How can researchers and teams channel customer feedback into lasting product innovation that drives customer satisfaction and loyalty?
That’s the question we asked a panel of business owners and product developers. We wanted to further unpack the connection between strong customer experiences and product innovation. From inviting your best reviewers to demos to upgrading customer support, panelists had several ideas to help channel feedback into product innovation, in turn increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Below find 10 ways to channel customer feedback into product innovation:
Capture Customer Voices at Every Step- Invite Your Most Engaged Reviewers to Demos
- Leverage Both Positive and Negative Reviews
- Enable Requesting New Features
- Be Specific About Your Plan of Action
- Harness the Power of AI
- Create a Customer Advisory Board
- Hold Regular Feedback Review Meetings
- Create a Customer Journey Map
- Upgrade Customer Support
Capture Customer Voices at Every Step
“To create an innovation pipeline driven by the voice of the customer (VoC), teams need to approach market research more holistically, holding conversations with customers prior to product development or a major initiative, as well as continuing conversations with them over time, often as part of an organized program. Conducting qualitative research can be done at the innovations stage, the concept stage, message testing stage, UX stage, post launch for validation, and then at the CX stage.
This is the key difference between organizations that are customer centric and those that are not. And to truly drive customer loyalty along the way, researchers and teams can carry out iterative, agile research with the same respondents, making them part of the innovation process and building brand ambassadors as they feel a part of it all. As we’ve seen through our customer closeness programs, organizations that conduct qualitative research at scale can access more relevant information that leads to better business decision-making and an increased likelihood of innovation, leading to both improved customer experience and employee engagement with customers.”
~Jim Longo, Discuss
Invite Your Most Engaged Reviewers to Demos
“One way to channel customer feedback into lasting product innovation that drives customer satisfaction and loyalty is to invite frequent or highly articulate reviewers to attend a demo of new or improved products. This tactic shows that you value your audience’s opinions and implement their feedback, and also demonstrates a commitment to involve your clients continuously in the development process. The gesture makes customers feel appreciated and gives them a greater sense of ownership in the product, which in turns breeds loyalty and drives repeat business. Not to mention, most folks relish the chance to be part of an “exclusive club,” have influence within the company, and get a sneak peek at upcoming developments.”
~Michael Alexis, TeamBuilding
Leverage Both Positive and Negative Reviews
“Customer feedback is only as good as what you choose to do with it. Keep in mind, customers who are either really happy with your brand or really unhappy with it are the ones who take the time to voice their opinions. Both ends of the spectrum can boost your business. Use the good reviews to ensure you’re staying on track; leverage the negative ones to make adjustments to your business. By considering both, you’re doubling your chances of getting more positive than negative feedback in the future.”
~Greg Gillman, MuteSix
Enable Requesting New Features
“Effective product improvement requires developing a structured feedback loop. Creating a designated and visible space for the customers to voice their opinions is one of the best ways. Replying to their request with suggestions of technical improvements addressing those needs and allowing them to upvote them can do the trick. Then, it is only a matter of adding those features to the developers’ workloads.”
~Michael Sena, SENACEA
Be Specific About Your Plan of Action
“Aiming to improve customer satisfaction is a noble goal, but you won’t go very far with it unless you have a clear action plan in place. When you receive customer feedback, begin formulating strategies which directly address the customers’ concerns. For example, if there are issues with your customer service response times, don’t aim to “respond quicker”; aim to migrate to a more responsive messaging platform or use an automated chatbot to reply instantaneously. Efforts to create innovative new processes show customers that you’re actively committed to addressing the issues that they face. This shows that you listen to and act upon customer feedback, which has a lasting impact on their satisfaction and loyalty.”
~Mike Grossman, GoodHire
Harness the Power of AI
“Customer reviews are often dispersed among various different channels, discouraging many businesses from collecting and analyzing this data. Collating this data takes up a lot of time and effort even before you can integrate it into the product development process. AI data collection analysis provides the tools for this data to be implemented in a cost-efficient manner and comes to your rescue. Technology like natural language processing (NLP), an AI-based procedure that automatically interprets text, reaches exactly the same accuracy as trained experts would. Being machine-based means it’s quicker, more consistent, and in the long run more accurate, which makes NLP perfect to analyze feedback data.”
~Stewart McGrenary, Freedom Mobiles
To see how the Discuss People Experience Platform leverages AI and NLP to generate insights quickly and at scale, learn more about Augmented Insights, our insights extraction engine.
Create a Customer Advisory Board
“Create a customer advisory board, which can be made up of current and past customers, who can provide feedback on everything from product design and functionality to customer service and marketing. The advisory board can also help to develop new products and services, and test prototypes.”
~Matthew Ramirez, Rephrasely
Hold Regular Feedback Review Meetings
“Making a habit of reviewing customer feedback regularly, as well as tracking it in an easy-to-find place, is a great way to ensure the most popular ideas are added to your roadmap. In an ideal world, this would happen with your product management team, but you can also review it during all hands, marketing, or even customer service meetings to make sure the customer feedback is contributing to everything from support to user experience.”
~Sylvia Kang, Mira
Create a Customer Journey Map
“When you receive new customer feedback, it’s important to explore the full extent of what their suggested improvements mean for your product or service. It’s not always as simple as employing change and driving loyalty as a result — sometimes, you must evaluate potential issues or pain points that could arise as a result. This form of contingency planning ensures that your product innovation fixes problems instead of creating them.
For example, your customers might ask for a drop-down filter to make searching a dashboard easier and more intuitive. Instead of simply creating the drop-down, evaluate potential issues that may arise as a result during every micro-moment within the customer journey. For example, are there ways to reduce the amount of clicks necessary to find or use the drop-down? Could users encounter any issues in doing so? Once you’ve evaluated the full scope of the feedback you receive, you can make effective, innovative changes which augment the customer experience.”
~Patrick Casey, Felix
Upgrade Customer Support
“Upgrade your customer support to collect the majority of customer data. With this approach, you’ll be able to use the information to improve the product, as well as keep up with and acquiring new customers. When you have top-notch customer support, it shows that you care for the customer. Hence, even if anything happens with the service, customer support will provide a solution. This drives customer satisfaction and loyalty towards your brand.”
~Meera Watts, Siddhi Yoga International Pte. Ltd.
To learn even more about how customer feedback can help drive customer experiences, satisfaction and loyalty, download our free guide: “Build What People Will Buy: How Qualitative Research Improves Technology Product Development.”
