20 Apr 2018
Discover effective strategies to collect valuable customer feedback even without their email addresses. Learn alternative methods for gathering insights and improving your customer experience.
If you don't have customer emails, you can invite them to provide feedback in other ways
The most effective way to get customer feedback is via an email invitation immediately after a customer interaction. However, this doesn't mean that businesses without customer emails can forget about their customer experience. There are other ways to reach your customers and get their opinions.
For the most part, we've talked about feedback invitations sent via email. This method has proven to be the most effective, but it's far from the only one. If you don't have your customers' email addresses, there are several alternative ways to gather their feedback. Good systems for collecting and analyzing customer feedback allow you to review opinions obtained through various channels.
If you don't have their emails, you can direct your customers to a questionnaire in one (or more) of the following ways:
Customers receive an invoice with their purchase. An invitation to rate their purchase experience can be printed on it. Customers would then complete this on your website, directed by a URL or QR code. For customer traceability, they can enter a unique code (e.g., invoice number) into the questionnaire. If traceability isn't needed, this step can be skipped. The customer rates their experience and points out any shortcomings.
It wouldn't be a stretch to say that most of us are somewhat dependent on the internet. I'd also venture to say there are few who wouldn't connect to free internet if it's available. If you offer it to your customers, you can direct them to a rating system immediately after they connect, where they can leave feedback about your business.
In places where your customers are (store, waiting room, salon, etc.), you can hang a poster inviting them to your website to rate you. In cases of personal contact, you can give the customer a business card with instructions on how to leave feedback. Consider your customer interactions and find a way to guide them to your rating system.
If you don't have your customers' email addresses but still want to send email invitations, you need to collect them. You also need to obtain the customer's consent to send them messages. Invite the customer to write their email address on a form that clearly states the purposes for which their email address will be used. Later, send invitations to rate their experience to the collected email addresses.
The common denominator for all feedback collection methods is that the customer always ends up on the same online form. This way, you have all opinions gathered in one place for analysis. You also maintain control over who sees your rating invitation. We are confident that there are even more ways to obtain customer feedback. We've highlighted those that Artur's customers have already used and found effective. Some have yielded almost unbelievable results, which we will write more about in the coming weeks.