titleDesigning Customer Satisfaction Surveys that Work/titlecategory1/categoryh3Why should you bother?/h3
Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although new customers are very important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business will secure many more customers through word of mouth and you should always keep in mind that if you are not taking proper care of your customers there is always a competitor that will.
A Customer Satisfaction survey will help you not only identify problem areas but will also demonstrate to your customers that you care and are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service that you provide.
h3Where to start?/h3
strongObjective/strong - As a first step decide what the main objectives of the survey are, in that way you will be able to retain focus and find it easier to decide what questions to ask.
strongAnalysis/strong - In addition to the objectives consider how you will analyze the answers having completed the survey.
Keep in mind that ‘closed’ questions (where the respondent is asked to choose from a limited number of responses) are easier to analyse than ‘open’ questions (where the respondent can reply in anyway they want).
A great deal will depend on the predicted volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analysing the results.
strongOpportunity/strong ndash; As well as obtaining valuable market research data keep in mind that customer surveys are also a good way to advertise areas of your service that your customers may not be aware of.
Before publishing the survey read through the survey from a market research view point to confirm that you are asking the right questions in the right way and that your chosen answer format will provide you with feedback that will allow you to make informed decisions.
Then, read through the survey from a marketing view point, check that you have phrased each question so that every opportunity has been taken to promote your business?
The ideal question will perform the following three functions:-
ul
liMarket research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business/li
liMarketing - promote aspects of your business/li
liInformation/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of/li
/ul
For example:- emDo you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?/em
By asking this question not only will the store receive good feedback on the facility they provide but they will also advertise their baby changing facilities and promote themselves as a family friendly store beyond those customers who have a specific need for the facility provided.
strongWarts and all/strong ndash; to benefit most from a customer survey you need to avoid the temptation, in any way, of attempting to sugar coat the survey.
A customer satisfaction survey should be designed to highlight problems so that they can be addressed; regular customer satisfaction will prevent complacency and will also give early warning on where your competitors initiatives may be losing you business.
h3What to ask?/h3
Although it is a given that each business is likely to have specific and unique factors that are important in providing good customer services there are common areas that are relevant to all businesses be they a physical store, online internet store or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
strongCommunication/strong - Is it easy for your customers to contact you?
When customers telephone are their calls answered quickly; are their enquiries about products or services handled properly? Good businesses will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person, quickly, politely and fairly.
If a problem cannot be resolvable immediately do you promise to respond in a given time period and do you deliver on your promise?
Use a customer satisfaction survey to ensure that all your staff are considered by your customers to be helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
strongLocation/strong ndash; Do your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical bricks and mortar store, is it conveniently located with good access?
strongMaking it pleasant, making it easy/strong - For an internet business it is important to ensure that your website is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing.
Regardless of the store being a bricks and mortar or purely an online internet store, is the store properly laid out, can your customers find what they need and is there sufficient information and help on hand to explain how a particular product works?
strongThe right quality products/strong ndash; In addition to measuring the quality of the service that you provide you should ensure that the products and services that you provide match your customersrsquo; requirements.
strongValue for money/strong ndash; Cheap or expensive is rarely a good measure, value for money is.
Do your current customers consider your services as value for money, if not, why not?
strongSpeed and attention/strong ndash; Customers want their enquiries or queries to be dealt with quickly but attentively.
Are you doing everything to prevent any delays?
A good business will try to treat each customer as an individual, does yours? Attention is one thing but this has to be hand- in-hand with a quick and satisfactory resolution of the query.
strongDemographics and Specific issues/strong ndash; Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example what is their age group and where do they live?
By understanding your customers more, the better your chances of correctly targeting your business.
For customers who have specific problems allow them to provide details and contact details.
h3What is next?/h3
Having completed the survey analyze the results.
strongTrends/strong ndash; Identify specific and common areas where the service needs improving.
Ask yourself if any criticism is valid and is there anything that can be done to resolve or minimise the problem?
strongTraining/strong ndash; Are the staff properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge?
Where customer service training programs have been implemented have they had the desired effect and improved the customer experience?
strongFollow-up/strong ndash; If a customer who has completed a survey has raised a specific issue do all you can to ensure that their complaint is addressed.
Don’t waste an opportunity to resolve a problem and keep a customer.
strongContinuously Monitor/strong - Make changes and then measure by issuing further surveys.
If you are concerned about a href=http://www.surveygalaxy.com/customer-landing.asp?source=ow000201customer satisfaction/a and would like to view a sample survey for a store that will demonstrate some of the above advice please view the a href=http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?k=WRR9DDFTFJSWSample Customer Survey/a
Comments Off
Recent Comments