Omni Core · Customer Feedback · Module

Closing the loop

Telling the person what happened — the step that costs least, is skipped most, and determines whether anyone answers next time.

The idea

How it works

A customer who raises something and hears nothing concludes that raising things is pointless. The next survey measures that conclusion, and the response rate falls without anyone connecting the two.

Closing the loop includes saying that nothing will change and why. That is received considerably better than silence and takes the same effort.

Working with it

In practice

  1. 01

    Respond individually where the feedback was individual

    A specific complaint deserves a specific reply, even a brief one.

  2. 02

    Report changes collectively

    What was raised and what changed, published periodically. It is read by more people than raised it.

  3. 03

    Say when nothing will change

    With the reason. Silence is read as indifference; an honest no is not.

  4. 04

    Watch the response rate

    It is the measure of whether the loop is closing, and it moves before anything else does.

One level in

The components of closing the loop

A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.

  1. The individual response

    What the person who raised it hears back.

    Learn
  2. The collective report

    What was raised and what changed, published to everyone.

    Learn
  3. The response rate

    Whether people keep answering, which is the loop’s real measure.

    Learn

Saying that nothing will change, with a reason, is received far better than silence and costs the same.