What is the value of anonymous feedback?

None. No. People lie and embellish and without the accountability of their name, will say pretty much say anything, for various reasons, which makes it hard to discern the truth from fiction. The biggest negative to anonymous feedback is the inability to recover the situation and the customer as well as follow-up to any change initiative.

Dump-and-Run-type anonymous feedback as what Jeffrey and Brian refer to above tends to be more about getting even or making someone look bad than providing real, actionable, constructive feedback.

In contrast, anonymous feedback received as part of a multi-rater, 360-type survey can be EXTREMELY helpful to the recipient.

There are some definite DO's and DON'T's to keep in mind when reviewing this type of anonymous feedback, though:

DO review your results privately at first so you're not publicly embarrassed or blind-sided by less-than-impressive results.

DO familiarize yourself with the definitions of the specific competencies being assessed so that you have: (a) a working knowledge of what they are intending to measure; and (b) greater insight as to how others' ratings of you might actually be spot-on.

DO pay particular attention to how your self-assessment differs from the assessments reported from the others.

DO remember that while perceptions may NOT be reality, they're reality as far as those who have the perceptions are concerned, whether you like it or not!

DO consciously and purposefully commit to doing what it takes to meaningfully upgrade your performance and capabilities based on the findings report.

DON'T try to 'explain away' or discount the ratings.

DON'T try to guess who said what.

DON'T assume these ratings are unmovable over time.

DON'T think that simply reviewing the data will automatically result in affecting lasting and meaningful change.

DON'T try to figure it all out by yourself; engage a coach to help you: (a) process and sift through all that data; (b) identify the two or three key themes that emerged from the data; (c) capture any/all realizations and discoveries...about yourself...that you want to be sure to remember; and (d) develop and implement a meaningful, workable, improvement plan.

Hope this helps, Jenny.

I think it's valuable - if you have the balance of name provided feedback as well. Some people would be more apt to share more candidly - as some people really do feel bad telling a person or company negative things about them. But I agree with the first 2 posts, you can't follow up to try to correct it - and you don't know how embelished the situation is. If you know your business and you have control over it, I think you would be able to determine an embelished or overexagerated situation and decipher the truth (if any) to it.

You also can set the stage for your feedback - giving 'instructions' of what to do. Such as:
"We have this area for a reason - to improve our experience for you. if you are just going to complain and rant, that is fine, but what would be more helpful is if you provide an idea or suggestion of how you would have liked to see something happened vs what you experienced. We know you are intelligent customers and we value your common sense logic - even businesses need their customers help sometimes to become better. So please, use this form or space to share your thoughts, grievances or feedback, but please also try to be constructive with your feedback. We look forward to building our business with you, not just for you."

That's really a comfort level decision with each business - but this is something I wouldn't have a problem using (perhaps tweaked a bit).