Are you listening to your customers?

Got your ears on good buddy?

Many years ago, during the CB (CITIZEN BAND RADIO) craze, this was a slang way of saying “Are you listening?” As marketers, it is easy to fall into the habit of communicating to consumers rather than communicating with consumers. And that is dangerous—because without consumer feedback, your products and marketing are likely to become increasingly irrelevant, uncompetitive, and unsuccessful.

In today’s environment of rapid change, successful products and marketing need to accurately follow the shifts in this environment.

A marketer’s view of her or his products is based both on their own perceptions and on the perceptions of others. But who are those “others?” In too many cases they tend to be fellow employees, retailers, and management—NOT consumers. Unless a marketer makes a systemic effort, we may seldom come into direct contact with prospects or customers.

When was the last time you took the time to seek out direct customer feedback? Can’t remember? It’s easy to understand—there is almost always some crucial meeting, or project, or conference that takes precedence. And even if you can find the time, there is rarely enough budget to have researchers set up interviews or focus groups.

So how do we get the consumer feedback we need to stay on course? Remember, the goal is to get honest feedback from consumers (not to confirm our own personal biases). While we might not agree with what they say (it may not even be correct), their perception is your reality.

First let’s talk about some opportunities to systematically collect feedback:

--Soliciting input on your web page: Make it easy for people to leave you messages. Not just a CONTACT US tab in the menu bar, but a prominent “we want to hear from you” box on the home page. Note: If you ask for communication, you’re going to get it. Be prepared to keep the dialogue going. That means responding to consumers in a timely fashion.

--Monitoring customer service: Schedule time to monitor your customer service people’s interactions with consumers. It is usually possible to obtain tapes of telephone interactions, and copies of customer correspondence (with the corporate replies).

--Monitoring outside web conversations/postings: Search engines make it easy to find out where people are discussing your company, products, and promotions. If internet “buzz” is really important to you, there are services like Nielsen Online which will locate comments and summarize the content.

Finally, let’s talk about a couple of useful questions to ask:

--What one thing would you change about this product? Any other things you’d change?

--What one thing would you tell the company to never change?
Any other things you’d never change?

--What is the silliest thing that this company does? Anything else?

--What is the best thing that this company does? Anything else?