Guaranteeing confidentiality in research interviews doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t find out what your business customers have to say.
Consumers engaged in research are typically offered the ‘shield’ of anonymity; so too are business customers, but they almost always waive their right to anonymity because it’s in their best interests that you hear what they have to say.
There are three key reasons your business customers want their views heard.
- They want you to change. Your customers want you to know what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong and what you need to stop, and start, doing because it’s almost always in their best interests for you to change.
- They believe you will make changes. Among large organisations in business-to-business (B2B) markets, customer satisfaction research experience indicates that respondents are usually comfortable with disclosure. Generally, respondents believe that when a supplier seeks feedback a cycle of improvements will follow, particularly relating to issues that may have been raised during the interview which may have a significant impact on the specific supplier-customer relationship or project.
- They want you to respond quickly. Once a business customer does disclose a service failure, it frequently becomes their expectation that the organisation will in turn respond to the information.
So the next time you undertake an insight process in a business market don’t forget to offer the shield of anonymity without fearing you’ll be missing something. Chances are your customers will not only divulge valuable insight but they’ll expect timely action.
Are you talking regularly with your customers to find out how you can deliver more value and gain an advantage over your competitors?
