Collecting customer feedback should be easy. And I mean both for you and the customer. It shouldn't be complicated with a lot of writing, many documents and procedures. Giving feedback should be a process that takes 3 to 5 minutes. So what are the mistakes your company does with it?

1. Feedback is a bunch of numbers - the most common mistakes is that companies generally collect feedback in the form of numbers, percentages and scores. This makes the feedback a whole thing that gives information about the state of the company as a whole, but prevents from linking particular feedback with particular events, sometimes even with particular products;

2. Feedback is something we don't share regularly - most companies collect feedback, brake it down to summaries and send it to the departments that need it every month. This is a mistake because most of the feedback is information that can help not just a single department. Send the whole feedback to all departments or grant access to it to everyone. Also, once a month is not enough, send it on daily bases;

3. Customers don't need to express everything literally - when is the last time you completed a survey for a company? Did you have the option to answer freely or were you given predetermined answers from which to choose? I bet it was the second one. Big mistake. Companies often make surveys with answers like Yes/No, Likely/Not likely. Avoid this type of tests. Give your customers the freedom to speak their mind, not just choose from a bunch of answers;

4. Motivating the employees with bonuses - I know it sounds nice, but this is a mistake. Rewarding employees based on the feedback they receive might sound like the best idea ever, and things will be ok for a couple of months, but there is an inevitable flaw - the feedback will get corrupted. At some point, your employees will start paying attention to numbers than to the actual quality of customer service. Sooner or later, forged results and feedbacks will appear etc;

5. Customers are just some folks with no names or personalities whatsoever - anonymous feedback is an inadequate thing, part of the old outdated marketing books. Most people want their opinion to be acknowledged and to know that the time they invested in giving you feedback isn't lost. They generally want to know that they means something to the company and not just a simple digit.

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