How to ask clients for feedback

When was the last time you asked your clients for genuine feedback on working together, beyond just revisions on projects and deliverables?

Over the years, I've found it incredibly beneficial to do quarterly check-ins with every client to get a sense of how things are going.

Not only does this show you care and make sure they're happy with your work, but it also gives them a chance to evaluate your partnership and even consider expanding the scope of work.

How great is that? Keeping clients happy and creating opportunities for upsells all at once.

In the end, this simple step helps maintain a happy, long-term client relationship. After all, it's easier to keep a client than to find a new one.

If you're thinking about adopting a similar approach in your business, here's a simple framework you can use.

It's called the "Keep, Stop, Start" method.

Created by Elaine Houston, it's a tool to help you understand what you should continue doing, stop doing, and start doing in any scenario.

Here's a simple script you can copy and paste directly into an email to start collecting feedback from your clients.

Hey ____,

I like to send out a quarterly feedback email to check in with clients, understand how things are going, and discover ways to make our partnership more effective.

Could you please share:

1. Keep: What aspects of our service should we continue because they are working well for you?
2. Stop: Are there any areas or practices that you believe we should stop or change?
3. Start: Is there anything new you would like us to start doing to enhance your experience?

Thank you for your time and feedback!

To your success,

Dan

Using this "3-word" template to ask for feedback has a lot of benefits.

It encourages brevity, increasing the likelihood of a response. When questions are too open-ended, clients may feel obligated to provide lengthy answers, which can discourage them from replying.

The template also helps maintain professional distance, preventing the request from feeling overly personal. This straightforward framework makes clients more comfortable offering criticism or constructive feedback.

Additionally, it simplifies the process. By providing a "fill-in-the-blank" request, you remove guesswork, allowing clients to organize their thoughts and share ideas efficiently.

That's it! Try it out and let me know how it goes.

References:

1. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77, 81-112.
2. Sutton, R.M., & Douglas, K. (2010). Feedback: The communication of praise, criticism and advice. Peter Lang.
3. Bauer, J., & Mulder, R. H. (2006). Upward feedback and its contribution to employees’ feeling of self‐determination. Journal of Workplace Learning, 18, 508-521.
4. Casey, R. (2021). Importance of feedback and personal leadership development plans. In Practice, 43, 50-52.
5. London, M. (2003). Job feedback: Giving, seeking, and using feedback for performance improvement. Psychology Press.