We all want to receive as much feedback as possible from our customers – whether good or bad, it lets us know how well we are doing our job, or operating our websites or businesses. In the past, customer feedback was confined to either word of mouth or those old-school review cards that businesses would leave in plain sight at the counter. For those on the internet, however, these tactics may be outdated and inefficient. Despite this, the question is still the same: how can I encourage my customers to leave their feedback in a relevant venue? We will give you some ideas on how to do just that, which should improve your ability to work with clientele.

Provide Stellar Service

The best passive way to encourage others to leave you good feedback or spread the word to others is by going above and beyond what the average business does for its customers. While this is a rather broad category, it is fairly simple to be considerate, prompt and attentive when handling customer inquiries and problems. Many potential “bad” customers can be persuaded by simply being cordial and quick with a solution.

Display Review Options

It may not be a customer’s first instinct to leave you feedback, but you can make this possibility a more likely outcome if you feature links and messages on your site to other review portals. If you would rather customers rate your services and products on a review site, provide that link somewhere that is obvious and visible. Also, by pinging your website after doing so, you can ensure these updates get propagated to search engines as quickly as possible.

Incentives for Leaving Reviews

This may be a bit tricky depending on your store’s set up, but one way to encourage others to leave feedback is by offering a future discount on products or services by leaving comments, suggestions or feedback. In most cases, people do not get anything out of leaving feedback. However, if they stand a chance to score 10 or 20% off their next purchase for doing so, you will suddenly find more and more people having something to say.

Status Update Emails

If your customers receive updates via email on the invoicing, tracking and delivery of the product, then be sure to include a URL to a review or feedback portal. If you are not already communicating with your customers via email, then there is no better time to begin doing so. This tactic could be especially beneficial if you send out an email confirming delivery of the item in question, followed by a “leave a review or comments here”.

Create A Product Rating System

Many websites offer the ability to rate individual products listed – along with a brief comment or description of the customer’s thoughts. By doing this, you increase the amount of communication between customers and yourself. It also makes customers feel that their concerns are more likely to be addressed. As with any structural change on a website, be sure that you are pinging your website’s updates to major search engines for maximum effect.