You Can't Get Strategic Insights From Customer Feedback

Unless you gather it properly

Svyatoslav Biryulin
Value Ecosystem Management
5 min readMay 26, 2024

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Bill Gates said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” This makes sense, but using such customers as the only source of such information may bias your strategic thinking.

This may be why few MS Windows users are big fans of the operating system.

But there is a better way, simple and complex at the same time.

Customers seek revenge

Twenty years ago, unsatisfied customers could merely grumble and complain to their co-workers. These days, they have a powerful weapon against companies: social media.

A few months ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article stating that “the percentage of consumers who have taken action to settle a score against a company through measures such as pestering or public shaming in person or online has tripled to 9% from 3% in 2020, according to the study.”

So, more unhappy customers go public and share sarcastic stories about their bad experiences online.

But, according to some sources, “Only 1 in 26 customers will tell a business about their negative experience; according to customer service facts, the rest simply leave.”

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Value Ecosystem Management
Value Ecosystem Management

Published in Value Ecosystem Management

Most of what you’ve heard or read about business strategy is a lie. Most business strategies fail. I don’t deny the business strategy concept. But I will help you look at it from a different angle with my Value Ecosystem Management.

Svyatoslav Biryulin
Svyatoslav Biryulin

Written by Svyatoslav Biryulin

Contrarian strategist. Write articles for the sharp minds who refuse to believe in business clichés, who choose to think deeply. https://sbiryulin.com

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