10 Ways for Maximizing the Results of Your Customer
Survey Program
If the only thing your organization is getting out of its customer satisfaction surveys is pie charts and bar
charts, then you’re probably just wasting your time and money! In fact, if the end product of all the
resources you have put into your customer surveys is nothing more than a series of periodic tracking
reports, you may have missed the boat altogether! Because simply conducting customer satisfaction
surveys on a regular basis, and merely monitoring the results via a series of quarterly tracking reports, is
not only a great waste of time and money, but an opportunity cost as well. Read on to see how you can
cost-effectively leverage your customer satisfaction surveys into more than just leisure reading!
The only thing worse than never conducting a customer satisfaction survey is conducting one, but not
being able to leverage its full value into your customer service and support operations. On the basis of
our experience in designing hundreds of customer surveys for a variety of product and services
organizations, we have identified 10 ways to maximize the impact of your survey program. They are as
follows:
1. Be Sure to Match the Survey Design Directly to Your Specific Goals and Objectives.
Many businesses rely on the results of their customer surveys to help them improve their product and
service offerings. However, there are many different kinds of surveys that may be utilized, each with
their own pros and cons, depending on the specific goals and objectives of the organization. Before
you design your survey program, you must first determine which of the following goals and objectives
you will be trying to meet, and then plan accordingly:
To establish a baseline, or benchmark, for customer needs, requirements, and satisfaction
against which future trends can be measured and evaluated;
To generate strategic data that can be used as input into a strategic, marketing, CRM or
business development plan;
To measure the impact of specific tactical events such as direct marketing or promotional
campaigns, new product/service launches, operational/organizational changes, acquisitions,
etc.;
To determine the relative strengths and weaknesses of the organization with respect to its
products, services and customer support, and identify the critical areas requiring improvement;
To collect data that can be used to set specific targets or goals for improvement, and to serve as
the basis for formalizing internal strategic and marketing planning programs;
To evaluate and compare the performance of individual product/service lines, business/sales
divisions; geographic sales/service territories; and/or
To provide the information and tools to make decisions that will improve the organization's ability
to convert high levels of customer satisfaction into long-term customer loyalty.
The possibilities may appear endless, and the nuances somewhat vague; however, there is generally
only one "best" way to approach customer satisfaction for any one specific goal. That is why the type
of survey methodology you choose becomes such a critical decision!
2. Get Input and Gain “Buy-In” from Key Departments Before Designing the Survey.
Regardless of which department is actually sponsoring (i.e., paying for) the customer surveys, all key
departments will need to have their input specifically addressed as part of the overall design process.
This is important for a number of reasons including:
The ability to create an effective multi-departmental team for planning on how best to use the
survey results to improve existing processes, and implement organization-wide change;
Gaining sufficient “buy-in” from each of the key areas within the organization so there will be as
much corporate acceptance as possible throughout the entire survey process;
Reducing or eliminating the instances of finger-pointing that may otherwise occur as a result of
unanticipated survey findings; and
Assuring that each of the departments represented will benefit from an appropriate share of
actionable survey results that will empower them to make the necessary changes.
Remember - it’s not just your department interacting with and supporting the company’s customers.
Customer support ultimately comes from all departments within the organization.
3. Understand the Difference Between Collecting “Nice-to-Know” and “Need-to-Know” Survey
Data.
In a world where time and money are irrelevant, there would be no difference whatsoever between
“nice-to-know” and “need-to-know” survey data. However, this world does not exist! The key rules of
thumb for survey design, therefore, should always include the following:
Don’t ask a question if you have no way - or no plans - to use the resulting information.
However, if you absolutely, positively, need to acquire the data, then be sure to ask all of the right
questions, in the right format.
While “nice-to-know” data is still - well, nice to know, we would strongly suggest that for every “nice-
to-know” question that fits into your questionnaire, there is at least one more “need-to-know” question
that can take its place.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Survey Customers “Outside of the Box”.
We believe that customer surveys should be designed and executed on a customized, tailored, and
“company-personalized” basis. While a pre-packaged “survey-in-a-box” tool (such as
Zoomerang.com) can probably provide your organization with many of the basic components of a
customer needs and requirements assessment/customer satisfaction survey, this methodology
typically provides only limited customer/market insight - especially when designed and conducted by
internal staff:
These types of "pre-packaged" survey tools are often under-used (or worse, mis-used) by an
internal staff that may not have either the training or experience to analyze and interpret the
results on an objective and non-politically-charged basis.
They typically focus only on the “high points” of what should have required much more in-depth,
objective and comprehensive research and analysis; and
They generally do not effectively address the more finite problems, threats and opportunities that
your organization may be facing.
We believe that the “survey-in-a-box” approach is to a customized survey analysis, what a slice of
TM
white bread is to a Thomas’ English Muffin - that is, you don’t get into any of the “nooks and
crannies” in the former, but that’s where all the flavor is! That is why we strongly advocate stepping
"out-of-the-box”, and going the custom survey route.
5. Survey More than Just Your Customers.
Surveying their existing customer base is what most companies think about when designing their
customer survey programs. However, there are other segments that may be equally worthy of
surveying in terms of solidifying your existing customer/market information base, or developing future
business potential. These may include:
Employees/Contractors
Dealers/Vendors/VARs/Authorized Service Agents
Strategic Alliance Partners
New Accounts/”Wins”
“Lost” Accounts/Prospects
General Market Users/Competitive Vendor Users
Others
Since all of these segments ultimately impact your organization’s ability to support its customers, they
are all relevant for surveying at some point in time.
6. Don’t Only Survey Your Customers on a Post-Transaction Basis.
Many organizations only survey their customers immediately following a specific service call event.
While these types of surveys are generally both meaningful and actionable, they tend to be very
narrowly-focused in methodology and scope, and as a result, only provide data and information
reflecting the perceived satisfaction ratings of the organization’s most recently serviced customers.
The upside is that the collected data may be extremely valuable in assessing (and, ultimately,
improving) the way in which a specific service process is conducted (e.g., response to an
emergency on-site call; scheduled PM, etc.).
The downside is that only customers who call your organization for service will actually be
surveyed. The fact that some customer accounts may no longer be calling you for service (i.e.,
they’re attempting to fix it themselves; or they’re calling other services vendors while they’re
thinking about switching from you; etc.) may be an even more serious problem.
Surveying your accounts on a post-transaction basis is not the same as surveying your total customer
base!
7. Leverage the Customer Survey Results to Support Internal Operations Improvement.
Some managers may argue that internal call activity data, information and reports are all they need to
measure and track their organization's performance over time, and identify areas that require “fixing”
or improvement. Objectively speaking, they may be right! However, the customers your organization
supports are typically not objective in the way in which they assess and evaluate your performance
and, in most cases, the internal data you are able to derive do not adequately reflect their true
perceptions of satisfaction - let alone loyalty - with respect to your organization's performance. As a
result, we believe that by having an objective internal assessment conducted in conjunction with the
customer survey program, management can also focus on:
Identifying specific areas where improvements can be made through the systematic
standardization and/or simplification of existing services processes, policies, and procedures;
Determining more appropriate standards of measurement for monitoring resources utilized, costs,
cycle time, quality, efficiency, and productivity; and
Recommending a specific action plan for improving/”tweaking”/re-engineering the existing
business processes.
This can all be accomplished while ensuring that customers’ stated needs, requirements, and
expectations are being directly addressed as part of the operations assessment and planning
processes.
8. Integrate the Results of the Customer Survey Program Directly into Your Sales, Marketing and
Business Development Activities.
The results of the customer surveys should not be used solely for internal improvement - they should
also be used as marketing and promotional tools. For example, if the survey results from one of your
tracking “waves” show that customers are somewhat dissatisfied with the fact that your service techs
often arrive on-site without the proper parts and, as a result, you decide to implement a new
parts/inventory/logistics program, you should communicate to your existing customer base:
That you will be making improvements that will result in specific benefits to them;
When they can expect to see the improvements;
What you will be doing in the meantime to prevent any disruption to ongoing service and support;
That these changes will be occurring as a result of their input;
That you will be keeping them up-to-date on the progress of these changes; and
Whatever other positive communications you feel your customers would be most interested in
receiving (i.e., on the basis of the survey findings).
Once the improvements have been implemented, and your customer survey tracking “waves” begin
to reflect the corresponding increases in the levels of customer satisfaction, you will have even
greater opportunities to promote the business, including any of the following:
The distribution of a "white paper" report, based on the survey results, for general release to
customers and prospects via the company website, direct mail, e-mail, insertion in corporate
literature folders, or at industry trade shows;
Development of a series of promotional and public relations-oriented news releases targeted to
key industry publications and trade papers; and/or
Publication of a "genericized" summary of the survey results (i.e., no proprietary data/information
revealed) in an appropriate industry trade journal or magazine that serves the organization's
general customer/market base.
The results of the survey analysis, as well as a sampling of selected verbatim customer quotes and
comments, could also be incorporated directly into the company's advertising and promotional
programs, web site, corporate brochures, testimonials, newsletters, etc.
SM
[To see how FrontRange Solutions leveraged the results of one of SFG 's customer satisfaction
surveys into their marketing and promotional activities, click on the following URL:
www.frontrange.com/Company/PressReleases.aspx?id=446.]
9. Plan for Your Next Tracking “Wave” Before Rolling Out the Current Survey.
Virtually everything a business manager does takes time, costs money, and requires ongoing
management oversight to ensure maximum effectiveness. That is why it is so important to plan
successive survey tracking “waves” at the same time you are planning the current “wave”. The most
obvious benefits of building an overall survey design that allows for meaningful tracking “waves” are
the ability to:
Track a constant set of responses to “apples-to-apples” questions over an extended period of
time (e.g., month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year, etc.),
Reserve space for the inclusion of ad hoc questions that address special circumstances (e.g.,
special sales, marketing, or promotional events, new product/service launches, acquisitions,
etc.), and
Accommodate other company departments in getting some of their specific questions addressed
as part of a company-wide formal survey program.
Don’t find yourself in a position where you are unable to track key performance areas over time
simply because you didn’t plan accordingly when you designed the original survey questionnaire; plan
ahead - modularly - with each “wave” of the survey program, and the benefits of tracking data and
performance over time will always be there for you.
10. Don’t Try to Do It All Yourself - You May Need Some Outside Assistance to Keep It Objective.
While most services organizations acknowledge the need to measure customer satisfaction on a
regular basis (i.e., roughly 75% of services organizations), all too often, they have no real structure or
methodology in place to carry out a truly effective and meaningful program on their own. Only by
utilizing the services of an independent, objective, third-party market research/consulting organization
can you truly ensure that the customer data that is collected will be totally:
Accurate,
Objective, and
Independently analyzed and reported.
While survey data objectivity is important under any circumstance, it becomes an even more
important consideration in situations where there may be any internal politicking, “turfing”, or other
intramural axes to grind.
Growing the organization is every manager’s goal, but one where you really need to know where you're
coming from before you can build an effective plan for tomorrow! We believe that the best place to start is
to first take a good, long, hard (and objective) look at exactly where the organization stands today with
respect to understanding, addressing and meeting its customers’ needs, requirements, and expectations -
as well as its own internal services delivery operations, processes, and procedures.
Only then can you confidently move forward with a well thought out, carefully constructed, and systematic
plan for improvement, supported by the proper combination of classic customer and market research, and
internal operations assessment. While you may think you already have a good idea of what has to be
done to improve your business, you will still need to rely heavily on the input from these basic strategic
and tactical tools to ensure that you are always heading in the right direction!
Until next month, keep your customers satisfied!
Bill
William K. Pollock
President
SM
Strategies For Growth
P.O. Box 1024
Westtown, PA 19395
USA
Tel: (610) 399-9717
Fax: (610) 399-9718
E-Mail: mailto:wkp@s4growth.com
Website: http://www.s4growth.com