Twenty-one Ways To Gather Customer Feedback

In Thursday's post I talked about the importance of businesses actively seeking customer feedback through multiple channels. Which of the following methods would work for your business?

1. Business reply comment cards enclosed with each order
2. Having a blog for your business (with comments and trackbacks enabled)
3. Putting a Web site URL on customer receipts and asking customers to go there and deliver feedback, perhaps in exchange for the chance to win prizes
4. Having an easy to find e-mail portal on your Web site so that customers can reach you
5. Sending out Web-based surveys via e-mail to customers within a short period of time after their purchase
6. Hiring a telemarketing firm to call customers within a sort period of time after their purchase
7. Having a policy that directs all written correspondence from customers to the owner or senior manager
8. Having a manager contact  customers to see how his or her direct reports met their needs
9. Senior managers or the owners each contact one or two customers a week to seek feedback
10. Having comment cards and a box to put them in at restaurants, hotels, and retailers
11. Training frontline staff to ask for feedback from customers
12. Senior managers asking for feedback from managers of frontline staff
13. Convening focus groups
14. Taking a customer to lunch and asking for feedback
15. Publicizing a toll-free number for customers to call when they have feedback
16. Meeting a customer outside work and asking for feedback
17. Recruiting steady customers to provide ongoing feedback
18. Hiring an independent firm to gather detailed feedback from your customers about both your business and your competitors
19. Asking customers to stay on the phone and complete a short survey after they finish placing an order, a reservation, or requesting a service
20. Asking customers to comlete a short survey after they've placed an online order
21. Use Google Alerts to track mentions of your business on the Internet and in the Blogosphere

Regards,

Glenn