How to Get Your Organization Ready for Instant Real-Time Customer Feedback

You already know the benefits of gathering real-time feedback from your customers. You can see how it can empower your employees and increase customer loyalty. 

But is your organization ready for real-time feedback?

Surprisingly, it may not be. Suddenly throwing customer feedback at employees or inundating your organization with real-time customer data won’t get you very far. 

Here’s how to prepare your organization to assess and handle instant customer feedback.

Gain Senior Sponsorship and Build a Culture of Feedback

When you’re ready to embrace continuous customer feedback, and to really create a culture of feedback, the first step is to find a sponsor within the organization.

This sponsor should have the power to deal with issues that arise and be completely committed to creating, empowering and maintaining your organization’s feedback-first culture.

In this culture, employees know that they are responsible for quickly addressing customer feedback – both positive and negative. Customers know their concerns will be dealt with, in real-time. And employees and customers both know that continuous feedback is the expectation and the norm.

Be Able to Handle Different Types of Feedback

Instant and continuous feedback can consist of different types of feedback. Ensure your organization is prepared to deal with all types on an ongoing basis. Provide training to make sure both managers and employees have the same level of knowledge when it comes to feedback types and know how to handle them all.

Feedback may include:

_    Questions

_    Direct complaints

_    Compliments

_    Indirect complaints

_    Opinions and suggestions

Handling feedback is a three stage process – understand the different types of feedback yourself, then help your organization understand them and finally give them the means to deal with them effectively.

Ensure You Can Stop the Backfire Before It Starts

If feedback is continually sought from customers, but there is no mechanism within your organization to assess and respond to it, you’ll quickly lose their trust.

Make sure your organization is ready to react. A well-handled, timely response will have a direct impact both on your organizational performance and on the effectiveness of your customer feedback program.