I’m a fan of feedback. Surveys are important. Knowing how well you are doing (or not doing) is a gift. When we receive positive feedback from our customers, we can operationalize it to enhance the experience. When we receive negative feedback, we can fix it for future customers. The point is, we should embrace feedback as one of the most important tools we have to ensure a better future for our company and customers.
Traditional Feedback
Typically, companies seek feedback by sending a survey, usually by email, after the interaction between the company and the customer. When done right, it is sent in a timely manner and doesn’t overwhelm the customer with too many questions. I advocate that shorter is better. But often companies don’t get the full picture. My 2026 CX research finds that just 20% of customers “almost always” complete surveys. While 100% is not a realistic expectation, when just one out of five customers gives you feedback, is it enough?
Real-Time Feedback
This is about getting customer feedback in the moment. If the feedback is negative, it can be acted upon before the customer is out the door. If it’s positive, it can allow a manager or employee the opportunity to thank the customer for the positive feedback. Several years ago, I wrote an article, Give Them Help Before They Yelp, that featured a company specializing in real-time feedback, which, by no coincidence, is called Realtime Feedback. Adam Alfia, the founder and CEO, believed that feedback in the moment has the advantages already mentioned. And today, thanks to AI, the feedback can now be analyzed to spot trends, both negative and positive, that help identify a company’s opportunities for improvement, areas where employees can use additional training, and ways to reinforce what’s working well. For many customer-facing businesses, this is the type of real-time feedback that can become a competitive advantage, allowing them to recover faster, improve quickly and create better experiences, one interaction at a time.
AI-Moderated Interviews
Another way to obtain customer feedback comes from AI-moderated interviews. Aaron Cannon is the co-founder and CEO of Outset, a leading AI-moderated research platform that captures incredible feedback in a way that feels like an interview, not a typical questionnaire. Put another way, imagine being able to hold focus groups at scale. Instead of inviting 20 customers to a meeting to ask for feedback, the AI agent, either text or voice, interviews thousands of customers and then interprets insights. The ability to get qualitative feedback at this level can be a game-changer for a company smart enough to take advantage of it.
Understand the Edge, Not the Average
Traditional metrics like CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) and NPS (Net Promoter Score) give you averages. What they don’t give you are the extremes, or as Cannon calls them, the edges. “Great experiences come from understanding edge cases, not averages,” says Cannon, describing how these outliers may give you unique and interesting insights worth considering. In other words, averages may tell you what most customers experience, but edge cases reveal what customers remember. The extremely good and extremely bad experiences often uncover the biggest opportunities to innovate, improve and differentiate your business from the competition.
Final Words
Traditional feedback surveys are still important, but there could be more. When asked in the right way, today’s customers are giving companies more opportunities than ever to listen, learn and improve in real time. AI is making feedback faster, with deeper insights that are actionable. But if you don’t take action, it’s a waste of time.
The companies that win in the future won’t just collect feedback. They realize that the data is worthless unless they pay attention to it, act on it faster, identify patterns sooner and continuously work to improve customer experience. I’ve said and written before, “CX is not a destination. It’s a never-ending journey.” Feedback can be the fuel that keeps that journey moving forward.
