I really enjoyed joining Claire Rason & Josephine Wagner Poedenphant on this week’s Client Talk webinar, to talk about getting more from client feedback. Our conclusion? Technology is a game-changer for client listening.
I took a lot of notes while Claire and Josephine were sharing their insights and experiences, which I’ve boiled down to:
The 5 ways tech can help you get more from client feedback:
✅ Update your assumptions
✅ Collect continuous feedback
✅ Triangulate your feedback
✅ Link feedback to outcomes
✅ Close the loop with clients
✅ Collect continuous feedback
✅ Triangulate your feedback
✅ Link feedback to outcomes
✅ Close the loop with clients
UPDATE YOUR ASSUMPTIONS – get more current client feedback
The world has changed over the last 18 months. Remote working and digital transformation are still changing client expectations and how services are delivered.
Technology can help by banishing arduous client feedback processes that take months to plan and execute. Instead, firms can stay on top of market trends by adopting a simple continuous listening approach.
COLLECT CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK – get more consistent client feedback
Collecting feedback during a project enables firms to take action quickly. This includes addressing issues and managing client expectations.
However, we know from our recent law firm benchmarking study, that only 22% collected feedback during a matter. Sometimes feedback isn’t asked for until after the bill has been paid, by which time memories have faded and everyone has moved on.
Tech can help you get more from client feedback by applying AI algorithms that instantly analyse text feedback. This enables you to look beyond the squeaky wheel and quickly discover emerging themes and root causes.
TRIANGULATE YOUR FEEDBACK – get more robust client feedback
To truly understand client experiences, firms need to collect and compare different perspectives. This includes:
– using different interviewers who will hear different things
– collecting different sources of feedback, and
– including different formats – both qualitative (open questions) and quantitative (ratings, checkboxes etc).
– using different interviewers who will hear different things
– collecting different sources of feedback, and
– including different formats – both qualitative (open questions) and quantitative (ratings, checkboxes etc).
Tech helps because modern databases can easily combine and summarise different formats of data. Gone are the days when people have to manually export and combine data from different systems before they can see the full picture.
LINK FEEDBACK TO OUTCOMES – get more relevant client feedback
Bringing different sources of feedback together, enables you to link insights to business outcomes. Josephine shared a great example of linking feedback to fees to discover revenue at risk.
Tech can help by automatically combining operational and experience data. This helps partners and other senior decision-makers to see the value of investing in proactively managing client experience. Another way to link feedback to outcomes is by comparing brand promisess to client reality.
CLOSE THE LOOP WITH CLIENTS – keep getting more client feedback
Regularly sharing what you’ve heard with clients has two benefits. It boosts future response rates and shows (rather than tells) clients that their views are important.
Tech helps by enabling real-time feedback aggregation. By removing the delays caused by manual processes, firms are able to quickly and consistently share feedback results with their clients as well as internally.