The owner of the Thai restaurant stopped by our table the other night, and said, "How is everything?"
Without giving it a thought, I said, "Fine, thanks."
The answer suited the question. Simple, bland questions beget simple, bland answers. Neither of us gained anything from that conversation.
The owner could have said any of the following:
The "I care about you" question:
"I'm really trying to give my customers a better experience, so is there anything in particular that you'd like to see us do differently to make it better?"
The "What are we doing right" question:
"Have you dined here before? What in particular caused you to come back?"
The "What do we need to fix" question:
"I don't mean to be too intrusive, but I'm really trying to improve things for our customers. If you would have me change one thing about the restaurant to make your experience better, what might that be?"
Most customers are not prepared to give feedback, so you need to make it easier for them to give it, by building some "instructions" into your question.
Asking good customer feedback questions accomplishes two powerful things:
1. It helps you find out what you need to do to increase customer loyalty.
2. It shows customers that you genuinely care.
Don't ask bland questions; word your questions like you really care. Because really, you should.