1D: Customer feedback

On the concept level of start-up, the fourth element is customer feedback. This seems obvious, but listening to the customer and certainly in an early stage, is often denied. The brilliance of the product and service, made by the owner, is more important than the feedback of the future buyers.

I think there are three important elements. Let’s read, discuss and improve!

It is obvious that you need to ask a larger number of customers to give feedback. More feedback gives you more input. Not only friends, family and the first ‘row’ of customers, but search for a representative group and maybe use them more than once. Don’t be afraid to make this group larger and larger. Detailed customer feedback is essential for further growth and acceptance.

When you ask feedback to customers, be prepared. Make a solid questionnaire. Think of all the elements you want to discuss and offer the customers also some free space. Be open-minded towards your own product or service. Or even better, let others make the questionnaire. You will see the effect of detailed preparation. You want to improve, so proper and detailed feedback is important.

Customer feedback makes only sense after a longer period of usage. Give future customers the opportunity to use the product/service somewhat longer, or even constantly. Sometimes a group of fixed customers, like a permanent panel, will grow and this gives the opportunity for continuous feedback.

There are many ways to collect customer feedback. You can ask it directly to your friends, family or customers with a simple questionnaire. But there are also some digital tools like UserVoice, Hotjar or Typeform which can help you to collect customer feedback. These feedback tools give you a quick overview of the received feedback.