Client and customer feedback is nothing new in the business world. There was a time when retail department stores and other businesses actually had "complaint departments," in which one or more people were stationed exclusively to receive the gripes and grievances of their unsatisfied patrons.

Whether you're in the business of bean-bag chairs, yoga lessons, or auto repair, you almost certainly have some way for customers to pass along their feedback, even if it's merely calling you on the phone or dashing off an e-mail message. In the internet age, new aspects and ways of hearing from customers have developed in the form of various social media platforms. Yelp! and Google allow customers to review practically any business or product on the planet, and customers can deliver less-formal (but no-less pithy) feedback about your business on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

But have you considered the benefits of collecting your own organized, disciplined client and customer feedback? Have you ever contemplated what it might mean to your business if all of your customers were surveyed in a systematic way? Have you thought about what you might discover not only from customers who pay for your goods or services but also from those who don't?

Here are five reasons you should be collecting client feedback, no matter what business you're in. In a later article, we'll also discuss what kinds of feedback and data you might consider collecting.

1. Feedback creates relationships. Buying a new suit or dress is one thing, but entering into a dialogue with a retail shop is another thing entirely. Surveying your customers can make them feel heard, seen, and included. This is increasingly important in an impersonal digital age, in which customers often feel like nothing more than a credit card number, expiration date, and security code. Not all customers will feel the need to share narratives of their shopping or purchases, but those who do will form a bond with your business if they're allowed to share their complaints, praise, and feelings.

2.  Feedback allows you to examine and analyze negative results. Collecting systematic feedback can allow you to better understand why customers patronize your business, but it can also identify what kind of people are turning you down and why. Polling those who decide against being your customer can help you with the next potential customer who walks through the door.

3. Feedback improves your goods and services. In a way similar to that described in item 2, above, feedback is a tool that can improve your business. Negative feedback isn't easy to receive or process, but it's necessary if you want your business to improve, expand, and evolve. Listening to what your customers don't like, and then responding in productive ways, is one of the primary methods you can use to make your products better and prevent your business from stagnating.

4. Feedback gives you demographic information. Systematic feedback should always ask for demographic information. This will show you what kind of people you are serving and selling to, and which demographics you're not reaching. This can help you be more successful in your key demographics and help you capture business from demographics where you're less successful.

5. Feedback can help you improve your staff. Again, listening to critical comments from unsatisfied customers will not be easy, but it can help you train and improve those who provide your customers with service. Customer and client feedback shouldn't be used to punish your employees, but it can help them perform better and please more of your customers more often.

How do you collect this kind of feedback? The best way is to use a suite of purpose-built tools and software, such as Pulse For Good data-collection kiosks. Our products allow business owners, managers, and decision-makers to collect and organize customer feedback, and adapt your feedback-collections methods as your organization evolves.

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