How To Use The "Wisdom Of Crowds" To Fuel Sales, Profits And Customer Loyalty

Posted by admin on August 13, 2009 | No Comments

In 2004, James Surowiecki wrote a book called the Wisdom of Crowds where he demonstrated that information collected independently from a crowd is far more accurate than any individual in that crowd or any group of experts that could be assembled. In business, the most important “crowd” is your customers. Your customers will give you ideas to help you make smarter business decisions, improve your bottom line and fuel growth – BUT you have to find a way to formalize their collective intelligence.

An easy and often overlooked way to collect customer feedback is through a Digital Suggestion Box (DSB). A DSB allows customers to comment and rate products or suggestions, giving you powerful insights on what they want to buy and how to secure their loyalty. Not only do DSBs allow customers to voice their ideas and opinions, they also allow other customers to vote on them. Imagine a kind of “American Idol” for business ideas where a customer can offer an idea and everyone else gets to vote it up or down. The key benefits of a Digital Suggestion Box are:

Increased customer loyalty.
Allowing your customers to provide feedback will make them feel valued and important, creating trust and a stronger bond.
Insights into what customers will buy.
Your customers know your services and products best and will often provide end-user feedback you could never discover sitting around a boardroom table.
Increased brand loyalty.
Customers who provide feedback that is acted on will feel more “invested” and will often become your best sales people.
High quality feedback in real time.
DSBs provide feedback instantly; forget spending weeks or months doing surveys, phone calls and offline communications!

There are multiple Digital Suggestion Box services offered by firms like USERVOICE, IDEASCALE, and SALESFORCE with costs ranging from free to $600 per month for large multi-forum set-ups.

Vist BSSI’s Computer Support website.