Thoughts Worth Keeping

Volume 1, Issue 1
Keeping Customer Feedback System from Backfiring
April 2011
Stephen Siregar

L
ast night my wife and I went to a sushi restaurant for dinner. We chose a sushi place
that is quite popular, located near the business district of the city. It was a busy eve-
ning, and we had to wait a few minutes before we could get two seats in the non-
When making a
smoking sections. Not unusual for a well-known eatery, so we didn’t mind the wait. We
even put it to use by perusing the colorful and illustrated menu. customer feed-

After a small mishap, where the waiter took us to our seats when those were not ready, we back system:
were finally seated. We placed our order, and not long after, the waiter returned with the
food. • Keep in mind the
purpose of the sys-
The food was good and fresh, the wasabi was strong, the service was OK. In general, we didn’t tem.
have anything to complaint, save for a fly that alighted on one of the dishes. In Jakarta, it was-
n’t a big deal. • Be sensitive to the
people who are
We found a customer feedback card on the table. Hoping to get special offers from the restau-
subjects of the
rant for customers who would give feedbacks, we decided to fill it out. We paid our check,
feedback.
handed the feedback card to our waiter, and headed for the door.
My attention was drawn to the way the waiter reacted when she received the card. It was like • Be accountable for
following up.
she was getting a bad news. She lost her smile, and her face turned from friendly into con-
cerned. She then went to the bar, gave the card to someone, and whispered something. I could
not see how the other person react because I already passed the bar.
It was strange for me. I could only deduce that in that restaurant, feedback cards are synony-
mous to complaints, and any waiter who gets a card from a customer will be reprimanded.
Purpose of Customer Feedback
A feedback card is created to enable direct communication between customers to manage-
ment. A feedback relayed through employees may be filtered or watered down, so that when it
reached management, it won’t be true to what the customer wants to say.
It is a good source of information on how a company or organization can improve its customer
service. It’s like checking for tiny punctures in a tire by putting it into a tub of water and looking
for air bubbles: a feedback card helps company to quickly pinpoint weak spots in its service. It
can also help company to identify good practices done by its employees that can be standard-
ized throughout the organization.
Like any other monitoring tools, the effectiveness of feedback cards rely heavily on the attitude
of the people using it. There are at least three parties involved:
Page 2 Thoughts Worth Keeping

Keeping Customer Feedback System from Backfiring (cont.)

(1) The customer as the source of feedback. The effectiveness of feedback is affected
by the motivation behind it. Do customers write it as expression of satisfaction, dissat-
isfaction with expectation for improvement, or as a mean of getting back at employees
whom they don’t like?

(2) The employees whose service may be the subject of the feedback. There may be
among employees fear of getting bad-mouthed by customers. This fear may be even
stronger when management tends to react strongly to negative feedback.

(3) The management as the recipient of the feedback. If management uses feedback
to assign blames, it will render the feedback system useless. Employees may simply
throw feedback cards into the trash bins, regardless of what they actually say.
It is therefore important for management to look at feedbacks in the most objective
and supportive way.
Three things to mind when receiving feedbacks
(A) Management must be able to tell the difference between sensible feedbacks, and
poisonous ones, in which customers lash anger at employees who may have been just
doing their job under difficult situations. When getting such inputs, management must
be able to separate the poison from the cure, the customer’s blind emotion from the
true circumstances.
(B) Management must take responsibility to make improvements as the feedbacks sug-
gest. It will do no good to only penalize employees who got bad reviews from custom-
ers. Management must see any feedback in a bigger picture than just the mistake of
one person. Could it be that there has been insufficient training for the employees?
Could there be better way to help employees serve customers better?
(C) Even if after a careful and thorough investigation it is found that a bad feedback is
genuinely a result of the mistake of an employee, management must take a wise ap-
proach in dealing with the situation. It must be seen as an opportunity for improve-
ment instead as a hanging. The employee should be helped (a) to see how it is his or
her responsibility to improve, (b) to know what improvements are expected from him
or her, and (c) to see how he or she could achieve the improvements. From here, fur-
ther feedback from management would be most useful and valuable so the employee
could tell whether he or she has hit the target.
Any feedback is always beneficial. But what really matters is what is done about it.

About the Author

Stephen Siregar presently works as a Corporate Services execu-
tive and a trainer for a training company. Oversees finance, ac-
counting, human resource, general affairs and legal aspects of
the company. Lives in Jakarta, Indonesia, with his wife, Veron-
ica. His profile is available on:

http://id.linkedin.com/in/stephensiregar