Customer feedback provides an opportunity to hear directly from the people on the other side of the transaction. When the transaction is faceless, it's more important to reach out and give customers an opportunity to communicate. It gives an opportunity to hear about otherwise unseen issues, find new opportunities, and generally gather information beyond what's available in data.

There was a time in the era of physical stores, when feedback could be monitored relatively anecdotally by store owners and employees. It's easy to see problems in the traffic flow of a store, witness a problem with sizing, and gauge customers reactions to payment policies. In digital commerce, the transaction process is relatively faceless. The customer never sees a real person, and often never communicates via chat or email either. The data may show a transaction, and it's not getting much more nuanced.

Perhaps a good customer is ready to become a great customer, if only the product was available in different quantities or colors. Maybe there's an unknown use for a product that would enable new marketing opportunities. Sometimes a customer may have made a purchase despite an glaring problem and it'd certainly be better to know the transaction was nearly lost.

There are multiple opportunities to collect customer feedback. A survey can be presented immediately upon order confirmation. Automated emails should be sent at key points after the transaction including after the order is placed and post-delivery. The feedback opportunities should include following up after a period of usage to gather as well.

Customer feedback is one of the most powerful opportunities to improve the conversion flow. There are numerous insights available that would other be unseen by looking at data alone. Implement multiple opportunities to collect customer feedback beyond the initial purchase.