The 5 Myths of Evaluative Customer Feedback

What’s wrong with soliciting evaluative customer feedback? It is a piece of superstitious corporate behavior built on five myths.

Myth #1: A satisfied customer is a loyal customer.

Fact: According to some research, over seventy-five percent of customers who leave a purveyor for a competitor rate themselves as “satisfied” or “completely satisfied” with the company they are abandoning! It takes more than satisfaction to ensure long-term loyalty.

Myth #2: If customers say they are satisfied, it is true.

Fact: Most customers would rather tell a little white lie about being satisfied than engaging in a possibly confronting dialogue explaining why they were not satisfied.

Myth #3: Customers want the organizations they do business with to ask them for feedback.

Fact: Customers want organizations to read their minds! Only the raving fan or the super angry has the motivation to provide feedback.

Myth#4: Customers believe that if they give feedback, something will actually change.

Fact: Some do. Most are twice-bitten cynics. Most customers believe organizations solicit feedback because they are either directed to by some edict or incented to by some prize, not because the organization is sincerely…