Closing the loop: From feedback to happy customers

Customer feedback is a critical component of successful marketing. Not only is it important that we collect this feedback, but we also have to use it efficiently in continuous product development and the customer experience (CX). The magic word is closed-loop marketing.

Key points

• The closed loop describes the cycle that enhances the customer experience continuously through collected customer data.
• We need intelligent tools to efficiently collect and use customer data, such as customer feedback.
• Over the long run, closed-loop marketing promotes increased customer satisfaction, product and service enhancements and stronger customer loyalty.

What is closed-loop marketing?

Closed-loop marketing describes a “closed marketing cycle.” Companies collect customer data at all relevant touchpoints with analytics tools, from the first customer contact to the customer's order and the customer feedback.

This information about the customer – recorded, stored and evaluated in a CRM system – flows back into the cycle of marketing activities and customer service and, additionally, into the company's product development. The results are processes that are more efficient, enhanced product development and increased customer satisfaction, thus optimizing the customer experience and getting customers to commit to the company for the long term.

What is the role of customer feedback in closed-loop marketing?

To ensure sufficient input for the cycle and all relevant analytics tools, every customer-facing department in the company collects relevant data. Customer feedback, called the “Voice of the Customer” (VoC) once it is collected, is an essential component of the customer journey.

To collect this information, companies can conduct surveys and customer interviews or monitor their social media channels. On Facebook, Instagram and the like, customers are often particularly honest about a company and its products.

Due to the sheer volume, we need intelligent software solutions to evaluate and analyze the collected data. The Voice of the Customer then flows into the closed loop, and the results are used in a targeted manner to optimize the customer experience.

Only 53% of customers surveyed by Microsoft say they believe their feedback has any impact on the company (Microsoft, 2020). This result shows how critically important it is to implement a closed loop to use the customers’ feedback, tool-supported and in a targeted manner, to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

How do you integrate a closed loop?

Implementing a closed loop in a company is easy to do, thanks to intelligent tools. With the tools from BSI, you use your system to evaluate your customers’ satisfaction regularly, increasing their loyalty in the process.

There is a wide range of options available for collecting customer feedback and measuring satisfaction, from the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) and the Customer Effort Score (CES). Surveys are fully integrated into the BSI system and, thanks to the many measured values, you never lose sight of all the important KPIs.

By interacting with the fully integrated CRM solution, the tools from BSI facilitate a 360° view of things. The next best action is recommended to you, enriched with feedback from the customer surveys. This approach ensures that you continuously enhance the Voice of the Customer and your customers’ customer experience – and in no time at all, you have implemented the closed loop.

Conclusion: Closed-loop marketing results in increased satisfaction

Implementing a closed loop in your customer management positively affects customer satisfaction, the quality of your products and customer loyalty.

Particularly the systematic collection of customer feedback and its incorporation into the closed loop has a positive impact. Companies that actively collect customer feedback and analyze and evaluate it can increase their cross-selling and upselling rates by 15 to 20% (Gartner, 2006).