August 26, 2021
One of the most valuable sources of information for improving your business is the feedback provided by your customers. Since they’ve already experienced what you have to offer, they can let you know what you’re getting right and what you’re getting wrong. Their feedback provides a roadmap that tells you what you can do to attract more customers and leave them not just satisfied but wowed.
Getting this valuable feedback requires more than just asking for it. Your approach doesn’t have to be complicated, but you do need to be strategic, intentional, and have a plan. Here’s how to ask for feedback so you can grow your tour company.
Remember, you’re not just asking for feedback — you’re asking for feedback that will improve your business. There’s a difference. Having a clear sense of why you’re asking for customer feedback will help you develop more targeted questions that will yield the kind of specific, actionable information that you need to move forward.
Think about what your business goals are. Do you want to improve your current tour offerings? Expand your business? Appeal to a different target audience, such as families? Having answers to these questions will go a long way toward clarifying what you should be asking when you reach out to your customers for their feedback.
It’s also much easier for customers to answer questions that zero in on specific aspects of their experience with your company, such as “How can we improve our online booking process?”, rather than a general question like “How did you enjoy your tour with us?”
Also, before you ask for customer feedback, make sure you’re willing to act on it. There’s no reason to ask for feedback if you don’t plan to invest in making meaningful changes to your tour business.
This may seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of companies get this part wrong by not giving enough thought to how they ask for feedback. Regardless of the method you use to solicit feedback (and we’ll get into your options below), the phrasing you use can have a big impact on the volume and quality of your responses. For example, if you send an email that says “Please feel free to let us know if you have any feedback!” what the customer may hear is “We don’t really care one way or the other.”
Consider what a different impression the following request makes. “It would mean so much to us if you’d fill out a short survey on your experience. It takes just two minutes to complete and will help us serve you better the next time you join us on a tour!”
Letting your customers know that you truly welcome their feedback as well as how much time it will take them to provide it and what they stand to gain from giving it (an improved experience) makes it far more likely that they’ll provide feedback.
So now that you have a better sense of why and how to ask for feedback, let’s look at some of the best ways to do it.
There are plenty of online tools you can use to create a customer feedback survey, such as SoGoSurvey, SurveyMonkey, and even Google Forms.
You can increase the chances that customers will provide feedback by making it as easy as possible for them to do so. Here are some simple guidelines to keep in mind:
Often, customers will leave comments about their experience with you on their social media accounts. You can access this unsolicited feedback — which can be a goldmine of useful information — with a social listening tool, such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social.
You can also seek out comments directly by running polls on your business’s social media channels. For example, Instagram lets you run simple polls that are really easy to use and let your customers provide instant feedback in a way that is fun and friendly. While this method won’t yield extremely detailed feedback, it’s still very useful for gauging customer satisfaction on a broad level.
Another simple and effective way to ask for customer feedback is through email. The best part is that email allows for personal, one-on-one interactions, so you can develop that sense of connection and rapport that is so key to collecting candid, actionable feedback.
To improve the chances of your customers responding to your email requests, be sure to send a message that is personalized. Email open rates are significantly higher for emails that are personalized versus those that are not. Some simple ways you can do this are including their name in the salutation (the personalization tag in your email campaign builder is a great way to send out mass emails that still feel personal) and making sure the body of the email mentions the specific tour they booked with you.
If you do get a response, be sure to thank the customer for taking the time to provide feedback. One surefire way to damage goodwill with your customers is to collect their valuable input and then follow it up with crickets. It’s also a good idea to send them a reward, such as a discount on a future booking. This demonstrates in a clear way that you value their feedback and care about turning them into a repeat customer.
Customers are the cornerstone of every business, including tour booking businesses. Their feedback can offer the insights you need to rise above the competition and accelerate your success.
Don’t make the mistake of treating customer feedback as an afterthought. Be just as intentional and strategic about how you ask for and respond to customer feedback as you are about creating and customizing your tour offerings.
Social media, email campaign planners, and other online tools make it easier than ever for businesses of all sizes to connect with their customers and get the kind of specific, valuable feedback that can build customer loyalty and boost profits.
