The positive PR benefits of listening to customer feedback

Customer feedback isn’t always 100% positive, and that’s ok. Things only become tricky when the reports are overwhelmingly negative, at which point you have two choices… Defend your position and maintain that your customers are wrong – not a good look – or take any criticism constructively. The latter actually creates an excellent PR opportunity that can turn a negative into a positive.

Assessing customer feedback is important for improvement, and publicly acknowledging issues and outlining what you plan to do about them indicates to the wider world that you value what customers have to say. People often connect with brands that align with their values, and presenting your business as one of understanding and cooperation is never going to be a bad thing.

A recent example of putting such a plan into action is Volkswagen’s in-car technology. The popular Golf was revitalised with a host of innovations, including touch-sensitive steering wheel controls for media and more. It certainly looked neat and made the manufacturing process slightly easier, but drivers soon found they were inadvertently hitting virtual buttons or needing to look away from the road to locate controls. Customers and the world’s media universally panned the concept.

With the launch of the updated Volkswagen Golf came the opportunity to make changes, and while returning to old-school physical buttons on the steering wheel might look like a backward step on paper, in reality, it’s the solution customers wanted.

The press coverage of the change has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, many of the world’s leading automotive outlets actually ran with news of the buttons returning in the headline. This wouldn’t have been a small decision for Volkswagen to make, but it is clearly one that has been well-received globally. Net result? The world knows that Volkswagen cares what its customers think, and importantly, customers are happy with the product again.

The most famous example of this is ‘New Coke’ which saw the popular fizzy drink brand introduce a new recipe. Customers were vocal about their dislike of the changes and within 80 days the classic Coca-Cola was back on the shelves. While this very public U-turn was initially embarrassing, the positive PR on the other side of it helped boost the brand.

Be it cars or cola, it’s important to listen to the customer base and be reactive with your PR approach.

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