Setting up small businesses for success in today’s market requires more than just a good product or service, it demands a keen ear for customer feedback. As the leader of Chooze.com.au, a platform dedicated to enhancing the shopping experience within the disability and aged care sectors, I’ve learned that the most profound insights often come directly from those we serve.
The power of customer insights: feedback as a catalyst for growth
I believe the key to a successful business is solving a problem (or problems) and who better to identify problems than customers. Our online marketplace came about because a customer articulated unmet needs in the disability and aged care community. Since then, we have leveraged ongoing customer and stakeholder feedback, ensuring our solutions resonated with our users, shaping our offerings and guiding our growth strategy.
A transformative example came when we received critical feedback through our website’s feedback portal. Initially, this feedback appeared overly negative, but after review by our Quality Assurance team, it became evident that the issues raised were valid and highlighted a misleading feature on our website. Had we not acted on it, the integrity of our site could have been compromised. Instead, we made significant changes, enhancing our platform for all users.
Come hail or shine: the importance of accepting all feedback
The key to being customer-focused is acknowledging and acting on all feedback, both positive and negative. It’s easy to bask in the glow of positive feedback, but real growth happens when you embrace negative critique. Rather than seeing negative feedback as a personal attack, or looking for ways to discredit it, see it as a strategic tool for improvement and growth.
In order to remain open to every piece of feedback received you need to implement an objective feedback submission and review process. At Chooze, our Quality Assurance team monitors, reviews and responds to all customer feedback. This balanced mechanism ensures we prioritise the best outcome rather than the easy outcome and keeps us aligned with our customers’ needs and expectations.
Integrity in action: the importance of self-governance in leadership
Self-governance is a cornerstone of organisational success. It is the ability to regulate your emotions, thoughts and behaviours in alignment with your organisation’s long-term business goals and ethical standards. Those with strong self-governance, lead by example, modelling the values and standards you expect from your team.
Self-governance leads to objective evaluation and allows you to make decisions that are best for your team and brand. By securing buy-in on organisational values and applying these values in strategic planning, leaders can uphold integrity, support continuous improvement and inspire team members to emulate these behaviours, reinforcing a strong organisational culture.
The bottom line: never take customers for granted
Trust and loyalty form the foundation of customer relationships. In the digital age, where feedback is rapid and far-reaching, ignoring customer feedback can quickly erode trust, leading to decreased loyalty and retention as customers turn to competitors. Consistently overlooked feedback can damage a brand’s reputation, as dissatisfied customers are likely to share their negative experiences widely.
This not only impacts earnings and market share but can also demoralise employees, affecting engagement and productivity, which in turn influences staff turnover and ultimately your bottom line. Ignoring customer input can also hinder innovation. If there’s one thing to remember, it’s that customers are often the most valuable source of ideas for improvements or upcoming changes in a sector. Never take them for granted.
