Feedback management in local marketing: 5 ways to optimize customer loyalty and satisfaction
Feedback is the key to continuous improvement and adjustment. Only if you receive regular feedback from your customers about your products or services can you respond to their needs, wishes and concerns, discover optimization potential and inspire new people about your brand. When your customers also feel that their opinion and feedback is valued, this increases satisfaction and loyalty to your company.
Especially if you have a large network of local sales partners, it is not always easy to keep track of the current needs, problems and wishes of regional customers. That is why it is all the more important that you motivate your sales partners to regularly obtain feedback from local customers. In this article, we'll introduce you to some helpful tools for that.
1. Classic surveys
For many years, surveys have been a proven way of getting targeted feedback from customers. Help your resellers complete the surveys via email or their website. Survey forms are suitable for specifically asking for opinions and reviews, which can be distributed easily and quickly via various online channels (e-mail, website pop-ups or social media). These surveys can include, for example, multiple choice questions about satisfaction, open questions about suggestions for improvement, or specific questions about the likelihood that your customers would recommend your brand (net promoter score questions).
2. Online reviews and directories
Take advantage of the popularity of online reviews and directories to increase the visibility of your local sales partners! On platforms such as Google Maps, Yelp or Trustpilot, customers can publicly share their experiences and leave reviews. But that is not all. With Local Listings You can significantly increase the chance of being found more easily and quickly in search results by potential customers by keeping local information about your company up to date on platforms such as Google My Business or Bing Places for Business. Remind your resellers to respond to customer reviews and keep content up to date. By actively using these platforms, you can build customer trust and further expand your local presence.
3. The power of social media
Social media are an important channel for customer feedback and companies with a younger local target group in particular should use their social media presence to enter into dialogue with their customers and collect their opinions. Encourage your sales partners to regularly respond to comments, news, and reviews on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Through interactions, such as responding to comments, collecting direct feedback in the form of messages, or creating surveys and polls on the most popular social media platforms, they increase customer engagement and can gain valuable feedback for your local marketing strategy.
4. Feedback tools and software
There are specialized feedback management tools and software that help companies collect, analyze, and manage feedback. These tools offer features such as creating and sending automated surveys, collecting feedback in real time, analyzing customer reviews across various platforms, and generating reports and dashboards to evaluate the results. With the Zendesk tool, companies can easily track customer inquiries and collect feedback, with Qualtrics offering a comprehensive feedback management and customer experience solution. The selection of a suitable feedback tool depends on the company's specific requirements and goals.
5. Personal meetings
In addition to digital methods, personal contact is still an effective and appreciative approach to collecting feedback from customers. Encourage your sales partners to ask open questions in person at the branch or during telephone interactions and to address customer concerns and concerns directly. This allows your sales partners to develop a deeper understanding of the needs of customers and express their appreciation for their opinions.
In summary, feedback is not only an important tool for improvement, but also creates a bridge between companies and customers. It enables companies to continuously optimize their products and services, strengthen their local presence and increase customer satisfaction. Companies should define clear goals for their feedback management in advance in order to collect the right information in a targeted manner. Continuous evaluation and implementation of feedback into clear action plans is the key to ensuring success in local marketing.