doing and what could use improvement. After all, you want to create a shopping or interior design experience that people love to use and want to talk about with their friends!
Get personal with a call or email.
Digi-life may have you squirming in your seat over this one. But, great customer service and a positive experience sometimes need a personal touch. Why not call or personally email your client to find out about their experience with your store, products or design services? They will appreciate the one-on-one attention and you can get some of the answers you need to improve your business.
Create an online community for home furnishings or design enthusiasts.
Whether you choose to participate in social media or develop a chat forum on your website, an online community is a great way to get feedback from clients. The key is to show up and participate regularly – not just when you need something from your members. When the dialogue is open, share interactive polls on sofas and designs, ask for input on improving your showroom or have customers share their favorite thing about their latest purchase.
LISTEN!
Set up a social listening service, like Hootsuite, that monitors social media for your company’s mentions. This ear-to-the-ground allows you to see what people are saying and respond appropriately in the given space – even if you’re not “friends/followers.”
Now that you have all this great feedback and information from your customers, take action! Triage your issues if this helps make the task more manageable:
Customer Service Issues/Corrections
Low-hanging Fruit & Other Quick Fixes
Implementing New Technologies and/or Adopting New Software
Be sure to add your positive feedback and testimonials to your website and other public-facing pages. We, as people, are inherently interested in the experience of others – that’s why we always read the reviews before ordering on Amazon. The positive feedback of others has a great impact on the experience people have with your brand. And, it ups the odds of their finishing online and in-store purchases, rather than abandoning their shopping carts.
If you do receive bad press, you absolutely must use it to your benefit. Rather than go on the defensive, accept the opportunity to let professionalism shine! Solve the problem/issue in a very public way and demonstrate how easy it is to work with your brand. When other people see that you’re active, engaging and working towards a solution, it helps to dissolve the negative influence of a nasty review.
Of course, if you’re still not getting the feedback you need from customers, try dangling a generous carrot. When you sweeten the experience by entering responders into a raffle for a $1,000 gift card, people tend to start clicking!
What about you? What do you do to gather information from your customers and clients? Are you planning to incorporate any of our tips or tricks? Leave a comment below and let us know what you’re doing to improve your product or service offering with the feedback you receive from your clients and customers.