7 Reasons to shred comment cards forever

We all know about comment cards, we get them pushed our way by eager businesses who want to know what we thought about the restaurant/hotel/course we just attended. But I have my coat, stuff packed and car keys in my hand, trust me it really isn’t something I want to be doing right now.

What would be better? When I get home, then let me do it in my own time but I don’t want to be filling it in and then posting it back though, that's too much effort. It was on a review site that I found that restaurant (and wanted to be the 4sq mayor of), found that hotel on Google maps in close proximity to the conference I am attending which I signed up for on my mobile, and booked that training course on social media on the internet as well.

Lets think of it the other way round for a minute; let’s say every customer fills in a comment card, some poor underling employed by that business will have to collate them all and either pass them on or even more unfortunately be tasked with inputting the data in a spreadsheet AND carrying out the normal duties of their role. The staff might even have a bonus attached to comment card ratings. All in all, given that society is increasingly referring to online resources, why would they want to get a pen out for any of this?

7 Reason to get the shredder out:

1) Convenience of online feedback – it can be done whenever it is convenient for the customer, not when it’s convenient for you.

2) Higher response rates – would you rather have 20 scribbled notes or 100 comments on a screen that can be analyses within a few clicks? I thought so!

3) Richer feedback – the person giving feedback is in their own environment, comfortable and more likely to give an honest opinion. Writing a dissatisfied comment is way easier when people aren’t watching you.

4) Quicker feedback – you get the results the moment they have been posted. If the comments refer to facilities in need of repair like a leaking tap, it’s there on your screen to action, rather than when the comment cards box is emptied every week

5) Additional service to your customers – you can ask for contact details for upcoming offers, newsletters or even a call if they want to discuss your service on the phone for the sake of being immediate in your problem resolution.

6) Chance to promote your brand – Your logo is prominent on the screen in their own home during the process of giving you feedback. Now that’s never a bad thing!

7) Consistent online presence - every other step in them from finding you to becoming your customer was done online, no need to ask them to step into the last century right at the end of the process is there??

Disclaimer: I apologise to the stationery industry in advance for my comments. If there are corporate issues with this post, please remember that I didn’t invent the internet or computers, its not my fault, everyone already uses them. If pen and paper corporates would like to contact me about this, please do so by letter, my address is....

Crunch