The power of SurveyGizmo can make reaching out to your customers more accessible and even make the survey process easier for your customer. So what could possibly be wrong with sending a customer satisfaction survey? . . . Plenty!

We’ve all participated in customer satisfaction surveys. Some may have been okay, most probably not. It can be very frustrating if you want to give feedback to a company and their survey asks about only things for which you have no concern. It can also be frustrating if the online survey is hard to understand. Stopping to figure out what is being asked on a survey adds insult to injury. Have you ever taken a customer satisfaction survey and thought, “Was this survey meant for me? Did they send it to the right person?” I know I have.

Getting a customer satisfaction survey right doesn’t have to be that hard. Just keep a few things in mind. A customer satisfaction survey should enhance the customer-supplier relationship, not compromise it. A survey’s quality should, at least, match that of one’s own products and services. I’ve seen a situation where a company with very satisfied customers sent out a customer satisfaction survey that was disappointing. That company’s customers were used to seeing only the highest quality from this company and thus reacted negatively to a satisfaction survey that was poorly thought out and poorly executed.

The goal of a customer satisfaction survey should be to establish a lasting program that will continue to foster good will with customers and provide valuable information for company decision-making for years going forward. Here are some things to think about before undertaking a customer satisfaction survey:

  • It is easy to write questions and send them out to customers. It is challenging to design and execute a customer survey that will actually provide useful information for improving your business. If you need help designing your survey questions get the assistance of a SurveyGizmo Survey Expert.
  • A customer satisfaction program will raise customer expectations. Most of the effort spent on a customer satisfaction program should be spent after the survey is done and the data is collected. It is important that the budget and resources be there for taking action afterwards.
  • The ownership and commitment for the program should be integrated and coordinated across all departments. (Will a sales or service representative know the survey is happening and why?). Spread the word about your customer satisfaction survey around the organization.

    • Plan for the long haul. Starting and stopping customer satisfaction efforts can do more harm than good. Your customer satisfaction program should be seen as ongoing — not just a one time event.

  • Time spent up front to develop the program and clearly understand customers’ wants and needs, will pay dividends for years to come.

We recommend the following two activities for anyone initiating a customer satisfaction program. They will complement the standard techniques for designing any survey.

  1. A Customer Needs Assessment – This involves conducting in-depth interviews (face-to-face or over the phone) with a few select customers to make sure you understand what is most important to them, what their needs are, what they think of your company and what they think about your planned customer satisfaction survey. This two-way communication early in the process has been found to be a critical success factor for obtaining actionable information and ensuring that your survey asks the right questions of the right people in the right way.
  2. A Stakeholders Strategy Session – The success of a customer satisfaction survey is measured by the actions it drives. It is critical that the survey ask the right questions and address the needs of customers, but it also needs to be integrated into the operations of your company. Since your customer survey is going to be an ongoing part of running your business, it becomes very important for the survey to have a broad base of support and understanding. A strategy session should have key people from sales, marketing, development and operations who get together for a four to six-hour meeting to work on the survey objectives and how they tie to the company mission and values. The session might also include discussions on the appropriate customer segments to target, training from a customer satisfaction expert (internal or external) on best practices and/or defining the scope of the customer feedback you will solicit.

    3. Do yourself and your customers a favor — don’t survey your customers without the appropriate commitment! If you need help in any of these areas a SurveyGizmo Survey Expert can help.

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