How to get customers to voluntarily give you their best insights
Your audience is full of insights that you can use to better understand them, but getting them to share those insights isn’t always easy.
Feedback, reviews, and surveys are great, but sometimes they feel like work and not everyone wants to put in that extra effort. So how can you get customers to voluntarily share their insights, let’s dive in.
Be specific
Instead of just doing general surveys or feedback, look for more ways to be specific and intentional about what you’re looking for. For example, you can ask them for feedback on a recent purchase or service or a new feature.
Give them an incentive & involve them
Who doesn’t love getting an incentive or award for doing something, right? This could be something like a gift card or a free gift. This gives you an opportunity to show that you value their opinion and their time. Just don’t make it all about the reward.
Here are a few examples that I’ve personally experienced:
I participated in a few focus groups for various brands that I enjoy. These groups were small and it was easy for each person to give feedback and to talk about their habits, likes, dislikes and more. At the end, every one of those brands gave us all a bag of goodies with things like branded tote bags and water bottles, a small gift card, or some of their products.
I also routinely participate in product testing for a Canadian brand. I will always do it because the surveys don’t feel too long and daunting, I get to try new stuff which can be fun and exciting, and they often send a little reward which is a nice bonus.
Go beyond the tangible
While you want their opinions on things like, how they use your product, if it worked, etc. you should also go beyond that. For example, you can ask them “How do you feel about ___,” “Why do you feel that?” Feelings and emotions play a huge role in marketing.
Be open
No one wants their customers to have a bad experience, but you can’t make everyone happy all the time, so it’s likely going to happen. It’s important that you are open to hearing what they say and don’t feel like you need to immediately defend your business. Criticism can be useful too. Be open to hearing it and ask them questions about their answers or allow them to tell you more.
Follow up
If possible, follow up! For the example I gave above about product testing, the brand would follow up after the survey to offer those who responded a free gift. In another situation, that might mean following up to say that you’ve listened to feedback and what you’re doing or what you’ve done to address it.
Listen to what they’re not saying directly to you
Online reviews will tell you a lot but sometimes they’re saying a lot in other spaces too. What people are saying about your brand or business on social media platforms like Reddit and TikTok can be valuable as well.
We’re in September, which means the new year is right around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to gather insights and improve for the new year.