Managing and improving the quality of customer responses
Though the term can take on several meanings, in this case “customer response management” is defined as the steps an organization takes to address the needs of their customers. How does an organization know they are building the right products or services? One way to find out is to reach out to their customer base and collect their feedback. Another effective method is to provide customers with a channel to communicate directly with the company. Regardless of how customer insight is collected, organizations are constantly looking for ways to manage customer responses more effectively.
Traditional methods for collecting data on customers, such as, mail surveys have not always produced high rates of responses, quality information or customer involvement. Low response rates meant that with insufficient data, organizations could not develop a clear and in-depth understanding of their customer needs, which is essential to building better products and services.
Customer response management: The social customer
Today’s customer is empowered to make important decisions, and is central to the product and service development process. Actively engaging on the web and voluntarily participating in online community discussions about brands, customers are driving product innovation and quality improvements. In order to fully grasp the needs of these customers, organizations must provide a platform for customers to communicate effectively, and integrate their feedback into the development process. OneDesk allows you to communicate with your customers, manage their feedback, and respond to them in a timely manner.
Two ways to improve the customer response process:
1. Provide multiple channels and response methods
Make it easy for your customers to communicate with your organization. Naturally, different customers have different preferences and needs: some customers prefer to 
The benefits of providing multiple channels of communications to customers is clear. The more customers you engage in dialogue, the more you can understand their needs and obtain clarification on their issues. As a result, you have quality information which you can use to improve your customer responses.
2. Following-through on customer responses: Taking action
Don’t just listen to your customers, engage with them. This means going that extra step to elaborate upon any details that they have provided and to work together to ensure their needs and expectations are completely understood. Good customer response management ensures that client issues or concerns are received and used to affect change related to your products and services. Many times customers are heard, and feedback is collected but changes are not implemented. You can seize the opportunity to deliver value to your customers by using their feedback to improve the development process.
Customer response management: Business benefits
Effective customer response management results in:
• Increased customer engagement
• Increased customer retention
• Strengthened brand loyalty and company image
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Increased customer participation and overall customer community involvement
• Increased ROI
Develop an effective customer response strategy and use OneDesk to support it. Get a free account and try it now.