Customer feedback plays an important role in roadmap prioritization for businesses. Amongst the various sources available for customer feedback, mobile apps and e-commerce channels are some of the preferred online destinations, these days. However, there are businesses that are unable to effectively use this free flowing expertise in making more informed product decisions. Those businesses that do are rewarded in the form of customer retention.

According to a new study from Apptentive and SurveyMonkey, businesses that gather and share customer feedback through their mobile apps are less likely to implement on or respond to the feedback they receive. The SurveyMonkey Team came to the conclusion after carrying out an online survey in December, 2015, comprising of more than 1,200 consumer responses.

As per the Apptentive Study, when customer were asked how they prefer to provide their feedback to businesses, 93% of survey respondents said they would oblige only if asked, while only 1% of the customers were found to give unsolicited feedback. The Apptentive Study comprehensively used some of the standard surveying practices for collecting data via in-app customer responses.

The survey drives home the fact that customer feedback is an essential ingredient for generating customer loyalty and that ignoring the same could jeopardize customer retention. It was observed that customers, who responded, expected businesses to take some sort of action in-return. It was found that 55% of respondents were of the opinion that they were less likely to remain loyal to the company if their feedback is ignored. Even so, 67% of the respondents claimed that their feedback goes unnoticed.

One of the main reasons why consumers offer feedback is to help businesses improve their products and services, rather than to get something in-return. As per the survey findings, “the top two reasons cited were to help other customers, and to help the companies improve their service in order to grow their business.” Almost all respondents were of the opinion that they would be more willing to provide their feedback, if the businesses listen and act accordingly.

The above data shows how consumers want businesses to appreciate their observations by inculcating them in their services and improving upon their offerings. As such, it’s not possible for businesses to pass on every idea from the support desk to product development unit. But at least the businesses can acknowledge and respond to the customer feedback, which will enable them to maintain their goodwill and customer loyalty.

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