Get feedback: April 09, 2001 issue of New Thinking

April 09, 2001 New Thinking:
Get feedback!

Website content management

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April 09, 2001

Get feedback!

By Gerry McGovern

I recently attempted to book a flight online. I got halfway through the process and it felt like I was getting the wrong information. So I rang up the airline and sure enough I was given a different set of flight details. So I booked over the phone. I didn’t go back to the website to fill out any ‘feedback’ form because to be quite honest I couldn’t be bothered. It had wasted enough of my time already.

“The customer is now a participant in the production process.” Alvin Toffler told Business2 magazine in September 2000. “What’s happening is a shift toward consumption in which the lines have blurred between producer and consumer or customer. The customer provides information as to what they want. Without that information, producers create a product that they can’t sell and no one wants… The relationship with the customer to the producer is radically changed and enhanced by the Internet.”

That is the theory of the ‘interactive’ Internet. My feeling is that the practice is very different. That is not to say that I don’t agree with Alvin Toffler’s thinking. More feedback from the consumer will enhance the products being developed. However, the Internet really only offers a limited type of feedback.

If I’m a manager in a store and I constantly see large queues at the cash register, that’s feedback. If I’m a sales person and I see a confused looking customer holding up a product, that’s feedback. If I hear back from my floor staff that customers are constantly asking where the changing rooms are, that’s feedback. If I see an angry customer, that’s feedback. If I see lots of customers coming into the store, but only a few buying, that’s feedback.

It has been a hallmark of truly customer-focused organizations that all staff get out on the floor, get out on the road, for at least some period in the year, so as to get a first-hand ‘feel’ for the customer.

How do you get a first-hand feel for the customer who visits a website? In my opinion, this is a key question that web designers and managers need to address if we want to have websites that truly work for the customer. How do we positively engage with the customer and get their valued feedback?

It’s certainly more than having a link called ‘Feedback’. You see the Web, for all its interactive hype, is a very sterile environment. You need to work hard to get your customer to interact. ‘What’s in it for me?’ they’ll justifiably ask. ‘Why should I bother filling out this form?’ they’ll wonder.

The first step in achieving feedback is to make people aware that their feedback is valued. It’s about:

Actively reaching out to the customer
Asking them questions when they complete a process
Offering prizes or extra services for fully completed feedback forms
Hosting well-moderated discussion boards or mailing lists
Offering rewards for those who participate in focus groups
Getting back to people quickly, thanking them and answering any queries raised in their feedback

Gerry McGovern

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Content management seminar feedback
"Gerry's presentation was very well received by the more than 400 higher education delegates. I've chaired this meeting since 1994 and very few speakers have generated the same level of enthusiasm. Wit and wisdom is always an unbeatable combination."
Bob Johnson, American Marketing Association

“Excellent presenter ... thought-provoking and relevant. I hope we can persuade him to visit us again one day.”
Malcolm Davison
The British Association of Communicators in Business

"Hearing Gerry McGovern speaking, one can feel that he truly masters the subject of content management. He was voted ‘best speaker of the conference’ by delegates."
Toon Lowette
European Association of Directory Publishers

Find out more about Gerry McGovern's seminars

The Web, for all its interactive hype, is a very sterile environment. You need to work hard to get your customer to interact.