Why Customer Feedback Matters & How to Ask For It

Do you have a customer feedback strategy? In today’s digital world, customer testimonials are marketing gold. Their value is almost immeasurable: They sprinkle a personal touch across any messaging, enriching your brand’s narrative. They back your marketing messaging with outside credibility. When someone else explains the value of your product/service, it makes for trustworthy, relatable, approachable, and highly converting marketing material.

At Centric Squared, one of the first things we do when onboarding a new client is create a simple database of customer feedback. Whether that’s from your website, social media platforms, or from personal platforms, every business will have some to work with.

In this blog post, we’ll share how to ask for feedback from customers, and how to use customer testimonials to drive your growth.

But First, Consider Some Numbers.

The numbers are in: 92% of customers consult online reviews before making a purchase, according to Big Commerce. Moreover, Search Engine Watch reveals that 72% of consumers spring into action only after reading a positive review.

The message is clear — testimonials are not just words; they’re powerful catalysts for conversion.

Collecting Testimonials: Timing Is Everything.

When coming up with a customer feedback collection strategy, the first thing to do is consider timing. Ask a customer for feedback at a point in time when they’ve seen the value of your product and service. In B2B businesses, that means waiting until you’ve reached a significant milestone or delivered great results. In B2C businesses, that might mean waiting until the product has not only been delivered, but the customer has had an opportunity to use it and see its value.

Collecting Testimonials: Be Selective.

You don’t have to ask every single customer for a review. In fact, we advise against that. While it might be important for, say, a new product launch or first clients, it quickly becomes overkill for customers.

Have you ever received a request to leave feedback on a product when you really have no interest in the brand? We’ve all been there.

Consider repeat purchasers, longer-term clients who you have a relationship with — people who generally don’t mind spending a few minutes to help you. Don’t assume every customer is willing to spend that kind of time reviewing or leaving you feedback.

Pick Your Platform.

Consolidate review requests. There are so many platforms to choose from these days. Yelp. G2. Google My Business. Your own website. Think about which channels are the best for your target audience (where are they doing their research?) and hone in on them. For example, if you’re active on Facebook, then gather customer reviews there. If you’re active on a third party provider, gather customer reviews there. When we work with clients and develop a customer testimonial strategy, we’ll recommend spending 3 months collecting on platform A, then 3 months collecting on platform B for concentrated effectiveness.

Know How to Utilize The Feedback.

So you’ve got customer reviews now. Wonderful! Here’s what to do with them.

• Respond to them, good and bad, within the platform to show you take their feedback seriously.
• Store them and manage the content.
• Designate a place and a person whose job it is to update.
• Share them with your marketing team and management team.
• Use the feedback to make actionable improvements in your business.
• Use them in marketing materials. That includes:Email marketing Website Press ReleasesPress Kits Organic Social Media PostsProposals Paid ads (note you’ll need to get an OK for this see consent and terms)

Know When to Give It a Break.

When you’ve reached a certain number, you don’t need more customer testimonials. Have 500 5-star reviews? An occasional customer review from here forward to indicate you’re still great is enough.

We often advise you to think about your best customers and how to tap into the value they have as being net promoters.

If you’ve already got great customer reviews, it’s time to consider some other ways you can engage and involve customers to drive business growth. That might be something like developing a VIP program for your most loyal customers, developing a refer-a-friend program, asking for user-generated content (UGC), or developing a Brand Ambassador or Affiliate program.

FAQs

1. Can you incentivize a customer testimonial?

Yes, you can, and there’s both a right way and a wrong way to do that.

• It’s OK to ask for feedback and give a gift.

Example: Your opinion matters and we value your time. If you can take a few minutes to leave us a review, we’ll share a $5 starbucks gift card with you.

• It’s OK to ask for feedback and give some guidance.

Example: Your opinion means the world to us. If you’d take a moment to share with us your experience and how our product helped you reach your goals, we’d be forever grateful.

• It’s not OK to ask for a 5-star review.

Example: Please leave us a 5-star review and we’ll give you a gift card.

• It’s not OK to ask for more than 3 minutes of someone’s time.

Example: Thanks for buying our paperclips. Please take this 20-minute survey for us answering all these questions you might not even care about.

Customers can be kind, but they also don’t owe you a review. We see this mistake often when businesses spend months developing customer feedback mechanisms only to have such poor data that they can’t use it. One trick here is to ask one or two questions, then offer an interview if they’re interested. “May we contact you to discuss this further? We’d be happy to share a Starbucks gift card for your time.”

2. If someone shares a testimonial, am I allowed to use it?

Best practice is yes, if it’s on a publicly available network then a customer leaving a review has made that information publicly available.

That does NOT mean you can stalk the customer, use a photo of them you might have personally and share that along with the customer testimonial.

3. Can I copy edit the customer testimonial?

Best practice is yes, as long as you’re not altering the meaning or emotion of the testimonial. You’re allowed to replace generic “they, it” with product names when you know them to give the testimonial more context. You’re allowed to fix grammatical mistakes. You’re not allowed to change the meaning of a customer testimonial.

These edits are OK:

“Sara and her team were wonderful to work with. I highly recommend them.”

“Centric Squared was wonderful to work with. I highly recommend them.”

These edits are not OK:

“Sara and her team were wonderful to work with. I highly recommend them.”

“Sara and her team were amazing to work with!!! I highly recommend them.”

4. Can I use names when sharing testimonials?

In general, first names are fine. If you’re using first and last name and title, it’s best to reach out and ask. This can be done when responding to feedback:

Thank you so much for this wonderful review. May we share it? Would you mind letting us know what title you’d like us to use?

We can help you be strategic with customer feedback.

At Centric Squared, we believe in the power of authentic engagement and strategic feedback collection as pillars for growth. We have experience collecting customer feedback, managing customer feedback, and making it a pillar of your company’s growth. Reach out and let’s talk about your customer feedback strategy. Book a call today.