When would you rather find out you’ve lost a customer? In a year’s time when they’ve built a relationship with your competitor or as soon as you’ve upset them? There’s no use delaying bad news. If you’ve disappointed them, it’s best to find out sooner so you can correct the situation. One of the best ways to get quick feedback is to run a customer feedback survey. If it’s something you know you should be doing but haven’t gotten around to it yet, follow these 5 steps and have your program set up in no time.

1. What do you want to know? Sounds simple, but what do you want customers to rate you on? I’d suggest picking between 5 and 10 aspects of your product or service that you think are important.

2. How should they answer? It’s usual to give people a few check box options to choose from like “great” or “poor.” Always have at least one question in your customer feedback survey where they can write comments that they may not be able to fit into one of your questions.

3. Should I offer an incentive? Possibly. You may encourage people to fill out your cards if you offer a prize or discount. Think about whether once a month you want to give someone a free haircut or a free meal. You could pick a card out out of the ones that have been returned.

4. How should it look? Keep it clean and simple. A Small Postcard size (4.25″x6″) is usually big enough. Your Client Service Team can help design a comment card to match your branding. Try our SmoothWove Showcards. These are easy to write on, and they are thick and bright white.

5. Where to put the cards? If you run a café or restaurant, put cards on your tables. Run a hotel or guest house? Leave cards in your rooms. Manufacturer or distributor? Put cards in your boxes. Service provider? Send cards with your invoices.