Blog: The New Customer Feedback Paradigm: Connecting Brand Values with Customer Hearts

The New Customer Feedback Paradigm: Connecting Brand Values with Customer Hearts

Customer expectations have been subject to constant change for as long as businesses have been around. In today’s connected world, they’re becoming ever more particular as consumers have more options and instant gratification becomes the new normal. Yet an astounding number of businesses don’t truly measure a diverse sample of customers in order to meet the needs of the majority. Companies can, and most of the time do, understand what their consumers expect, yet still fall short of delivering experiences that consistently live up to those expectations because they focus mostly on negative complaints received.

Getting to know your audience and gathering honest feedback can be an empowering and pivotal moment for your business. Concrete insight from customers provides actionable feedback, rather than brands guessing what will cultivate customer experiences that lead to enduring loyalty and brand preference. Implementing customer feedback from your majority will create a connection with your customers by meeting their expectations and making them feel heard and seen. This  builds a value-centric sense of loyalty that surpasses mere price discounts and traditional loyalty programs. 

So you might be thinking, “How do I find the feedback from the majority, so my improvements will actually meet customers’ expectations?” Here’s how to start: 

#1: Ask for feedback.

Constructive, real-time feedback from the majority of customers, not just the most disgruntled who make noise on social media, should be a crucial part of your service experience. Today’s technology gives brands more opportunities than yesterday’s tired follow-up emails, physical hand-outs, or receipt surveys. From first-time customers to loyal followers, feedback from all ends of the spectrum are necessary to understand expectations and experiences. 

Putting feedback into action is even more important than gathering it. Customers want to know you’re listening and that you care what they have to say, enough to make changes to your operational processes to accommodate their needs. This creates true brand preference in today’s consumer-centric world.

#2: Make changes that matter.

Building brand equity is about aligning your brand’s values to your customer’s values so they feel a deep relationship with what your brand stands for. That starts by gathering what they like about your brand and where you could improve, then making those improvements to your pricing, processes, staffing and more. Showing customers that you’re listening is what communicates that you care. The way you do this efficiently is by getting feedback from the majority of customers, not just the most elated or the most disgruntled, then implementing changes until you get it right.

#3: Lean on a trusted partner.

A trusted customer experience partner with expertise in the technology and processes that improve customer experience can make the difference in whether your brand has revenue gains within the first 12 months. True value happens when a vendor has the right kind of technology to gather the right kind of information, which results in actionable insights. This is where brands see the most efficient and profitable results: by elevating the customer experience with deep transformational insights from a dedicated partner who knows how to distill data into operational excellence.

At ACL, we work alongside companies in an array of industries who are true customer experience fanatics. No matter where they are in their journey of taking customer experience to the next level, our passion is to educate and empower them to bridge the gap with their customers.

We do this through many of our solutions, but especially through our proprietary Customer Ambassador Program (CAP). We utilize CAP to assist you in authentically assessing your customers’ experience with the goal of providing not just data points, but also detailed customer stories and tangible advice on how to continually improve your service, atmosphere, and more. Reach out to us today to see just how we can help you bridge the gap between your customers’ heart and your brand values.

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