Customer Feedback in Strategic Planning

Introduction

In the recent era of globalisation, the strategic planning of all the organisations is to gather customer’s feedback in order to acknowledge the actual needs and preferences of the customers so that the leaders and the managers have proper understanding about how they can satisfy the customers with quality products and services of the firms (Talón-Ballestero et al., 2018). The aim of the study is to analyse the customer feedback system in the organisations, where the staff and the managers are concerned about gathering the feedback directly from the customers. The study also provides an opportunity to discuss and identify different aspects of customer feedback management as well as provide some suitable recommendations through which the managers and the organisational representatives can collect the customer’s feedback through traditional way or through online activities.

Customer feedback system

Customer feedback system can be maintained both offline and online where traditionally, the managers tries to use a particular firm to gather feedback directly from the customers and in the recent era of digitalisation, there are online activities through which the organisational representatives can collect the feedback of the customers about their experience of purchase, products quality or further issue related to the product quality etc (Zerbino et al., 2018). Through the information collected by the customer feedback system, it is possible for the organisations to understand the feelings and satisfaction level of the customers as well as gather the opinion of the customers about the products services and quality etc. Technology has expanded the practice of customer feedback system, where in the recent years, the organisations use online forms or portals where the customers can provide their opinion successfully. This is effective for the business firms to gather the data and information about the perception of the customers as it in turn provides a scope to the managers to restructure their products and services as well as improve their quality as per the market demand and customer’s preferences. The customer feedback system is also beneficial for the customers also, where they can proper service directly from the organisations according to their needs and preferences. It is hereby advantageous for the organisations to gather customer’s feedback in order to manage the operational activities, improve the strategic planning for serving the customers with innovation and creativity band maximise the satisfaction level of the customers as the companies are trying to deliver quality products and services as per the needs and preferences of the buyers (Dewnarain, Ramkissoon and Mavondo, 2019).

There are different system through which the customer’s data can be collected such as online reviews and ratings, social media comments, customer satisfaction survey, emails and phone calls, comments cards, usability test, focus group discussion and customer interviews and roundtables, which are effective strategies to collect the first hand information directly from the customers about their opinion and perception regarding the organisational services, products quality and pricing and others (Anshari et al., 2018). Customer feedback system recently is one of the effective ways to collect feedback from the customers and it is software product or application through which the business organisations can manage the customer’s feedback. The channel is effective to gather valuable data and information which is essential to improve the overall operational activities and maximise experience of the customers in long run. Customer feedback system is also beneficial for the organisations as it helps the front-line employees to understand the customers better and fulfil their preferences with loyalty and trust. Hereby the customer feedback system is also advantageous for building string relationship between the customers and the organisational representatives with trust and loyalty where the consumers can rely on the organisation’s products and service to make effective purchase decision. Additionally, the customer feedback system is also effective for providing post purchase service and support the customers to resolve their queries ad choose the best possible products and services according to their actual choice and preferences (Mourtzis et al., 2018).

Aspects of customer feedback system

Under the customer feedback system, there are several key features through which the data and information are collected directly from the customers. The online portals and online survey questionnaire are effective and beneficial way to gather data and information directly from the consumers. In addition to this, the social media listening and feedback monitoring are necessary where the experts of the organisation try to analyse the feedback and try to understand the market trend and choice of the customers so that they can develop effective strategic planning to serve the customers in a better way (Nagarajan, Thirunavukarasu and Shanmugam, 2018). During gathering the data, the organisations ensures that the information are being kept with safety and security by General Data Protection Act 2018 as well as the experts are also concerned about clod computing to manage the gathered data and information from the consumers. In this context, the customer feedback system is helpful to monitor the online reviews, social media comments, star ratings and other forms filled up by the consumers. These are the major ways of collecting the data and information directly from the customers. After collecting the data and information, reports are made by the experts where text analytics and analytics are able to analyse the feedback and understand the sentiment of the customer where it also provides a scope to the experts to develop the strategic planning for the organisation so that the customer’s queries can be resolved and the quality of the products and services can be maximised (Gupta et al., 2018). The analysis of data and textual information helps to acknowledge the hidden trend and pattern of making effective purchase decision of the consumers in the market. Customer survey and feedback collection is another crucial aspects of customer feedback system, where the companies try to gather the opinion of the consumers and link the opinion with the business so that proper strategic planning can be developed and it would be beneficial for the organisation to deliver quality products and services as per the customer’s choice to satisfy them (Nagarajan, Thirunavukarasu and Shanmugam, 2018).

Attitude of management the customer’s feedback is necessary aspects of customer feedback system, where the managers need to manage the feedback and link it to the business activities for improving the operational activities of the firms and satisfy the customers successfully with innovation and creativity. In this regard, the email and telephonic conversation with the customers are effective to link the feedback with the organisational activities in which the managers are able to understand the feelings ad perception of the customers. Active listening to the customers, encouraging them to share their feedback honestly and managing transparency and accountability in collecting feedback are effective practice to manage the feedback and implementing it in the organisations successfully (Gupta, Pansari and Kumar, 2018). Customer voice management and provide suitable solutions to the customers are effective strategy of the front-line managers in satisfying the consumers and retaining them for long run. Hereby, the attitude of the front-line managers is important to manage the customers successfully. In this context, the front-line managers are responsible for managing customer feedback system as well as maximise the customer relationship management efficiently. Review request and review generation where online reviews and ratings are also effective for managing customer feedback system where the front-line managers and analysts of the firms are looking for relevant and valid feedback of the customers to improve their service s that they can satisfy the customers successfully.

In the recent era of globalisation, there are multi-platform feedback system for gathering the data and information directly from the customers as well as analyse the feedback and implement it successfully in the organisation so that the forint line managers can handle the consumers and maximise their experience proficiently. Hereby, the channels for gathering customer’s feedback are such as email, social media, SMS, unique landing pages, point-of-sale and point-of-care device which are effective channels to gather the relevant and valid data and information which are necessary to reshape the organisational operational activities in order to maximise the satisfaction level of the customers. In this regard, managing equality through the Equality Act 2010 as well as consumer legislations are also helpful to support the customers and encourage them to provide authentic information and feedback as per their perception and experience that they have gathered during making their purchase decision (Dimyati and Subagio, 2018). Proper monitoring and evaluation of the feedback is also necessary aspect for managing the customer’s feedback and in this regard, the analysts in the organisation plays a crucial role to evaluate the collected feedback and identify the loopholes or the positive comments by the customers so that it is possible to maximise the organisational performance where the managers are able to serve the customers according to their expectations.

Conclusion and recommendations

It can be concluded that, the organisations in the recent years focuses on customer relationship management for expanding their business across the globe as well as strengthen their customers base in long run. In this context, for managing customer relationship, the customer feedback system is one of the effective ways to understand the perception and feelings of the customers and delver effective products and services according to the expectations of the buyers. The feedback system is nearby beneficial for both the organisations and he customers where the customers become satisfied and the organisations can evaluate the implement the feedback to enhance their performance in the market as per the market trend. Through the customer feedback system, the managers and analysts can predict the market trend and customer’s perception and habit in the recent years, and it would be beneficial for the organisations to reshape the strategic planning of the business to satisfy the customers successfully. The collection of data and information which are relevant and valid for analysing the organisational present situation as well as proper evaluation and implementation of the feedback and attitude of the front-line managers are playing crucial role in managing the customers proficiently and maximise their experience in long run.

In order to improve the customer feedback system, it is necessary for the organisational managers to provide proactive live chat support which is effective for the customers to share their experience as well as for the front line managers to express their understanding about the products and services so that the spending of the consumers on a particular product or service be worthwhile. Monitoring the social channel is necessary during proper interval so that the reviews and ratings of the customers can be managed well. The front-line managers are responsible to satisfy the customers by telephonic conversation or email and clear the doubts and queries of the buyers and it is also playing a crucial role in managing the customer feedback system on long run. The front-line managers try to cooperate with the customers and respect all the customers, as well as show empathy and honesty in handling their queries. The managers are also responsible to have active listening skill and communication skill so that they can listen the customer’s feedback and understand their feelings as well as interact with them positively for better performance. Measuring the feedback and evaluating it for the benefit for the organisation is necessary and, in this regard, the analysts plays a crucial role in developing reports and charts and categorise the feedback collected from the customers. Measuring the customer service is also necessity for the managers so that all the feedback can be implemented, and the managers can develop effective strategic planning for serving the customers in a better and unique way. In addition to this, for managing the customer feedback system, the managers need to develop the company’s website and mobile application to ask for feedback on order confirmation page as the market trend of online shopping is increasing, the strategy of asking feedback at the confirmation page will provide a scope to gather more data and comments from the customer which provides a scope to the organisations to maximise customer’s experience and strengthen their customers base for long run.

Reference List

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