Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to the Small Business Marketing Huddle. Our show is all about taking action. We equip you with the marketing knowledge and confidence you need to make real progress. So let's huddle up and listen in to the latest episode with your host, Lily Richmond.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Hey, this is Lily. Thank you for being here today. If you're already subscribed to the show, thank you so much. I really appreciate you being here and I'm really, really stoked that you are taking some proactive steps to take control of your marketing. And if this is your first time here, don't forget to hit that follow or subscribe button in your favorite podcast player, because today, like in every episode, I'm going to cover a marketing topic that I think you've really got to learn if you want to master your marketing. My goal for you today is that by the end of this episode, you're going to really understand the value of customer feedback and then some really great tips and ideas of how you can use it to improve your business and some strategies for dealing with it when it's negative feedback or when it's feedback that is fraudulent.

Speaker 2: 1:21

So let's get straight into the episode, because I know that you are a busy business owner who is short on time. Why is customer feedback important for you as a business owner? Well, there's four key reasons, really, that I think that it's important. Number one it helps you understand what is and what isn't working with your products or services and your customer experience that you offer. Secondly, it helps you learn if there is a disconnect in your customers' expectations of what you deliver. It might be that you are marketing that you have a helpful customer service team, for example, but it takes you ages to respond to email inquiries and maybe your customer service representative is really rude. That's where there is a disconnect in the expectation or perception of the customer and that is ultimately what feedback provides you that gap in expectation. Thirdly, feedback is a total goldmine that's going to help you talk about your products and services in a way that your customers actually connect with and how they would talk about your product or service you know. So it's giving you a great opportunity to learn what is important to your customers, not what you think is important to them. And fourthly, it builds credibility to your business and helps those potential customers build trust and ultimately make that leap to buy. So those are just four of the reasons why collecting customer feedback is so powerful for your business.

Speaker 2: 2:56

So what are the different ways that you can collect that feedback? Well, one of the most well-known ways to do it is through online reviews, either for your business or your products. Think of Facebook or podcast reviews, or Google reviews product reviews that you set up on your website third-party tools maybe like Trustpilot, or maybe there is something locally in your country like a third-party site that aggregates reviews from consumers in your industry. Another way that you can collect customer feedback is via testimonials, and these are more proactive. This is where you know you're going to ask your customer to give either a written, audio or maybe even some video feedback on your business.

Speaker 2: 3:40

A third way to collect and use customer feedback is via your customer service interactions. For example, when customers email you with feedback or complaints, they might even send you through some improvement suggestions. Those interactions are great ways for you to get feedback. So a good little tip is, when you're getting those items of feedback whether it be a complaint, a suggestion or a compliment that you put it into a folder which is customer feedback, and then you can refer back to it at a later date. You're not having to dig back through all of the emails to find it. And finally, there's proactive customer experience and satisfaction surveys, and a big tip here is, if you're going to do this and you're going to collect data, make it easy, be really, really brutal with what exact information you need to know and be very clear on how you're going to use it. Don't collect a whole bunch of data that you aren't going to use. That is wasting your customer's time. So if you are interested in doing a customer satisfaction or a customer service survey, I'll drop some links in the show notes to some great tools for collecting data via surveys.

Speaker 2: 4:56

Okay, we've covered why customer feedback is really important for your business and we've just covered off the different ways that you can collect it. What are the types of customer feedback that you're going to get Now when you're in business? It is going to be the good, the bad and the ugly of customer feedback. There's no hiding from it. You are going to have some great experiences and you're going to have some shockers. So the good is positive feedback, great reviews and testimonials. The bad, or what I would call the helpful feedback, is the negative feedback or the complaints that provide opportunities for you to improve your products and services. This is a goldmine of information if you use it to your advantage.

Speaker 2: 5:39

And then the ugly Well, that is unfair or bogus reviews, for example, or maybe even really unreasonable customers. You are going to get all three of those types of feedback, and the thing I'd love for you to take away from this episode today is that all feedback is a gift. Well, maybe, apart from the ugly stuff, you know, in business we've got to get our heads around the fact that it's not personal. Well, hopefully it isn't, and if you can get yourself into that mindset that when someone complains or gives you that one star review, it is a huge opportunity for you to identify how to get better. We'll talk about the ugly later on, as there are some specific tips I've got around that, so stay tuned until the end. You know I don't see the ugly feedback as real feedback anyway, and I encourage you to view it that way too. Don't get hung up on it. Focus on what you can influence. Quite frankly, you can't influence a disgruntled nutter or a fake reviewer. So after the break, I'm going to give you five ways that you can use feedback to improve your business, and I'm going to give you some tools for dealing with that ugly feedback as well.

Speaker 2: 6:57

Okay, so let's start talking about how we can make customer feedback work for you. If you are using customer feedback effectively in your business, you should be seeing it as a continuous loop, where you are collecting that feedback, you're analyzing it and then you're identifying ways to continually improve your business. You're aiming to deliver a superior service and offering so that then you get even better customer feedback more happy customers and then you get better and better feedback more happy customers, and then you get better and better and you win more business from your competitors. Now this is called continuous improvement right, and if you do it right, customer feedback is like a continuous loop that spirals upwards, if you can visualize that. So what are some of those ways that you can use customer feedback and get that feedback loop going for you? Here are five.

Speaker 2: 7:49

Number one improve your products and services to deliver what customers expect. Maybe customers are complaining about how long, let's say, you take to dispatch orders from your online store. That might be telling you that customers value customer responsiveness, and maybe your competitors are doing it better than you. Sorry, harsh truth sometimes, but that's a gift for you if you see it that way. Your customer is telling you exactly how they want you to improve. Number two it can really be a goldmine and a wealth of data points for you to write more impactful descriptions for your products and services, and that can help you get more sales.

Speaker 2: 8:33

Let's use an online shop as an example. Take a look at the online reviews that you've got today on, say, google or Facebook. What are consumers saying about your product or service? What words are they using? How are they describing it? What benefits are they bringing out? If you were a brand that made different hoodies and sweatshirts, say for children, and your customers were leaving reviews and saying the plushest fabric ever, I love the detailing and the stitching, keeps my little one warm, you know, whatever it might be, you can use all of these words in your product descriptions. And why is that valuable? Well, it's valuable because you are using the language that your customers use to explain or describe your product or service, so it's a great way to get people to connect with what it is that you are selling.

Speaker 2: 9:25

Number three is to go a step broader still. Why not use some of the phrases or the benefits that customers share in their feedback in your marketing communications? You know, if you start seeing patterns that customers always comment on a great benefit of your service, then you want to be harrowing in on that in your marketing. Whether it's a brochure, a Facebook post or an email campaign. Drawing that information out is a great way to connect with your customer.

Speaker 2: 9:51

Number four add your testimonials or review ratings on your website. Maybe also add them to your printed marketing materials. What if you've got a great review score on Facebook? If you know if it's 4.8 or something like that, why not add that to your email signature? Put this information into email campaigns. Share it on your social media accounts. Be proud of your great feedback and show it off. Why is that? Because it builds trust.

Speaker 2: 10:16

Now, one thing I would say here on this is Do not under any circumstance, get involved in fake reviews or fake testimonials. You might not get found out, but what happens if you do? What is it going to do to your business long term if you've been found out as a company that's lie to its customers? The stakes are pretty high and there has been research done that a five out of five review rating for your business overall is likely for customers to not trust you. It's not seen as trustworthy because people think no one gets 100%. So please don't get into the game of fake reviews. You're doing your business a disservice and you're not building trust with your customers either.

Speaker 2: 10:58

Number five if a customer complains, use this as an opportunity to turn that customer into a fan. You know, back when I was in university, I worked in a bank as a bank teller or cashier, and when you're in the front line and you're dealing with customers face-to-face, it can be really challenging, especially if they are unhappy. And my boss at the time said something to me that has really stuck with me throughout my career, and that is that when you get a complaint, it's inevitable, but it's how you deal with it that, ultimately, is going to make the difference for the business and for the customer. It's how you take that mindset of how can I turn this around. Now, I'm not saying that you bend to a customer who's being unreasonable, right, but if that customer walks away feeling good and they got a resolution and they were treated fairly, then they're actually more likely to recommend you. When something goes wrong and you put it right, they remember and they're more likely to tell others about that too. We all get things wrong from time to time.

Speaker 2: 11:56

Okay, so to quickly recap, the five things are use that feedback to improve your products and services the actual nitty gritty of what you deliver. Use it to write more impactful descriptions for your products and services. Use those phrases or benefits that customers talk about in your marketing communications. Get your testimonials and review ratings out there. Shout about that great news. It helps build trust and number five. If a customer complains, work out how you're going to put that right and turn that experience around so that they can become one of your fans, okay.

Speaker 2: 12:30

Lastly, we are going to talk about how the heck do you deal with that ugly feedback, that one-star fake review. Or someone leaves a really horrible review about your business and they've never shopped with you. Maybe a competitor of yours is spreading malicious gossip about your business. I can recommend a few strategies here. Firstly, you can get reviews removed from platforms like Google and Facebook. I will drop some links to where you can do that in the show notes, but this can take some time, so you do have to be patient with fraudulent reviews. This can take some time, so you do have to be patient with fraudulent reviews. Also, there are some guidelines around what constitutes what sort of review they would remove, so I'll put links to that as well.

Speaker 2: 13:12

Now, you can't just get a review removed, though, because you don't like it. Right, if someone gives you a one-star review, you are much better to reach out to them personally if you can and find out why Get that feedback. You might hear some things that you don't like. But hey, if you aren't measuring up, you need to be honest with yourself and try and fix it. Always respond with how you're going to fix it. But what if you can't fix it? What if it is just someone is dissatisfied and maybe they weren't right in the first place? Well, if you can't fix it, just appropriately respond to the person with why you can't. You know, maybe that person is being unreasonable. And I think about my own experience as a consumer and have a think about what you're like when you look at Google reviews, for example. If someone leaves a one or a two starstar review, I do like to read them, but then I also like to read the comments from the company in question, and if that company deals with it well, then I'm still likely to use them. And often you know you can look at reviews and you can tell if that customer was being unreasonable. Again, when someone's leaving that feedback, it is an opportunity for you to turn that situation around and actually demonstrate that you're fair, you're trustworthy and you take notice when your customers share their feedback.

Speaker 2: 14:29

Now we're going to take a slightly different tack when it comes to things like malicious gossip from competitors or people who are bad-mouthing your business. Usually, yeah, unfortunately this happens on social media, right, and I'm in a number of different Facebook groups for business owners and it comes up an awful lot. I always say that you are best to rise above it, as hard as that might sound, don't engage with them, because you know what you run the risk of getting into an online fight and if someone is going around already spreading falsehoods about your business, they are likely to not be that rational anyway. You can't control what they say, unless you take legal action, of course, and sometimes legal action is needed, but that is the nuclear option and it's for really serious stuff. All you can do is you can control what your business does. So if someone is saying things that are untrue about your products, for example, you don't need to directly address those people and you don't need to address it completely, but you could put your own marketing out that disproves the point that they are making.

Speaker 2: 15:37

Okay, let's use that example again of the business that makes children's sweatshirts and hoodies. And let's say it's my business and it's here in New Zealand and those garments are made locally here where I live in NZ, and a competitor is going around saying that I'm just importing them from China and I'm changing the tags. I'm really dishonest. So what could I do about that if I'm not going to go head to head into a war with them? Well, firstly, I could send out an email to my subscribers which has a theme all around love New Zealand made, and it could show a photo of the garments being made in our local factory. Or it could also tell the story about why we're proud to manufacture in New Zealand and we could offer a discount promotion for anyone purchasing a New Zealand made product. For the next couple of weeks. I could also write a blog post all about our journey with New Zealand made and promote that on social media. I could also do a whole series of social media activities and posts for a month that highlight the different aspects of our New Zealand made ethos, why it's important to us, how we do the manufacturing, all of our values.

Speaker 2: 16:46

If you notice now, none of this is literally responding to that business, spreading untruths. I'm countering it, but I'm focusing on my business and my customers and adding value to them and giving them reasons to shop with me. Customers, ultimately, are pretty savvy. They work the stuff out and they're likely to see through deception. And then, ultimately, what does it say about that other business that's going around doing the bad mouthing? They're going to lose in the long run. You've got to play the long game, keep your head held high and stick to your guns.

Speaker 2: 17:21

Okay, so that is the end of this episode on customer feedback, and I do hope you've got some great nuggets to take away and apply in your business and that now you're not maybe frightened or scared off by customer feedback, even the negative stuff. Now don't forget to hit subscribe on your favorite podcast player, because next time we are going to stick with the customer feedback theme and I'm going to share with you why the customer is always right is a terrible ethos and I don't advocate for you taking that approach in your business. Yeah, it's a bit controversial, I must admit. Listen in and I'll share how I think you should approach it instead. And one last thing, since we are on the subject of feedback, I would really love yours, so if you could take the time to leave me a review for the small business marketing huddle, you can do it directly on whatever platform you listen on. I do really appreciate your support and, of course, your feedback, and feel free to email me at any time if you've got an idea of a topic that you would love me to cover. Thank you so much for listening in and I will catch you in the next episode.

Speaker 2: 18:39

Now for the legal jargon. This podcast is for information and education purposes only. We make no business performance claims or guarantees in the information shared. The podcast content is general in nature and does not constitute advice for your unique business situation.