Small Business Owners and Managers:

Once you've decided to incorporate customer feedback into your business, you're ready to select a platform. Look for a tool that will be accessible to your customers at all times, on any device and one you can distribute to wherever your customers may be - online, in email, on social apps, even offline. Included templates will help you get up to speed quickly and there's no sense reinventing the wheel.

Once you are actively gathering feedback in a structured way, you're ready to begin measuring the responses. Having an effective platform that provides this information in a meaningful way is crucial; the analysis tools must be intuitive and available to you any time you have a moment to review them. Your ability to measure feedback is key to increasing profits from it.

Even if you don't immediately make adjustments, just the act of asking will demonstrate you care; provide a vehicle for your customer to interact at a high level with the company; it facilitates the discussion on products and services; and can create positive opinions (measurement-induced judgments). A great next step is to thank your customers for taking the time to give you feedback and engage on social media and other channels.