As the short-term economic outlook darkens, we consider how feedback, both good and bad can support your business growth through challenging times

Feedback, whether perceived as positive or negative, is one of the most powerful tools you can utilise to improve and grow. Never more so than when belts are being tightened and spending becomes more considered.

Feedback is essentially an insight into how you are performing from the perspective of the very people who matter most – your customers. It can also help you raise standards from a regulatory perspective and boost team morale.

There are many different forms of feedback but, in today’s world, one of the most valuable is online feedback in the form of reviews.

In fact, online reviews are becoming an increasingly important component of any buying or decision-making process, with 93% of consumers saying that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions.¹ That means potential customers are reading what’s being said about you online.

Utilising both positive and negative feedback for growth

Let’s be honest, we all want five-star reviews. They tell us what we are doing right so we can keep doing more of the same and are extremely valuable in encouraging other customers to join us. Most people understand that positive reviews can be a real boost for their team and for the business overall, but where many fail to see the value is in the negative feedback.

You may think that it’s better to have no feedback than to have negative reviews or indeed stay under the radar, but in fact, the reverse is true. If people can’t find anything about you online, they are less likely to buy from you.

This is because people are looking for “social proof”. They want to know what other people are saying about a business before they buy from them or use their services themselves.

As a team, you can’t learn anything if you don’t understand what your customers think about your service. And the truth is you learn more from negative feedback, or what I like to term “constructive feedback”, than you do from a glowing five-star review that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Negative feedback can be essential to facilitating growth because it allows you and your team opportunities for learning and improvement.

Of course, there will be times when negative feedback is completely unwarranted, but it’s how you respond to it that really matters.

Responding professionally to negative reviews shows you care about what customers think and that you listen to them. This is actually really important to people reading reviews. No one believes a 100% perfect scorecard but what is authentic is a business with a mixture of reviews that thanks those saying positive things and acknowledges those saying not-so-positive things in a professional way.

You can even use your replies as an opportunity to boost your Google ranking by including keywords in what you write and as a chance to cross-sell if you have got a number of positive reviews for a specific treatment, for example.

Google reads the responses as well as the reviews, so this can help you attract more customers to book in for this same treatment, because people researching online will see your name come up.

Encouraging feedback

You and your team are great at what you do, which is providing outstanding care and customer support, but the review process is something many find quite challenging. It isn’t a simple, one-dimensional thing. It requires a number of steps.

For example, we all know Google reviews are a key form of online feedback because they are an important component of SEO, but many of you will be familiar with the struggle in trying to get them.

Customers will often say, when asked for feedback, “Of course, I’d be happy to say something positive about you. Send me a link”. But often, if it’s not followed up, it just won’t happen.

So how do you encourage more feedback to help your business grow?

Our experience is that customers love to shout about the service they’ve received, that’s where word of mouth has always been so powerful. However, in order to get them to shout about you online, you have to make it easy for them to do so.

An automated process

Gathering feedback is a process. It’s not just about giving customers a link. You must have systems in place and make sure you are consistent. One way is to ask every customer for feedback using an automated solution that is integrated through dental software like Software of Excellence of Dentally and sends patients a request for feedback by email or text. You can even use QR codes to help customers get straight to the right place to leave a review.

Staying current and ‘open for business’

Asking all customers for feedback gives you a more balanced view of how you are performing and allows you to utilise those insights to inform your customer service going forward and adapt where necessary. You can also use feedback to attract new customers, not only by garnering more Google reviews but also by making feedback visible on your own website or social media.

In addition, make sure you keep reviews up to date. Dynamic reviews are far more valuable than stagnant ones that are perhaps two years old.

Feedback offers a valuable opportunity for every business wanting to stand out and grow. By embracing feedback in all its forms, you can improve your customer service, demonstrate transparency and customer-focused, and boost your Google ranking.

Fundamentally, this leads to more loyal customers through the door and better retention, and that is crucial for growth, especially through this latest economic storm. This will also place you in an even stronger position when the rainbow does eventually appear.

As a top-tier partner that integrates directly with Software of Excellence and Dentally, Working Feedback can help you do exactly that. So, if you would like to learn about how our service can benefit you, in the first instance simply visit www.workingfeedback.co.uk, email [email protected] or call 0800 043 2100.

References

1. https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/online-review-stats/