Taking Feedback Onboard (Or, The Subtle Art of Listening to Your Customer)

How was it for you? No, really. That’s the million dollar question. 

Since the very beginning of The Shirt Society, we’ve been making mistakes. One of the most important things I’ve learned along the way is to really take the time to collect feedback from our customers and (here’s the rub) listen to it and use it to inform future decision making. After all, a business with no customers is...well not a business for much longer! 

We’re lucky enough to have a customer-base who really engage with us - and we love them for it! It’s really helped us to move the business forward, and improve the customer experience to boot. Here are some of the ways The Shirt Society has used the feedback our customers have given us to change course or inform our processes. 

Going with the flow 

When it came to designing our platform, only the best was good enough. Once built, the design team spent a good few weeks going through the flow, showing it to family and friends and trying to iron out any potential problems...and that was before the customer even saw it! 

The next stage was to invite our Day 1’s to try out the platform and let us know their thoughts. Our BETA and Advance Member customers got to work their way around the site, and let us know which bits they found confusing. Changes made, it was time to invite the second wave of customers in. 

Spoiler: they had feedback too! We’re still making changes now. In fact, I even hand-delivered a parcel to a customer in the Manchester area - collecting his feedback on the platform while I was there. 

Times they are a-changin’

2020 was unprecedented. Or so we keep hearing, anyway. Whatever that actually means, it sure as hell changed the way people were looking at their wardrobes. 

With WFH the certifiable ‘new normal’, our customers were clamouring for more of a mix of formal and informal shirts to be available. This feedback proved key as we planned our full launch in September: we brought forward new product lines that had been scheduled for later in the year.

We’re proud that our September offering will include polos and t-shirts alongside collared shirts. An adaptable proposition...for a time that calls for all of us to be more adaptable!

Simplified returns

Look - it happens. Sometimes shirts don’t fit properly. Or very occasionally, you get the wrong one. That’s start-up life, baby. 

Our customers have been amazingly patient with us as we get the logistics side of the business up and running, and thanks to their feedback, we’ve been stripping back and simplifying the returns process to ensure everyone gets shirt done faster.

We’re still collecting feedback: on everything from our social content to the styles and fit of our shirts. And we won’t stop as we expand, either. It really is about building a business that works for our customers. It’s their society, after all.