How to Use Customer Feedback Forms to Collect Powerful Data

You don't really need to be told this, but competition in business is more fierce than ever before ... and whether you succeed or fail is in the hands of your customers. This means that knowing how your customers feel about your product or service is of paramount importance if you want your business to thrive - and customer feedback forms are the most effective form of collecting that vital data.



Rather than relying on social media or QR codes, businesses can nudge customers toward filling out feedback forms during or after a purchase to capture actionable opinions and comments. By using this valuable feedback, you can achieve higher customer retention, stronger brand loyalty and deal with customer complaints quickly for greater crisis control.

Key Benefits of Online Feedback Forms

Online forms have a number of key benefits to your business and we’ll explore some of these here:

Efficiency through automation

If you’re currently collecting feedback through telephone calls, emails or other manual methods, you’ll know how time-consuming and inefficient this is. With budgets remaining tight for many businesses, this is simply not a good use of employee time.

Automating the collation of feedback through web forms takes the time and hassle out of gathering customer responses in real-time - leaving your staff free to concentrate on more important tasks. An example of this would be a busy eCommerce site using feedback forms to automatically present post-purchase surveys to customers. Not only is this quicker and easier for your business but it's also preferred by customers - many of whom don’t want to be interrupted by a phone call.

Crunching the data for better decision making

Big decisions are a major part of any business operation - and they sometimes have to be made quickly. Unfortunately, this is virtually impossible when relying on manual methods of data collation and analysis.



Online forms can gather feedback from numerous channels and quickly and easily organize it into structured formats for analysis. This has some significant benefits including the highlighting of trends and repeat issues. For example; an SaaS company can examine form submissions to see what features their users ask for most - thereby guiding the prioritization of product improvements.

Real-time insights for proactive responses

We live in a world where patience is a rare commodity and slow feedback collection can lead to missed opportunities. Let’s take the example of a restaurant which offers a delivery option; if a customer is dissatisfied with the service received, it can take just minutes for them to head online to post negative comments about your business on social media. Online feedback forms allow you to respond quickly to the issue, reducing the risk of harmful online commentary.

How to Integrate Online Feedback Forms Effectively

If all of this sounds right up your street you’re probably champing at the bit to get started - but not so fast ! There’s more to it than slapping a form onto your website and hoping for the best. To make online feedback forms work for you, you’re looking for high participation, great quality responses and data management which is simple but effective.



In this section, we’ll show you how to use these forms effectively and gain optimal results:

Step 1: Choose the right placement

When it comes to feedback forms, bad placement is almost as bad as no placement at all. Getting the best out of your form depends on the where and when - by that we mean the crucial parts of the customer journey that will net you maximum participation and these are:

• Purchase confirmation - If you’re looking for feedback on customer experience on your site, this should take the form of a survey or rating once the purchase is complete. This is a good way of gaining responses while the purchase is still fresh in the customer’s mind and can help you to improve and tweak the checkout process
• Customer support - This is, of course, an extremely important part of your business and so it’s vital to know how you did. Asking for feedback on a support interaction through a chat window or survey can be really useful in ensuring that you are meeting customer support needs
• Cart abandonment - There are a few reasons why a customer might abandon their cart and knowing what these are helps to reduce drop-offs. A simple (and short) survey form can help you to uncover issues and make improvements
• Exit-intent popups - As with cart abandonment, an automatic pop-up is a good way of requesting feedback when a customer is planning to exit your site without making a purchase
• Order completion - The completion of an order is a crucial time for your business and it's important for you to know how it went. A simple “How did we do?” form is ideal for gathering intel on product quality or service effectiveness

Step 2: Keep It Short and Simple

Picture the scene - you’ve just made a purchase or completed a service and you’re suddenly presented with a long and wordy questionnaire. In many cases, customers simply don’t have the time or inclination to start wading through this kind of feedback form.



To have a better chance of response, keep your forms short with between three and five significant questions for the best insights. You might also consider rating scales and / or multiple choice questions which are faster and therefore more appealing to busy customers.

Step 3: Use conditional logic

Static online feedback forms don’t have to be generic or dull - in fact, you can use conditional logic to tailor them to individual customers and render them more relevant. You can also use this feature to generate follow-up questions, for example; if a user gives a rating of “Dissatisfied”, a follow up question can be sent to find out what went wrong. Similarly, if a customer says they were “Very satisfied”, you can prompt them to provide more info, a testimonial or an online review.

Step 4: Automate data collection and analysis

Collating your feedback is one thing - but it’s what you do with it that matters! In order to be effective and to stay within the law, data needs to be stored, analyzed and actioned properly. Because of this, it's important to choose a provider who will have the right tools for the job including centralized data storage for easy access and analysis and seamless integration to your CRM software, Google Analytics and marketing tools. This is vital for personalizing the user experience and simplifying follow-ups.

How to Choose a Feedback Form Creation Platform

In the last section, we spoke about the importance of choosing the right feedback form creation service and, in this section, we’ll dig a little deeper into what to look for before signing on the dotted line with a form provider.

• User friendly – Go for platforms that provide a drag-and-drop editor and ready-made templates, like Claspo builder, as these will allow you to create forms in minutes and, more importantly for many, without any technical expertise.
• Customization Options – Your chosen tool should include several different customization options so you can manage the position of the form and when it should be shown (e.g., show it after a purchase or when the visitor is exiting the site).
• Mobile Responsiveness – Over 30% of users fill in feedback forms on their phones and so you need to ensure that your form will display correctly on mobile devices to avoid missed opportunities with customer responses
• Analytics and Integrations – Look for a platform that automatically collects and analyzes data and integrates with CRM systems, Google Analytics, and other tools to streamline your feedback process.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to sit down and have a coffee with all your customers to find out what they think about your business - but online feedback forms are the next best thing. Giving your customers a fast, easy and convenient way to leave feedback will ensure that you obtain the vital data that you need to improve and scale.

As we’ve mentioned in this article, a few targeted questions is usually much more effective than 10 general ones so keep your forms short, sweet and to the point and you'll reap the benefits of honest feedback, willingly given, for years into the future...