8 Ways to Research Your Current Customer Experience

Is the actual experience you deliver your customers in-line with the experience you're trying to deliver? There's only one sure way to know and that's to conduct research. You need real, objective data from your customers on which to base decisions. Your own assumptions aren't enough. Here are 8 ways to gather the research you need. 


Scour Social Media 
Search your name as a keyword on popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Look for positive and negative comments about your brand. These comments will tell you whether or not you're living up to customer expectations or not. 


Read Reviews and Ratings 
Find your listing on review and rating sites. Read reviews and see what feedback customers wrote about their experience with your company. For negative reviews, reply and ask for clarity or ways you can further help them. 


Ask Directly 
Come right out and ask. Offer a comment card or surveys. Offer an incentive such as a discount or freebie as enticement. The best time to ask for feedback is after the customer has bought and used the product. Make seeking feedback part of your follow-up process. 


Carry out Focus Groups 
While it requires a bit more investment of time and resources, focus groups are a great way to learn about the experience directly from customers. Invite select customers and lead a discussion about their experience dealing with your company. 


Website Analytics 
Website analytics offer an indirect way of evaluating the customer experience. If a large number of visitors come to your site but disappear without signing up, buying, or otherwise engaging, this could mean that there's a disconnect in the experience there. 


Communications Monitoring 
Monitor communications between employees and customers to see where there might be problems. This can also help you identify areas where employee training is lacking or where ongoing training is necessary. 


Employee Focus Groups 
It may also be useful to hold employee focus groups. In these groups, you can talk about your experiences with customers. Employees can talk about what they feel were successes or failures in the customer experience based on customer feedback or behavior. 


Encourage Interaction 
Always look for opportunities to interact naturally with your customers. The more you have interactions with them, the more likely you are to glean insights on how they view the experience with your business.  
 
This research should be ongoing. No customer experience is perfect and all can use some fine-tuning. Through the objective data you obtain during this research, you can identify areas of weakness for improvement.  
 
About The Author   
  
Pat Simes  is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.