Tech companies should look to web to improve customer feedback

Firms are not taking advantage of online client interaction, says Economist research

Social networks provide valuable customer insight

Technology companies must work harder to glean customer feedback from social networking tools or marketing activity, according to research by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The report, Creating value through customer partnerships in high technology, found that only 14 per cent of the 89 executives interviewed said social networking tools or the web were used to gain customer feedback to help improve their business.

The whitepaper suggests that using information from online customer interaction will help companies to retain their most profitable customers in a difficult economic environment.

In addition, executives should help customer-facing departments to distribute information throughout the rest of the company. This will enable them to compete on value, which 64 per cent of interviewees considered to be more important than price.

The EIU interviewed 89 executives for the report, 50 per cent of which were software vendors, 10 per cent were equipment manufacturers and eight per cent worked in semiconductors and components, with the rest working in other tech sectors.