The Survey Says...
You visit the dollar store to pick up a few things and after the receipt prints the cashier circles a code at the bottom letting you know that you can take a survey regarding the experience. You then go to the discount department store to pick up a few things and the cashier stresses her name while guiding you on taking the survey. You pick up a few items at the supermarket and you are presented another code for the survey. After all this you take your loaner car back to pick up the car at the dealer. You are then instructed that you will be receiving a survey and scoring anything below a 10 takes dinner off their kid's plate. As the day comes to a close you take the children to their favorite restaurant. Once again you are presented a survey you can take for a free bloomin' onion during your next visit. Once you get home you look at your email and you are presented a survey from the electronics retailer you visited as well as the home improvement store regarding a delivery that never happened. You then go online to pay a bill and the website pops up asking you to take a survey, interfering with your goal of paying the bill.
You fill out a few of these surveys, especially where you received poor service such as the delivery issue. You write clear comments asking them to contact you, but they never do until you eventually call to complain. What once was a great way to understand your Customer has now been overdone by companies. We are bombarding our Customers too frequently by asking them to take a survey, and often our actions speak louder than words. Companies love to say they are listening but often they can't even hear you say "call me" in the comments field of the survey.
This survey bonanza really took off with the introduction of Net Promoter Score (NPS) in 2003. NPS is a great concept. It is based on a single question: "would you recommend this product or company?" It is based on a 10 point scale with 9 or 10 being promoters, while 0 to 6 are detractors. To obtain your NPS you minus your detractors from your promotors. If you look carefully, most surveys have this as the final question, but of course they have added many others in the process. Companies started measuring NPS on every aspect of your interactions. Companies also started comparing apples to oranges, such as their NPS score to another company's NPS score.
Surveys in concept are fantastic, but in reality they are creating an even worse Customer experience, particularly as we are bombarding our Customer constantly and taking little action based on the feedback provided. Since we are unable to get it right, it is time that we drop surveys altogether. If you truly value feedback from your Customers, try a different tactic: Simply ask them! No survey dots to fill in, no numbers just asking what we can do to make your life easier. To create a remarkable experience, have a product owner or other leader in the organization call or visit the Customer and ask.
Technology now exists to analyze statements given by Customers on the phone or in written form. If the score is so important to you, you can easily create it. At the same time you have the opportunity to differentiate yourself by getting out of this survey game and treating your Customer as a human being not a robot.
Customer experience is often about simplicity, not about asking your Customers to give you data to prove to your boss how great you are.
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9 年hii
Director of Corporate Security, Asia Pacific & Japan at IBM
9 年Agree that there are far too many surveys out there, that it is tiring and most folks (myself included) shy away from responding to them. Further agree with the point of view that, unless you show evidence that you are acting on survey data, running it is pointless. I experienced this myself recently, when, after a horrendous experience with an Auto service center and giving the feedback to the phone survey agent, I saw zero action. I would submit though, that there is a need to get a pulse on the customers (in my case, internal) that you serve. I have utilized surveys successfully to shape how I run my organization, and it has been useful in creating a culture of client focus. Further, we simplified UI's and created methods to drive higher participation as well (For instance, by showing historical service requests and opportunity to update with one click on a dashboard) A management mechanism and governance to ensure visibility (e.g. of the Very Dissat and Dissat cases) can provide vital insights and learning into your operations, and can help create a culture of enhanced customer focus in the team. From my experience, Customers who are unhappy are more likely to respond to a survey -- but the onus of ensuring this is captured with actionable plans falls on the leaders of the team. Note, Surveys don't necessarily need to focus on the negative - having the ability to tell the teams supporting you when a customer (that too, directly from the horse's mouth!) is delighted, serves as a wonderful source of motivation!
AI for CX/CS: Strategy & Education - Self-Service: optimisation & growth - Critical Conversations: design & hosting - Chairing & Keynotes - CX: evolution & optimisation - Empathy Check Ups - Thought Leadership
9 年Ideally The job of customer feedback is to discover what we don't know. More often its used to prove why the brand is doing a great job. As usual the mindset is not where it needs to be from the outset
General Manager , Australia and New Zealand @ Zensai | Advisor & Director
9 年Frank, I couldn't agree more. Customers are sick and tired of surveys. Why should they bother? Most companies don't bother to call customers back when they leave comments and if they do its normally a boiler-plate platitude which fixes nothing. With the ability to use analytics tools which monitor a customer's every move do we really need Csat surveys to determine customer needs and wants at all? If you really want to know what customers think about you go to a site like TripAdvisor or Gocompare.com. NPS is different. It's a process not a score. Done correctly its the question - 11 point scale by the way - and space for comment. The feedback is the real game changer because in transnational NPS it asks ' is there anything you'd like to tell us about the service you've just had?'. If this insight is processed properly it should be used to improve both processes and customer service agent skills.
Executive Director - Legal Response Center at Comcast
9 年Companies need to walk that fine line between gathering good customer experience data and outright pestering customers. The key is to find that sweet spot and I would argue that sweet spot changes by product, by industry and by geographic locale.