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Add You - Making Customer Satisfaction Surveys Work
Do you have butterflies in your stomach when you go for interviews? It’s hardly surprising when the outcome is so important to your future life and prosperity and that of your family and loved ones.You’ve already laboured over writing your resume and now you must face the prospect of an interview. A feeling of trepidation is understandable although many people have a careless attitude that can be just as damaging to your prospects.Either way, how much better it would be if we could go into every interview brimming with confidence. Not only will it be a more pleasurable experience but it will also have a very positive effect on the interviewer with the result that your chances of success are dramatically increased.The good news is that the solution is surprisingly simple to learn. In fact it’s s
Communication - Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business 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 is not 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 confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Do your customers find i
Have you ever though it impossible to do what you love and get paid? I would enthusiastically tell you that it is indeed possible to find your labor of love and get paid for it! Through using the universal truths I learned from my research of those who had conquered great adversity and came out on top, I offer you the following formula: 6 Steps to the Job you Love1. Believe it. You must believe that the job you seek is actually possible for you to attain. It is absolutely necessary for you to be brutally honest with yourself. Belief is the concrete foundation from which all of our 'real-life' actions are based. Belief is the critical, yet most forgotten, ingredient that is needed to bring that into our lives which we most seek. Do you actually believe that; 1. you are capable of getting the job-positio
Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although new customers are important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business is likely to win many more customers through recommendations and remember, if you are not taking care of your customers, your competition 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.
Where to start?
Objective - Before you start compiling your survey you should first consider what the objectives of the survey are, in that way you will remain focused and find it easier to decide what questions to ask.
Analysis - In addition to the objective consider also how you will analyse 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). Much will depend on the volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analysing the results.
Opportunity – Keep in mind that as well as obtaining valuable market research data customer surveys are also a good way to publicise aspects of your service that your customers may not be aware of. After you have drafted your survey read through the survey from a market research view point and check that you are asking the right questions in the right way and that with the feedback information you will be able 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:-
Market research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
Marketing - promote aspects of your business
Information/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of
For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?
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.
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst. 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 loosing you business.
What to ask?
Although 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, Internet based or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business 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 is not 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 confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Do your customers find it
Whenever we throw something away, whether in the garbage can, the compost, or the recycling, it can smell terrible. Rotting organic matter smells especially badly. But it can also become rich compost for fertilizing the garden. The fragrant rose and the stinking garbage are two sides of the same existence. Without one, the other cannot be. Everything becomes a part of the garbage. After six months, the garbage is transformed into a rose. When we speak of impermanence, we understand that everything is in transformation. This becomes that, and that becomes this.Looking deeply, we can contemplate one thing and see everything else in it. We are not disturbed by change when we see the interconnectedness and continuity of all things. It is not that the life of an individual is permanent, but that life itself conti
Analysis - In addition to the objective consider also how you will analyse 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). Much will depend on the volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analysing the results.
Opportunity – Keep in mind that as well as obtaining valuable market research data customer surveys are also a good way to publicise aspects of your service that your customers may not be aware of. After you have drafted your survey read through the survey from a market research view point and check that you are asking the right questions in the right way and that with the feedback information you will be able 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:-
Market research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
Marketing - promote aspects of your business
Information/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of
For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?
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.
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst. 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 loosing you business.
What to ask?
Although 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, Internet based or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business 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 is not 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 confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Do your customers find i
Betty made a giant leap forward in her career when she landed a new position as Director of Marketing for a major division of a multi-billion dollar corporation. She would go from supervising one employee to managing 27 men and women. Her annual budget would increase dramatically. She would be expected to breathe new life into a lackluster marketing staff that had fallen behind the pace expected in the hard-driving corporation.She came to me for advice on how to make the most of the opportunity.Here’s the sense of what I told her.The biggest challenge will be to think in terms of managing a function – getting things done through other people – rather than doing everything yourself. Your job is to manage the assets assigned to you so that your department’s goals are reached.
Market research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
Marketing - promote aspects of your business
Information/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of
For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?
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.
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst. 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 loosing you business.
What to ask?
Although 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, Internet based or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business 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 is not 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 confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Do your customers find i
You’ve been chasing a new job for some time now, are getting some interviews but are still stuck in the old job or worse still unemployed – what do you do?The main thing to remember is to keep going. You may think that you have little chance of that job you have always dreamed of – but if you don’t keep applying for that new job – you have exactly zero chance! So cheer up and the job market again. Here’s your action plan. Review Have an honest review of what could be going wrong. * Is your resume being sent off but you are getting no interviews? * Are you getting interviews but no offers?If you are not getting enough response from sending out resumes then your job seeking or resume writing skills are in need of a tune up.If you are getting interviews, but
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst. 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 loosing you business.
What to ask?
Although 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, Internet based or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business 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 is not 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 confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Do your customers find i
For those that have put in the time and effort to build up a business, they really need to understand the value of maintaining those hard won clients. There are many situations that may leave a business owner scratching his head and wondering which client gifts are the most appropriate, if any at all. The same can be said for valued employees as well.In order to maintain friendly, but professional boundaries it is good practice to think about what is and what is not appropriate when choosing client gifts. You really should put some thought into what gift is appropriate for what person. For example, you may think that the bottles of wine that you bought are the perfect thank-you presents, but these client gifts are not for everyone. That individual that you give them to me not drink alcohol, or worse yet m
Communication - Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer telephones is the phone answered promptly; are enquiries about products or services properly handled? A good business 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 is not 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 confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Do your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical store, is it conveniently located with good access?
Making it pleasant, making it easy - For a virtual business it is important to ensure that your website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. Physical store or website, 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?
The right quality products – Not only should you measure the quality of the service that you provide but you should check that the products and services that you market are what the customer wants and closely match their expectations.
Value for money – Cheap or expensive is not always a good measure, value of money is. Do your customers equate your business with value for money, if not, why not?
Speed and attention – No matter what the business, the majority of customers will want to be dealt with quickly but attentively. Are you doing everything you can to avoid delays? Good businesses 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.
Demographics and Specific issues – Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example where do they live and what is their age group? The more you try to understand your customers the better you will be able to target your business. Within the survey allow customers to highlight specific problems and provide contact details.
What next?
Having completed the survey analyse the results.
Trends – Look for common and specific areas where the service is failing. Ask yourself if the criticism is valid and is there anything that can be done to resolve or minimise the problem?
Training – Are the staff properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge? Where staff training programmes have been implemented have they had a positive impact on the business?
Follow-up –If a customer who has completed a survey has raised a specific issue ensure that they are contacted and their complaint addressed. Don't loose an opportunity to resolve a problem and keep a customer.
Continuously Monitor - Make-changes and then measure by issuing further surveys.
The following sample customer satisfaction survey for a store demonstrates some of the areas discussed please visit: Sample Survey
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