One of the most common “aha!” moments that we hear from our customers has to do with the value of our real-time client feedback. Many satisfaction survey programs can gather feedback and sentiment from your clients, but how many of them make sure that you see the most critical feedback the moment it’s been shared with you?
This may feel like splitting hairs, but it’s crucial. Especially when it comes to clients who have experienced a service issue (and who are taking time out of their day to tell you about their concerns), real-time access to that feedback is the first, most critical step in taking immediate action and protecting revenue that may otherwise be at risk.
Detractor notifications allow you to identify client concerns and take immediate action to resolve them
Protecting revenue is a key driver of value for any client survey initiative. That’s why the ClearlyRated Net Promoter® survey program has a built-in feature that triggers real-time email notifications whenever a Detractor response is generated by your client (or employee) survey.
In case you’re new to the NPS® methodology, Detractors are survey respondents who rate your firm between 0 and 6 on the Net Promoter scale.
Detractors are a fact of life. All businesses stumble in their efforts to deliver an exceptional customer experience, but the stakes are much higher for professional service providers and other B2B service firms.
In the industries that ClearlyRated supports, the concept of “service” (and your ability to deliver it in an exceptional, unrivaled way) is often what sets your firm apart from your competitors and why clients stay with you for the long haul. That’s why it’s so critical to ask your clients for feedback to begin with. How will you know if you’re truly delivering on their service expectations if you don’t ask? And when you do ask, it’s critical that you are set up to take immediate action when issues arise.
How ClearlyRated’s Detractor notifications work
Detractor notifications are an embedded feature of our client survey program, available to every single firm that elects to survey their clients with us.
Before your survey is deployed, you’ll have the opportunity to customize the notifications in our tool. Anyone at your firm with an email address will be able to receive Detractor notifications, whether or not they’re also managing your survey. Once you’ve flagged the people at your firm who need to be notified of any client concerns, our software will take care of the rest, sending through real-time email alerts whenever a Detractor response comes through.
As you can see, the Detractor notification email flags individual Detractor responses and includes some critical information to help you triage the situation, including:
- Key identifying information to help you quickly understand who the client is, what services they have hired your firm to provide, and who their relationship holder is.
- Contact information (phone number and email address) so that you can take immediate action by reaching out to address their concerns.
- A recap of the client’s survey responses, including their responses to the Net Promoter question, driver questions, and open-ended questions, so that whoever follows up can do so in a way that specifically addresses their concerns.
We find that answers to the open-ended questions are critical for shaping the nature of your follow-up and recovery process with the client. These questions ask:
- “What is the primary reason behind the rating you provided?” A Detractor’s answer to this question will provide more specific information about any issues they have experienced and can guide your team’s efforts to resolve the issues.
- “What is one thing we could be doing differently to increase the value of our services to you?” While every survey respondent (regardless of the rating they provide your firm) is invited to answer this question, it’s important to pay close attention to how Detractors respond here. Information and suggestions that are fielded by this question represent opportunities for your firm to win back loyalty from this client by proving that you are listening to their feedback and working to implement their requests.
Detractors are providing you with a lifeline; don’t turn it away.
One of the biggest mistakes your firm can make with a client survey initiative is to ask for feedback and then not take action on that feedback.
While nobody (myself included) likes to hear that their key stakeholders are experiencing an issue or are dissatisfied, you will find that growing a business becomes nearly impossible if your team does not take a data-driven and action-oriented approach to identifying service issues that your clients are experiencing—and then taking steps to resolve them.
Every single business that surveys their clients (or employees) with ClearlyRated has access to a comprehensive set of resources to help you think through, and plan for, following up with Detractors. If you plan to survey with another program, lean on our 10-step framework for recovering from service failures as a resource for following up with unhappy clients.
The good news? We know that identifying Detractors presents a great opportunity, even if the initial feedback received is negative.
These clients have taken time out of their busy lives to provide you with information to help you win back their loyalty. They are invested enough in trying to make it work with your team that they have provided you with a lifeline, they just need you to use it. And thanks to the service recovery paradox, we know that your firm has an opportunity to win even more loyalty with a client who has experienced a service issue based on the caliber (and the speed) of your efforts to resolve their issue.
Identify (and protect) at-risk revenue with ClearlyRated
Our survey program is built with revenue in mind. Our Detractor notifications are just one part of a system that’s wholly designed to empower your firm to harness client feedback for growth.
Reach out to us today to learn more about the ClearlyRated survey software and how our tool can help your firm.
