Often times, we business owners cringe in fetal position with the thought of hearing criticism and feedback from our own customers. Sometimes, hearing those comments can be a little bit too raw and too personal to see the bigger picture it serves. When we talked with a local pet walking business owner, she shared, “I get anxiety attacks when I see an email from Yelp that I’ve had a new review!” I think we can all share that feeling. Let’s try and retrain our minds on how we handle and manage feedback for our business positively.
Criticism = Opportunity
No one likes to be criticized and we all like to believe that we’re Beyonce-level flawless. Unfortunately, no one is without flaws and we tend to discredit them and even ignore criticism altogether. However, most feedback that our customers present a great opportunity for improvement. We should want it. If no one ever told us how to do things a better way, our businesses would be in a constant state of mediocrity. For instance, customers may have issues with the shipping of a fashion business, which can lead to a lot of negative feedbacks. However, this can provide the seller an opportunity to either look for better shipping service or opt for fashion dropshipping. By choosing the dropshipping option, the business can improve the business while also not having to deal with managing stock inventory and warehouse.
Hence, don’t be afraid to ask your customers if they’re happy with your service! Even corporate settings can make use of employee feedback – it’s well worth taking the necessary steps to conduct proper employee training evaluation after an employee has gone through this, especially if it is a new program, so that they can voice their opinions and give those in charge the chance to make necessary adjustments to ensure that it’s as good as it can be for the next person who goes through it.
Utilizing Yelp
As biased as Yelp can be, it is a necessary evil. Asking your customers to post their reviews to help you boost your presence on Yelp can benefit your business greatly. After all, Yelp has 86 million monthly mobile visitors on their platform and most likely, your customers are going to it to seek information about your business.
Ask For It!
Asking for reviews means you also have to monitor it and follow up with them. Even though we’re quick to search for the ‘delete’ button when a 1-star appears for that stickler of a customer, it speaks greater volumes to deal with it. Go head first into the problem and reach out to that customer and make it right. With the latter approach, we often see 1-star reviews get bumped up to a terrific 5-star.
Even sparking the conversation in real-life (I know, what a thought) could open up trust with your customers. A question as simple as, “Are you happy with our service today?” Or following up next time with, “Were you pleased with XYZ last time?” Gives your customers an opportunity to share their thoughts and insights about your business.
How Do You Handle It?
Do you have an internal method of handling customer suggestions and opinions? Some opt in for the good ol’ paper form, some send a survey in an email afterwards, or some might find it conveniently on their smartphone. As the general consumer population is increasingly referring to their phones for everything, a lot of mobile apps are now offering follow-up strategies this way. Particularly with mobile and on-demand services, it’s quite a challenge to find an app that helps you run your business, yet alone manage customer feedback and reviews, until Handlr came along. With Handlr, every service your business completes prompts your customer to tap a star-rating and write a review if they want to. This way, you as the business owner get a precise evaluation for each employee and service. It also alleviates the middle man (Yelp) and directs those not so happy customers directly to you.
So what do you do with all of this information? It’s great to sit and assess what pain points you hear often, patternistic issues that keep recurring, and strategize how to apply changes to your business to minimize those concerns. Again, feedback and reviews don’t have to be hair-pulling and personal.
Truthfully, feedback and reviews are there to benefit you as the business owner, as well as the business itself. How else are you going to make your business the success you know it can be? Of course, there are some things that you might not want to hear, but there may be some specific feedback that you focus on more than others. For example, if your customers say that they haven’t seen much advertising from you, it could drive you to learn more about how programmatic ads work and how they can target your demographic to ensure that you are retaining your current customers as week as attracting new ones. You will soon thank your customers for this feedback. Improving on certain areas like this is why businesses ask for reviews in the first place.
Combining criticism from reviews with resources such as Mikegrinch.com can be a valuable way to improve and grow your business, it is all the more reason to wholly embrace it.
