In this video, Ross Shafer talks about an amazing customer experience he had at a well known hotel brand. The story is both funny and inspiring.
But there’s something in the story that stands out and, in my opinion, tarnished the brand’s image. In the video it’s just a funny aside but in the real world it can make a big difference to companies and customers.
About midway through the video, Ross is sharing with us how he talked to several people at the hotel about this wonderful employee. And each time he gave his glowing feedback to someone, they asked him to do more work. The first person he talked to asked if he would share his feedback with the hotel manager. The hotel manager asked if he would write a letter.
You get my point?
How many people want to take the time to tell their story over and over again? And then, after telling it several times, how many of us would want to write a letter about it?
Very few of us would. I wouldn’t. (Kudos to Ross for going the extra mile in delivering his feedback.)
This is where organizations often miss the boat. They put the burden on the customer to share the feedback. They forget that feedback is their responsibility too. They need to make it easy and convenient for customers to offer feedback or most will not. Even if the customer is thrilled, they’ll be less thrilled if you ask them to tell several people and then write a letter.
Once a customer offers feedback, the employee who receives it owns it. They need to take responsibility for getting it to the right place in the organization so it can be used. They should not ask the customer to do more work. That’s not the customer’s job.
Make your feedback easy and convenient and you’ll get more feedback. And you’ll reduce the chance of annoying those happy customers who offer you feedback.
Brilliant post and excellent video – I found myself scratching my head and wondering why there were so many obstacles getting customer feedback to the right people. This is a great example of how organizations are siloing customer information and not centralizing it in one easy place, accessible to those who need it.
The Aberdeen Group recently did a research report on how all that data could be more effectively used if only it were organized and centralized. The results were impressive: 3.5x higher retention rates (hello repeat customers), 90% YOY greater annual company revenues and higher customer satisfaction. http://www.totango.com/blog/2012/06/suffering-from-siloed-customer-data-time-to-get-that-business-in-order/
I believe, though, it’s not just organizing the data but being able to access it in real-time that makes that data so interesting, the same way Maria Garcia was able to process what Ross Shafer needed and returned 30 seconds later with that specific diet coke.
Guy Nirpaz
CEO, Founder of Totango
Hi Guy – I agree, many companies do make it challenging for customers to share their feedback. And by doing so they are missing out on a huge opportunity to improve.
BTW – Thanks for sharing the link to your post and the research by Aberdeen. Very useful.
Kevin Stirtz
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