Customer experience surveys have been standard procedure for most businesses and corporations for many years. The delivery mechanism and the assessment of answers have gone high tech.
Yet there is one super opportunity to improve every customer experience survey and it requires a double vision.
We generally think of the customer experience survey as a way to understand our customers. Yet the survey itself also speaks volumes to our customers about our customer service and experience philosophy.
We think about what our customers are telling us. That's good! Yet what is our customer experience survey telling our customers about us?
The quick answer might be that we care enough to ask their opinions. OK, that's a start. Yet do we really ask their opinions?
Does the typical customer experience survey ask for true opinions for improvement or mostly for votes? There are the comment sections yet do customers receive a timely response? Do comments turn into corrective action?
Social media has become the venue for customers to get a response. It begs the question, why haven't customer experience surveys played the same role? As a customer, I fill out many surveys with concrete suggestions. I never hear anything back nor see results from my survey energy. What has been your experience as a customer?
Does the customer experience survey measure what we in business care about or what our customers care about?
Or do the primarily structured survey questions broadcast that we think we know what's most important? When we don't respond to suggestions, does it say we don't care? Or worse, that customers have to complain in public via social media to get a timely response?
Super Opportunity for the Customer Experience Survey
Acknowledge that the survey markets our customer experience philosophy and make every survey a two-way street.
- Ask: What do you think of this customer experience survey?
- Ask: Does it reflect what's important to you?
- Ask: What would you add to this survey? What would you eliminate?
- Ask: What would make it easier to complete this survey?
- Invite customers to help redesign the customer experience survey.
- Connect the experience dots: Have social media teams review and respond to customer experience surveys A customer shouldn't have to complain - and in public no less - to get our attention. If we respond to suggestions before the complaint, it says we truly care.
EXAMPLES
Lengthy hotel surveys ask many voting style questions in multiple categories yet often do not ask questions that relate to special needs.
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They ask much about the appearance of the lobby yet nothing about the comfort of the desk chair in the room where customers spend time working on their laptops.
Retail exchange forms with online clothing purchases ask the reason code for the return. Many of the reasons are valuable to improving future buying experience.
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The one blatantly missing is: "I don't like how the garment looks on me." If online retail wants to create the true clothing buying experience, this addition would speak volumes. Else this customer experience survey says, we don't care about the bigger picture of how you look.
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We can reinvent the customer experience survey to produce more than a metric based scorecard. We can have it reflect an open door that truly welcomes, listens to, and responds to customers' feedback in a timely manner.
We can even have it be the vehicle of valuable dialogue, two-way understanding, and trusted exchange that builds long term loyalty.
Are you ready to review your customer experience survey? I'm ready to help you with objective insight.
From professional experience to your success,
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach™
©2011 Kate Nasser, CAS, Inc. Somerville, NJ. If you want to re-post or republish the content of this post, please first email [email protected] for terms of use. Thank you for respecting intellectual capital.
