Here is something alarming:
Gartner group noted that while 95 percent of companies collect customer feedback, only 50 perent of these companies shared the information with their staff. I will let you digest that!!
Get ready for more:
Only 30 percent made use of the information and 1/10th of those made changes as a result of the information. Only half of the 1/10 actually turned around and credited the customer out loud where the customer may have been made aware that the change was due to their feedback. (Information Source: SDForum News Vol 10. Issue 4). Pepto... anyone ?!
Heck! No wonder people are so weary of taking surveys and answering feedback questions. They know nothing changes because of what they say. If I am reading this correctly, only 3 percent of the companies, all of whom are so "keen" to hear from me and you, actually put into their best practices what they appear to be hungry for and feed on: Customer Feedback. On top of that only half of them actually could be credited by the person who took the trouble to fill out the survey to have made the change suggested by him/her. Isn't that a little out of shape??
Among startups, it actually gets worse. Startups are by nature, always on the look out for "New" customers. Building the portfolio of customers is much more important as it effects the bottom line and so it makes sense to look beyond what may be considered a "Closed" customer. Here is food for thought though: What are the sources of "New" customers? More often than not, New customers come by because of referrals from "Closed" customers. The question to ask is whether Penetration to Closing is equally as important as Closing to Retention. Hint: The answer begins with the letter "Y"
The marketing budgets for some of the startups tend to be very lopsided in favor of the Marketing effort.
Would it be a good idea to identify and invest in Account or Customer Retention?
It would appear so.
These days survey or feedback mechanism is set up by default within the product or Customer Relationship Management System. However, if a company feels that they are not going to be able to utilize the feedback effectively there remains very little to argue for putting such a system in place. The argument that any such utility or feedback point provides the customer with at least a soap box to vent their frustrations does not have merit considering the primary objective: "To serve the Customer".
