Once Ann Handley penned, “Make the customer the hero of your story”. If customers have a positive experience, they can help elevate your business to the top. Conversely, if they encounter challenges, they have the potential to impact your business adversely. So, listening to your customers should be your top priority.
With every click, sign-up, or interaction, there’s a story associated with the user's journey, their needs, and their engagement with your product or service. Understanding this story unlocks numerous opportunities for you to refine your products or services. This is where the customer feedback form has its significance.
What is a customer feedback form?
A customer feedback form collects insights on a product or service through targeted questions, helping businesses understand customer opinions, identify what works, and discover areas for improvement to enhance the overall experience.
This form comes with a series of questions or fields where users can articulate their feedback. But it's not merely a vessel for data collection; it's a powerful tool for understanding your customers' sentiments, needs, and pain points. By gathering their feedback systematically, you gain the insights required to adapt, refine, and enhance your offerings. While managing a SaaS business, this form becomes your trusted companion on the journey to success.
Types of customer feedback form
Customer feedback forms come in various types and formats. You can choose one depending on the specific needs of your business and the nature of the feedback you want to collect.
1. Online surveys
Online surveys are the most common way to collect customer feedback via the Internet. The most widely used quantitative research method globally in 2022 was online surveys, employed by over 90% of market research professionals. They can include a variety of question types, such as multiple-choice questions, open-ended text fields, and rating scales. Online customer surveys offer the advantage of being easily distributed to a wide audience and can be automated for data analysis.
2. Paper feedback forms
Paper surveys are the most traditional way to gather feedback. It involves filling a physical paper form with a pen or pencil. This method is commonly used in places like retail stores, restaurants, and places where customers do not have access to digital devices. Questions in this feedback form are simple and straightforward and can be answered quickly.
3. Feedback forms sent via email
As the name suggests, email surveys are sent directly to customers’ email addresses, asking for their feedback. These surveys can vary in complexity and may include links to external survey platforms or embedded questions within the email itself. They are a convenient way to reach customers who have already interacted with the company, but the response rate can be lower compared to other methods.
4. Social media polls
Leveraging social media is the fastest means of collecting customer feedback. This entails utilizing popular social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to engage users in brief surveys by posing concise questions. It proves to be an excellent approach for engaging with your customers and maintaining contact with them even after completing a sale.
Fact time: According to Sprout Social, approximately 47% of customers raise their product or service complaints to express them on social media.”
5. Online review sites
Numerous free and open platforms on Google are accessible for customers to share their feedback and experiences. Some of these platforms are Capterra, G2, and CrowdReviews. These platforms offer customers a space to express their opinions and share their experiences regarding a business, product, or service. By monitoring these reviews and opinions, you can make informed, data-driven decisions.
How to design an effective customer feedback form?
A good customer feedback form is carefully made to get useful information from users. Here's a detailed list of elements you can include in your customer feedback form:
- Introduction and welcome message: A friendly greeting and a brief explanation of the form's purpose make users feel welcome and set the context for their feedback.
- User information: Collecting basic information like name, phone number, and email allows for personalized follow-up and the option for users to be contacted.
- Rating scale: A rating scale enables users to assess specific aspects, allowing you to quantify their satisfaction with various elements of your product or service. You have the flexibility to employ options such as star ratings or 1-10 scale ratings.
- Open-text fields: These fields allow users to provide detailed comments, suggestions, or feedback in their own words, offering qualitative insights.
- Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs): Specific questions with predefined answer choices help gather structured feedback on particular features or aspects.
- Categorization: Categories or dropdown menus help classify feedback by topic, making it easier to analyze and act upon.
- Images and file upload: Allowing users to attach visuals or files helps them illustrate their feedback and issues effectively.
- Overall satisfaction: Users rate their overall satisfaction, providing an aggregate view of their experience.
- Suggestions for improvement: Encouraging specific ideas or recommendations aids in gathering insights on how to enhance your offering.
- Optional contact for follow-up: Providing an option for users to leave their contact information allows for further discussion and issue resolution when necessary.
Tips for designing a customer feedback form
It's important to have a customer feedback form that people will want to use and that gives you the information you need. Try these tips:
- Keep it concise: Lengthy forms can discourage participation. Focus on essential questions that address your key objectives and avoid overwhelming users with unnecessary inquiries. A concise form is more likely to be completed, ensuring a higher response rate and better-quality feedback.
- Use clear and simple language: Use straightforward, plain language in your questions and instructions. Avoid technical terms that could confuse users. Clarity in language helps users understand and respond to the questions accurately, leading to more meaningful feedback.
- Create mobile-friendly forms: With increasing mobile phone usage, ensure that your feedback form is responsive and user-friendly on smaller screens. Mobile optimization is crucial as many users may access the form from their smartphones or tablets. A seamless mobile experience encourages higher participation rates and improves overall customer experience
- Logical flow: Organize the questions in a logical sequence that follows the user's thought process. Ensure that the form flows naturally from one question to the next. A logical flow minimizes user confusion and frustration, improving the overall feedback submission experience.
- Avoid jargon: Speak the user's language, not industry jargon. Avoid technical terms and acronyms that may be unfamiliar to your audience. Using plain and everyday language in your form ensures that users can easily comprehend and respond to the questions.
- Data validation: Implement data validation checks to ensure that the information provided is accurate and complete. This minimizes errors in submissions and enhances the quality of the data collected. Data validation may include checking email addresses, phone numbers, or other specific fields for accuracy and completeness.
Customer feedback form template
To assist you in collecting and managing valuable insights, we've created this free customer feedback form template. You can utilize it as-it-is or customize it to align with your unique business requirements.
Once you collect customer feedback, you must also know how to inspect it to ensure it serves as a valuable compass guiding your business toward continuous improvement and success. The next crucial step is understanding how to analyze the data you have collected.
Analyzing a customer feedback form
Step 1: Data collection and storage
Establishing a reliable data collection and storage system is fundamental. Ensure that all feedback data is collected systematically and securely. This involves setting up a database or data repository where you can centralize and organize the feedback. Implement security measures to protect sensitive customer information. Regularly back up the data to prevent loss and maintain data integrity.
Step 2: Data analysis tools and techniques
To derive meaningful insights from the feedback, leverage data analysis tools and techniques. These may include:
- Sentiment analysis: This technique helps you determine the sentiment or emotional tone of the feedback. It categorizes responses as positive, negative, or neutral, providing an overall sentiment score. Sentiment analysis tools can help you quickly gauge how customers feel about your product or service.
- Text mining: Text mining involves analyzing text-based feedback to extract valuable information. It identifies keywords, phrases, and topics that frequently appear in the responses, helping you discover common issues or areas of praise.
- Data visualization: Use data visualization tools to create charts, graphs, and reports that present feedback insights in a visual format. Visual representations make it easier to understand complex data patterns and trends.
Step 3: Identifying trends and patterns
As you analyze the feedback, pay close attention to trends and patterns that emerge. These trends could be related to specific features, customer pain points, or areas of satisfaction. For instance, you might observe that a substantial number of customers mention difficulties with a particular feature, indicating a common pain point.
This is where a feature like "smart cluster" in DevRev can be a game-changer. DevRev's "smart cluster" automatically groups support tickets based on their nature and type, streamlining the resolution process and addressing customer concerns more efficiently.
Step 4: Acting on customer feedback
The ultimate purpose of collecting and analyzing feedback is to drive action and improvements. Once you've identified trends and pain points, leverage DevRev's Enhancement feature to develop an action plan. Prioritize the changes or enhancements that will have the most significant impact on customer satisfaction.
With DevRev, you can easily collaborate with your team, assign tasks, and monitor the progress of these enhancements, facilitating a streamlined and effective process for turning customer feedback into actionable improvements.
Understand your customers better with an effective feedback form
Customer feedback is the compass guiding through the ever-shifting customer needs and expectations. By creating customer feedback forms, you unlock a treasure of insights and opinions. Collection of feedback and effective analysis turns these insights into action, allowing you to enhance your products or services and fortify customer loyalty.
Your commitment to listening and understanding your customers to implement timely improvements cultivates a sense of trust in them. While you start collecting feedback using customer feedback forms, remember that the path to business success lies in the wisdom of your users. Harness it, evolve, and thrive.
For those seeking a seamless way to manage customer relationships, explore the possibilities of DevRev OneCRM software. It's a subtle companion on your quest for customer satisfaction and business excellence.
