Let’s talk about direct feedback.
If you’re working in Customer Experience (CX), chances are you’ve come across the term. Maybe you’re even using it right now. And if you’re just starting on your CX journey, I’d bet there’s a strong chance your company is considering implementing direct feedback or is already knee-deep in it. Because almost every company, when they begin their CX efforts, starts with direct feedback.
But here’s the thing: its impact is highly overrated.
Today, let’s dive into why that is. We’ll break down what direct feedback actually entails, why it’s so popular, the risks it brings, and—most importantly—what you should be doing instead to get real CX impact.
What is direct feedback, really?
Direct feedback, sometimes called a closed feedback loop, is a straightforward concept: a company sends out a survey (often an NPS survey), and when customers give a low score—let’s say between 0 and 6—the company follows up with them individually. A customer service rep or account manager reaches out, asks what went wrong, and (ideally) works on improving the issue.
On paper, it sounds great. Someone complains, you fix it. Simple, right?
Not so fast.
The origins of direct feedback – and why it’s flawed
Direct feedback actually comes from B2B. Originally, companies wanted to understand the profitability of their customers. Research showed that customers who gave high recommendation scores were more profitable, so the idea was: if we move customers to higher scores, we make them more valuable.
In a B2B context, this made perfect sense. A company would survey a customer, and if they received a low score, the account manager—who already had a relationship with that customer—would follow up. The interaction was natural because they already spoke regularly.
Then, as businesses scaled and surveys became more widespread, companies thought, “Hey, why don’t we do the same thing in B2C?” And that’s where the challenge begins.
The operational nightmare of direct feedback
Imagine a company with millions of customers. They send out surveys to every one of them (which is already unrealistic), and even if only 20% respond, that’s still a massive volume of data. Let’s assume 25% of respondents give a negative score—now we’re looking at a huge number of customers that, theoretically, need to be called back.
But who’s making those calls?
If it’s a call center, maybe they can allocate some agents to this. But if it’s another department—like a team of account managers or regional managers—this quickly becomes unmanageable. Most companies struggle to keep up, and soon enough, the feedback loop breaks. Calls aren’t being made, follow-ups are inconsistent, and the experience becomes patchy at best.
Worse still, even when companies do manage to reach out to customers, what happens? Customers provide rationalized feedback. They tell you, “The price is too high” or “Your service is slow,” but rarely does direct feedback reveal the deeper emotional drivers of dissatisfaction. And without that, your CX efforts are built on shaky ground.
So why do companies keep doing it?
If it’s so flawed, why is direct feedback still so widely used?
Two words: survey tools.
Most survey tooling providers push direct feedback because it justifies their technical capabilities. They sell companies on the dream of a seamless, automated system where every unhappy customer gets a response and becomes a loyal advocate. But in reality, the percentage of customers actually being contacted—and even more importantly, the percentage of those contacts that truly change customer sentiment—is incredibly low.
So, if direct feedback is not the magic solution companies hope for, what should they be doing instead?
A smarter approach to CX: understanding the real drivers
The key to impactful CX isn’t calling every unhappy customer—it’s understanding what’s truly driving their experience and acting at scale.
Instead of spending all your energy on individual follow-ups, companies should focus on identifying the real drivers of customer experience. And this is where driver-based surveys come into play.
Driver-based surveys use smart statistics to uncover what actually influences customer satisfaction. For example, in a call center, is it the friendliness of the agent? The waiting time? The ability to resolve an issue in one go? What matters most?
Spoiler: It’s usually not what companies assume.
We’ve analyzed this across industries, and what consistently comes up is that human aspects—like empathy, understanding, and problem resolution—are two to three times more impactful than operational factors like wait time.
And here’s a game-changing question most companies don’t ask: “Do you feel this interaction could have been prevented?”
In many cases, 30-40% of customers say “Yes.” Meaning nearly half of all interactions didn’t need to happen in the first place. Imagine the impact of reducing unnecessary customer service calls—not just on cost savings, but on customer satisfaction. Less frustration for customers, less pressure on support teams, and more time to focus on delivering real value.
That’s the CX strategy that wins.
When (and how) to use direct feedback smartly
Now, does this mean you should throw out direct feedback entirely? Not necessarily. But it should be used strategically—not as a default.
- For high-value customers: If you’re in B2B or have VIP clients, a more personalized follow-up approach makes sense. But mass-scale direct feedback? Likely not worth the investment.
- For specific, targeted issues: Instead of blanket-following up on every negative response, focus on critical interactions where personal outreach truly adds value.
- In combination with deeper CX analysis: If you’re relying solely on direct feedback to understand customer experience, you’re missing the bigger picture. Use it as one data point, not your entire strategy.
What’s your next move?
If you’re currently using direct feedback, take a step back. Ask yourself:
- How many customers are actually getting follow-ups?
- Is the process truly driving impact, or just checking a box?
- Are we using data to make broader improvements, or just firefighting individual complaints?
The real magic in CX isn’t in responding to complaints—it’s in preventing dissatisfaction in the first place. If you want to shift from reactive to proactive, ditch the obsession with direct feedback and start focusing on the real drivers of customer experience.
And if you’re interested in driver-based surveys, let us know. We’ve developed them over years of research and real-world applications—and we’re happy to share.
Because the best customer experiences don’t come from calling back the 5% who complained. They come from making sure customers never have to complain in the first place.
