Using customer feedback to strengthen business relationships

We work with a range of multinational businesses around the world. And in this post, we’ve picked out the most common themes we’ve heard from their customers over the last year. 

This kind of data offers more than just helpful insights for our clients. The customer feedback we gather delivers real value and competitive advantage for them too. But only when it's interpreted and used in the right way. 

As a consultancy, we make a difference by helping our clients to understand the essential, 'pivotal truths' that matter most to their customers. 

When these ‘truths’ translate into practical changes within the business, the results are transformative. It's why we think of them as 'pivotal': understanding and acting on them is a genuine turning point. 

While the feedback we discuss here comes in part from the packaging industry, the themes are universal. 

Customers have similar pain points – whatever the industry

So, what have our clients’ customers have been telling us? 

Unsurprisingly, the biggest concerns centred around quality and supply chain.

For packaging clients, 100 per cent of the negative feedback we heard from their customers mentioned quality, deliveries and lead times. 

And for non-packaging, 88 per cent of negative feedback highlighted deliveries and lead times too. 71 per cent of their feedback mentioned quality. 

No surprises here: regardless of sector, getting the basics right is fundamental. 

But what does this mean for the customer relationship?

At the Customer Relationship Consultancy, we use ‘Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs’ to frame these results in terms of customer engagement. If you’ve never come across it before, there’s a nice explanation of it here. We have applied this theory to our own research and come up with a slightly amended version of the framework (below). 

So, a company that does the ‘fundamentals’ right engages their customers at the most basic level of Maslow’s model. But when clients service their customers at higher levels, the relationship really develops. 

Customer experience is key. And our data supports this, showing that responsiveness to issues and customer service were among the most mentioned themes in terms of positive feedback.

100 per cent of packaging clients’ customers mentioned customer service in their positive feedback. Over 75 per cent of non-packaging customers did too. 

Moving even further up Maslow's model, that relationship strengthens. Once customers know you get the basics right – or can solve problems when you don't – trust grows further. They expect the customer experience to be smooth with effective communication and solid customer service levels. 

At this point, your customers see you as a partner that they can collaborate with, even at a strategic level.

Moving beyond ‘insights’, to ‘pivotal truths’

So how does the kind of work that we do here at The Customer Relationship Consultancy help you to make this progress? 

Well, we don’t just offer you ‘insights’. The analysis we use takes the feedback and makes it tangible. We listen to your customers, and identity the 'pivotal truths' that matter to them. 

Then, we translate these into the practical foundations of your business strategy. 

Why is this so important? Because in today’s environment, customers increasingly want a consistently high quality experience. 

So the businesses that thrive don’t just do the basics well. They are doing more than simply offering good customer service levels. Their customers also trust them to bring innovative new solutions to the table and collaborate on key projects. You become a strategic partner. 

It takes a lot to get there, and this trust is hard won. But by identifying the most important 'pivotal truths' for your customers, we can help your business to add real value for them and help you transcend from a transactional relationship to a strategic one.  

If you would like to see more of our research in this area, please don’t hesitate to get in contact. 

Or, to find out how we can help your business to add value for your customers, email us or call us on 01753 201341. We’d love to hear from you.