Feedback Loop: The Impact of Survey Tools in E-Commerce

How do surveys affect e-commerce?

1. The feedback loop
2. Stages of the feedback loop
3. Common feedback gathering tools used for e-commerce
4. What survey tools brings to ecommerce

 

 

Customer feedback is a very useful kind of information. When used correctly, it can improve the state of a business exponentially. The Internet is home to many kinds of feedback tools that you’ll find almost any site has some sort of it hiding in it. For example, WordPress has survey tools that are easily added to blogs to look for the feedback from readers.

Feedback is definitely something that should be used by businesses, particularly in e-commerce. In this article, one feedback strategy is expounded on to show the impact that the feedback survey tools provide on e-commerce.

 

 

The Feedback Loop

The feedback loop, or better known as customer feedback loop among marketing professionals, is a strategy for constant improvement of a business’s products and/or services. It is based on the natural and mutual interactions between the company and the clients/customers.

The basic process of the feedback loop revolves around customers leaving feedback about a product or service, and the feedback is actively analyzed in order to form relevant conclusions that when implemented may improve the said product or service. Though it is simple, there are many factors that need to be considered to make sure your customer feedback loop is as effective as it can be.

The feedback loop has three stages: gathering information from clients who have used the products or services, learning and analyzing the data, and applying conclusions based on the collected data. Once finished, the cycle will continue, so there will be constant improvements to products and services.

 

 

Stages of the Feedback Loop

The first step of the feedback loop is to gather information. The information collected must be comprised primarily of the opinions of customers who have used the product and/or service in question. This data, along with other research efforts done within the company will serve as the foundation of the second phase of the feedback loop.

The second step is where a company is supposed to analyze and learn from the data collected. From here analysts aim to look for patterns in the customer feedback. Any kind of viewpoint, be it positive or negative, is taken into account. These points are classified by frequency and importance to the company’s overall growth. The ideal things to look for are the points where confusion is found in the experience of your clients and points where customers just withdraw from using your product or service altogether. Once points of improvement are identified, implementations will follow.

The last step of the feedback loop is the application stage, where all of the conclusions from the previous phase will be implemented. Most of the time, changes are applied in small amounts and customer bases are informed beforehand of the changes.

Once implementation has finished, another cycle of the feedback loop is done to ensure continuous improvements for the merchandise and the overall company.

 

 

Common Feedback Gathering Tools used for E-commerce

There are many tools on the Internet that are used in order to gather feedback from customers. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, however, there are some which are preferred by many people.

• Surveys – Probably the most used out of all customer feedback tools, online surveys are everywhere on the internet. Almost all companies that consider the voice of their customers has them on their websites. It is also one of the easiest to implement on a webpage. For blogs, particularly those made in WordPress, survey tools are abundant and easy to input. Google Docs also offer a lot of options for customer feedback surveys.
• Live chat – Although surveys are the easiest and most efficient option, live chat is probably the most informative. Nothing beats feedback that was typed directly by the customer themselves. The interaction makes it more personalized as well, making information obtained deeper and more specific.
• Reviews – It is customary to ask customers who have experienced using a product or service to make a review about it. These reviews, be they good or bad, are highly personalized and detailed to some extent.
• Emails – As time goes on, some people tend to rely less on social media and more on emails. Emailing customers for their feedback on certain services and products is a valid option for any business. However, the response rate is low and largely dependent on the character of your clients.

 

 

What Survey Tools Bring to E-Commerce

Survey tools provide means to continually improve the state of a business that relies primarily on e-commerce. It makes it show that a company heavily considers the voice of their customers and clients, and it can add to the reputation of the business.

However, as mentioned in this article, the best thing that feedback tools give to e-commerce is a means to continually improve the products, services, and even the overall workings of a company. It also serves as an alternative to customer research efforts, oftentimes it is better than your normal research. The data that can be collected through feedback tools are highly personalized and detailed. A continuous stream of this kind of information can help a great deal in the improvement of the e-commerce of a business.

 

 

Key Takeaway

The benefits of incorporating feedback loops into e-commerce are not to be underestimated. Try it out and see the gradual improvements to the business your efforts can bring!