More on Contact Form Feedback

This is a continuation of the previous article about the benefits of openly allowing for feedback from any and all of your customers using a system of soliciting feedback that is easy to find and manage. We discussed one of the main benefits of this system – learning more about the customer experience, and how even within a rant, hate filled email, you may still learn something about the customer experience that will help you make changes to reduce these problems in the future. That is a considerable benefit.

Remember, it's possible for a customer to be wrong, but for you to still learn something about how your company can improve. An email that is filled with hate, generally illegible, and overreactions to an irrational request may still provide value. Let's look at more of these potential benefits below: Chance to Communicate With Customer It doesn't always feel that way, but every customer really does matter.

When you have a customer that is upset with your products or services, your ability to communicate with them directly can be invaluable. There are several reasons for this. First, you want any problem a customer has to stay within your company's doors, especially online.

People have blogs and Yelp accounts, for example, where they can rant about how much they dislike your products or services, and they'll use those blogs and Yelp reviews if they don't feel they have a way to tell your company what they think. If they can easily contact you first, you can reduce the chance they'll seek another venting space elsewhere.

In addition, on rare occasion you can salvage the relationship. The time you spend trying to calm down the belligerent customer is time that you may be able to calm them down to the point where they'll be a customer again in the future.

Finally, while we're focusing on the worst case scenarios – not everyone that contacts you is going to be ranting angrily. Many are going to be asking you questions, looking for clarification, or venting real frustrations that they deserve an opportunity to vent. Overall, it's clear that there are ample reasons that communicating with the customer directly can be extremely advantageous.

In the next article, we'll look at some final benefits of making a "contact us" section easily available and encouraging your website's users to contact you, as well as explore some of the reasons that people may be hesitant.