How important is Customer Feedback?

During one of my weekend shopping, at a local retail store, I spotted a brand of wafer biscuits that I used to love during my childhood days. I was surprised to see that brand of wafers after such a long gap. I was in the assumption that the company was no more in existence. Out of my interest to give my children the happy experience of crunching delicious wafer biscuits, I bought 5 packs of 5 different flavours and took it home. To our disappointment, we found that the wafers were not crisp. The product wrapper indicated that it was very much within the expiry date. I cut a sorry face in front of my children, to whom I had raised a high anticipation. I felt bad.

 

At moments like this, our normal tendency would be to stop buying that particular product again. But, something within me told me that I should not just leave it there, but take it to the notice of the manufacturer. So, I decided to write them. Now that luckily most companies give a customer care hotline number or email id, it made it easy for me to key in an email to the company stating my experience.

 

Within just a day, I received a mail from them which read as under: “We are in receipt of your mail and noted the contents.We were sorry to learn that the wafer packs you purchased recently were not crisp. To help us to find the reason, please let us know the variety and packing of these packs and also when and from where (name of shop and place) you purchased them. We shall take remedial actions immediately. We sincerely thank you for writing to us.”  

I was glad to see a positive response from them, so I send in the details they had requested. After a week, I received two packs of complimentary wafer biscuits along with a thank you card. This time, the wafer biscuits were truly good and it ended up as a delightful experience.

 

The idea behind me sharing this incident with you is to emphasize the fact that, “Good quality products and services in our country is not just the sellers responsibility, but also the buyers responsibility”. It is only through a good feedback mechanism can any product be improvised or the standards be maintained.

 

Many a times, we brood over having bought an inferior quality product or getting a bad service. Does the experience feel good or bad? If it felt bad, what can we do to change the experience?  Are we OK with inferior quality products and services in this country? If not, how are we going to bring about the change? We could either continue to brood that Indian quality goods are not in par with foreign goods, or we could take a proactive initiative to raise the quality of Indian products to global standards. The choice is ours. The initiative can be through our feedback. It is our social responsibility to give feedback with an intention to raise the standards of Indian products.

 

A famous quote goes, “If you refuse to accept anything but the best, then most often you end up getting it.” This is the attitude with which we need to approach customer service. Demand for the best. Never settle for anything less. Don’t buy inferior quality products because it is cheap. Let the manufacturer realise that people are willing to pay a better price for a better product. Soon, we will see the day, when Indians and Indian products are not considered inferior or cheap. “Made in India”, should be synonymous with high quality.

 

 The companies that will survive in the future, are the companies that are sensitive to consumer feedbacks. If they are not sensitive or just ignore it, it just goes to say that they have started to dig they own grave.

D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com