AskNicely hot takes: Don't be afraid of negative feedback

Each month, we ask the AskNicely team for their hot takes on customer feedback or the customer experience management industry. It can be something they wish more customers knew, or common blockers they help AskNicely customers overcome. Then we share those tips to help you learn from others and find success for your own business.

This month’s hot take comes from Breanne Singley, AskNicely Customer Success Manager:

“I’ve seen customers who are afraid to survey because of detractor feedback! If customers have something to say, they'll likely post a negative review. Allowing detractors to express their feedback is a great way to prevent unwanted negative reviews on Google or otherwise!”

To sum it up, collecting feedback, especially from detractors, can actually help reduce the number of negative online reviews your business has. How? Negative feedback is inevitable, you can’t control that, but what you can control is how you respond to it. 

How detractor feedback can prevent negative reviews

One of the two biggest advantages of collecting feedback is time and knowledge. Collecting feedback and reviewing it quickly gives you everything you need to effectively address negative customer experiences before they can even turn into online reviews.

Collecting feedback does this by:

• Giving you the opportunity to resolve an issue before it goes public: Getting negative feedback delivered right to your team before it ever makes it to review platforms gives you the chance to right a wrong with the customer. For example, if a customer provides negative feedback because a product arrived damaged, your team can apologize and send a new product along right away. No need to wait for a negative review on Google to find out the customer was unhappy, and no need for your reputation to take a hit in the process.

• Building trust between you and your customer: Working to proactively improve the customer experience builds trust between you and your customers. Plus, customers prefer businesses that collect and respond to feedback. When your customers trust you, they’re more likely to try and resolve a problem before running to post a negative review on Google. 

• Showing you where to focus on coaching and improving service: A common phrase among the AskNicely team is “Feedback is a gift.” We believe this to be true because feedback offers an opportunity for growth and helps narrow coaching efforts. Trends among feedback, positive or negative, can indicate what’s going well and what’s not, which translates to actions to continue and to change for your customer-facing teams. You can use these learnings to improve for all customers, effectively preventing future negative reviews before they can happen. 

The outcomes of collecting and responding to feedback

Your customer feedback has the potential to do more than prevent negative reviews online. It can help your business thrive and grow, too. With increased customer satisfaction comes increases in retention, loyalty, positive brand reputation, reduced churn, and so much more. To learn how AskNicely can help you achieve this success, book a demo or take a product tour.