What Is an Online Feedback Tool, and How to Use One?

For an organization of any size and type, paying attention to customers' feedback is necessary to stay ahead of the competition and sometimes stay in business. However, continuous collection of customer feedback and making sense of everything the customers tell you can take time and effort. This is where an online feedback tool can come in handy.

What is an online feedback tool, and why do you need one?

An online feedback tool is a simple SaaS application that helps you unlock valuable customer insights and increase retention by identifying issues with your products and services you need to address to reduce customer churn.

An online feedback tool can help unlock valuable customer insights and increase retention.

Think of it as an early-warning radar that alerts you to churn risks and reasons. Not only it provides a robust way to collect first-hand customer feedback but also helps make sense of it.

‍

When to use an online feedback tool?

It’s the best practice to collect customer feedback at the key milestones of the customer journey. Each milestone presents different opportunities and challenges, and by gathering feedback at each point, you can identify areas for improvement and provide a better overall experience.

Feedback collected at the beginning of the customer journey can help businesses understand how customers discover and evaluate their products or services. In contrast, feedback collected during the purchase process can help improve the sales experience. Post-purchase feedback can provide insight into the product or service experience, while feedback collected after customer support interactions can help identify areas for improvement in customer service. 

Here are the milestones of your customer journey where it makes the most sense to use an online feedback tool:

• 30 days after their initial purchase 
• After every support engagement
• 90-days in advance of renewal

By collecting feedback at multiple stages of the customer journey, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the customer experience and take targeted actions to improve it.

‍

What are the benefits of using an online feedback tool?

A highly-specialized online feedback tool is the most effective way to continuously collect customer feedback and track the crucial customer success KPIs such as CSAT, CES, and NPS in dynamics. Best-in-class online feedback tools provide the following capabilities:

1. Real-time first-hand customer feedback: Online feedback tools allow you to collect customer feedback in real time, providing a more accurate representation of your customer’s needs and preferences.
2. Normalized and systemized data format: Compared to traditional methods like phone or face-to-face interviews, or lengthy surveys, online feedback tools provide insights in an easy-to-consume format. This makes it easy to search for specific phrases or scores so you can make data-driven decisions.
3. Instant alerts on feedback that requires your attention: With online feedback software, you and your team can get notified in real-time about negative feedback from high-value and high-risk customers or positive feedback that can become a foundation for a success story.
4. Visual representation of CSAT, CES, and NPS: The best customer feedback tools come with predefined and customizable dashboards and charts that quantify customer satisfaction. You can track how your scores and ratings progress over time, helping you assess the impact of your efforts to enhance your products and services.
5. Easy survey delivery: you can, but you don’t need to rely on third-party software to send feedback surveys to your prospects and customers. Everything can be done directly through your online feedback software.

‍

What are the best online feedback tools?

With so many online feedback tools available, choosing the right one can be difficult. Here are the best online feedback tools that can help you gather valuable insights and improve your customer experience:

• SurveySense by Marcom Robot
• CustomerThermometer (customerthermometer.com)
• SurveyMonkey (surveymonkey.com)
• GetFeedback (getfeedback.com)
• Delighted (delighted.com)

All these tools make it easy to add one-question feedback surveys to email signatures of customer-facing employees and send feedback surveys to your prospects and paying customers. To see how the aforementioned products stack against each other, check out the Best Online Feedback Tools in 2023 blog post.

‍

What’s the difference between an online feedback tool and a traditional online survey tool?

Online feedback tools provide a fun and engaging way for customers to provide feedback compared to standard surveys that are usually created with the help of traditional online survey tools. 

1. Scope: Online feedback tools collect both qualitative and quantitative data, while online survey tools are generally used to gather only quantitative data. Online feedback tools allow customers to share their opinions and experiences in their own words, providing richer and more nuanced insights.
2. Continuous feedback: Online feedback tools are designed to collect customer feedback continuously over time, allowing businesses to identify trends and make data-driven decisions to improve their products and services. In contrast, online survey tools are typically used to collect feedback at specific points in time, such as after a purchase or service interaction.
3. Overall experience: Online feedback tools typically offer a more engaging and interactive user experience than online survey tools. Feedback tools can include features such as gamification, multimedia content, and other interactive elements that encourage customers to provide more detailed and valuable feedback.