Close the Loop

By Philipp Gockel, Global Senior Manager Customer Delivery Experience, Schneider Electric

Philipp Gockel, Global Senior Manager Customer Delivery Experience, Schneider Electric

We are all too familiar with this; you're running an app on your mobile device, or looking at your favorite websites on the Internet, and all the sudden up pops a screen asking for your feedback. To be honest, occasionally, this can be deemed annoying, especially if happened too often. However, for the surveying company, it’s a great way of taking the pulse of their customers and clients-if done well.

Getting customer feedback is an essential part of today's businesses, it is pretty much in the spotlight as customer centricity becomes more conspicuous.

“End-of-the-day what matters are the customers; because customer is king! No customers, no business”

All businesses want to know how satisfied or dissatisfied their customers are with their offering. Some businesses are absolutely obsessed with customer centricity.

There’s nothing wrong with this obsession, and it's a great way of driving your business - if not even the best and only way. End-of-the-day what matters are the customers; because customer is king! No customers, no business.

Therefore, its is more important to take the customers' feedback seriously, and act on it accordingly, instead of letting it become yet another KPI which is looked at, reported and analyzed internally.

Most crucial is when you know which customers had been surveyed to understand the mentioned pain points of those ones, who are unhappy, or who are presenting a detractor (using Net Promoter Score terminology).

It is imperative to understand their categorized and brief feedback in more detail, then show them that you care about their voice. Most material is the speed of execution in rectifying areas of concerns after the survey by taking timely actions.

Too often we see a huge collection drive of feedback, but not acted upon. Those who took action are the ones setting the pace towards the right direction in customer retention.

What is equally necessary though, something often being overlooked, is to ‘close the loop’ with your customer. And here I mean to check back if the implemented action provided the desired resolution in the eyes of the customer.

Often, a solution is implemented based on an internal set of measurements, and it looked excellent in terms of delivery based on corporate KPIs. Externally though it might be very different scenario with the clientele, and that's why it is important to check if it is actually aligned with customers' expectations and demands. By going through this step provides you with the clarity on whether your execution serves the customer in the right way, adds value, and solves his or her pain points. Furthermore, it shows your customers, that you care about their voice, which can help in building a collaborative working relationship.

So get your customers' feedback, take it seriously, act on it and close the loop with your customer by getting his/her feedback on the implemented solution. Should it still be dissatisfying, you will repeat this cycle until it is.

Schneider Electric, having APAC presence, is the global specialist in energy management and automation. Headquartered in France, with revenues of ~€25 billion in FY2016, Schneider Electric’s 160,000+ employees serve customers in over 100 countries.