Collecting and storing customer information
Collecting and storing information about customers is essential to tailoring your customer service program and growing your business. However, there are legal requirements regarding what you can do with the information you have collected.
Privacy
Any customer information that you collect must comply with business privacy laws, whether you use this information or not. The laws also cover how you can store and use the information.
Collecting information
When collecting information about customers, try to find out what your customers are buying, why they are buying, and how often they are buying. Include any potential customers who have made enquiries about your goods or services.
There are many ways to collect information on your customers, including:
- Order forms
- Enquiries
- Complaints
- Warranty cards
- Customer rewards programs
- Customer satisfaction surveys
- Feedback cards
- Customer competitions
- Your website.
Order forms
Order forms let customers order a specific product or service that your business is unable to supply immediately, and are a good way to collect customer information.
If your business stocks products with specific ‘release dates’, consider using pre-order forms to collect customer information. By filling out a pre-order form, a customer makes a commitment to buy a product and will often pre-pay for it.
Enquiries
It’s good business practice to record the details of any customer enquiries so you can follow them up. Enquiries also give you an opportunity to collect customer information and mention your website, mailing list or social media pages.
Recording complaints
Use customer complaints as a way to collect customer information. Not only can you record the complaint, but also who made it, why, which staff member heard the complaint and what was done to resolve the problem.
Warranty cards
If your business has products or services that come with a warranty, you can use warranty cards to collect and store your customers’ information.
Customer rewards program
You can collect customer information by implementing a customer rewards program. For example, a customer VIP club could require customers to give you their details – they then receive 10% off purchases over $100.
Learn more about promotional activities and how they can help your business.
Customer satisfaction
To collect information on customer satisfaction, you could use survey cards where customers rate, for example, aspects of your service out of 5. The back of the card can ask for the customer’s personal details.
Feedback
Feedback cards can also be used to collect information. You can ask for feedback on specific aspects of your business or leave it open-ended, like a suggestion box. Again, the back of the card can request personal details. Share any positive or negative feedback you receive with staff.
Customer competitions
Customer competitions are an easy way to collect personal information. For example, have customers place their business cards in a box to go into a monthly draw to win a $20 voucher.
