Think Customers: The 1to1 Blog

Many of the case studies we present on voice of the customer discuss the value of learning from customer feedback--especially negative feedback. In our most recent reader satisfaction survey we were fortunate to have a full 98 percent of our readers say they were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of our content. Two percent said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. And 99 percent of our readers said they would recommend our content to associates. One reader, however, said he or she would not.

What I want to know is why not? To me negative feedback is a learning opportunity. We've told readers this in myriad articles. And I had every intention of contacting this reader to learn what we could do differently or better. Unfortunately, however, we used Zoomerang to send the survey in such a way that doesn't allow for tracking the source of individual responses. We sometimes do this for reader surveys in which the goal is anonymity. So although we did learn a great deal from the overall survey results, we also missed an opportunity to speak with a reader who may have provided additional, highly valuable insight.

Next time we'll rethink our approach. But for now... If you're out there, Mr./Ms. Reader, please let me know. I'd love to hear your full feedback.