Why You Should Allow Un-Censored Feedback

It is frightening how often a business owner is afraid of what her/his customers really think. We say 'You should allow customer feedback', they say 'but I'll probably get bad feedback'.

Without going into the potential issues that this opens up (ie. why are you leaving behind a trail of unsatisfied customers?), every small business is open to critical/negative feedback. It is something we should all expect from time to time. The problem seems to be how to deal with it.

Tim and I are all for open discussion, whether it be good or bad, hense our recent blog post about one unsatisfied customer on our Decisive Flow blog, simple and loveable. Our reasoning is:

• no one believes you are perfect - I don't trust any company who only shows me blazingly happy feedback
• The negative comments, if addressed well, turn into positive feedbacks - Imagine getting bad feedback, only to promptly reply (openly) offering a free replacement/discount/explanation. That's impressive!
• Sometimes this is the only avenue people are willing to offer feedback in. Any negative feedback you get is therefore extremely valuable in developing your business. Embrace it.

With the increasing ability to have comment- like feedback on websites and definately on e-commerce sites, real-time, open, uncensored feedback is a reality small businesses have to stomach. It can be frightening to open yourself up to criticism, however, I am yet to see an example of bad feedback actually hurting a good company.

Comments

[Gary Bourgeault (thealphamarketer.com)]

Open communications is completely upon all of us. We can either engage it, and thus help to be part of the conversation, or neglect it, and let others talk about it in any way they want.

We do need to learn to be thick-skinned and open to consumer input.

The great majority of customers know the difference between petty comments and legitimate complaints.

It's always how it is answered that determines how it puts your company into a positive or negative light.

[Natalie Ferguson]

Yes, that thick skin does need to be grown. I have found that turning all negative feedback into positive critisism is a good psychological shift that helps you deal with the inevitable.