Look for the Directive

At WPG, when we’re analyzing client feedback, we often ask the question: “What story does this tell?” This can be difficult to answer with many responses and a macro view of the feedback. While “more is more” when it comes to gathering feedback from clients, it can become paralyzing, too.

The problem with macro-scale feedback isn’t a lack of information—it’s a lack of a directive.

The 30,000-foot view has its own narrative and offers a helpful perspective at times, but it rarely leads to action. If there’s no glaring problem, it can be hard to know where to direct energy, time, and resources.

To find the action buried in feedback, you usually have to zoom in until the metrics look more like mandates. Here are a few ways to approach the data when seeking your directive:

• While the greatest opportunities aren’t always the loudest negative voices or the lowest scores, they can provide insights. See if there is a common thread or an outlier that’s worth examining further.
• Sometimes the middle tranche is the most “passive” and needs the most attention. We often look at that middle group together to see what it is telling us.
• Look at what is really driving decision-making. Isolate feedback that addresses firm selection and narrow down what actions to take. 
• Individual comments can be the most persuasive/clear drives to action. Once you’ve found an area to focus on, look for anecdotes that will inspire others to action. 
• Trust your instincts. Sometimes we have a “sense” that clients have been feeling a certain way. We pick up on patterns naturally, so this can be a clue for where to start looking more closely.

If you ask, clients will tell you what they need.