Tips for Conducting Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Tips for Conducting Customer Satisfaction SurveysTips for Conducting Customer Satisfaction SurveysWe all know that customer satisfaction is essential to the survival of our businesses, but howcanwe find out whether our customers are satisfied? The best way is simplyto ask them. What you ask your customers is important when you conduct a customer satisfaction survey.How, when and how often you ask the questions isalso important. But what you do with their answers is the most critical component ofconducting a customer satisfaction survey. Howto Ask Whether Customers Are Satisfied You have several options for askingyour customers whethertheyresatisfied with your company, your products and the service theyve received. You can do it face-to-face as theyre about to leave your store or office. You can call them on the phone after their visits ?if you have their phone numbers and permission. You can also email or snail-mail a questionnaire or survey, but if you use email, take care not t o violate spam laws. You might email an invitation to take a survey instead. Mail-in survey resultstend to be predictable. When to Conducta Customer Satisfaction Survey The best time to conduct a satisfaction survey is when the experience is fresh in your customers minds. A customersresponse may be less accurate if you wait. It is easy for any customer to forget somedetails over time, or respond regarding a later event. What to Ask ina Customer Satisfaction Survey Theresa school of thought that says you only haveto ask a single question in a customer satisfaction survey Will you buy from me again? Although it can betempting to reduce your customer satisfaction survey to this supposed essence, youll missa lot of valuable information and can easily bemisled. Itstoo easy for a customer to simply answer Yes. Instead,ask questionsto get closer to the expected behavior and to collect information about what to change and what to keep doing. By all means, ask the basic customer sati sfaction questions How satisfied are you with the purchase you made of a product or service?How satisfied are you with the service you received?How satisfied are you with our company overall? And askcustomer loyalty questions, too How likely are you to buy from us again?How likely are you to recommend our product/service to others?How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Dont neglect toask what the customer liked ordidnt like about the product, your service oryour company. How Often Should You Conducta Customer Satisfaction Survey? The best answer is often enough to get the most information, but not so often as to irritatethe customer.In reality, thefrequency with which you conductcustomer satisfaction surveys depends on the frequency with which you interact with your customers. For instance, in a state that renews drivers licenses for five-year periods, itwould be silly a survey to be conducted annually. Conversely, it can be easy tomiss important changesthat may be driven by seasonal or weather-related events if you only survey customers of a rapid transit system once a year. What to Do With the Answers The most importantaspect of the customer satisfaction survey is what you do with their answers. It is important to compile the answers from different customers, keeping an eye out for trends, differences by horizont or product. However, the most important thing is to act on the information you get from your customers through the survey. Take the time to fix the things the customers have complained about and to investigate their suggestions. That way, you will improve your company and product in the areas that they mean the most to your customers, all while avoiding changing the things that they like. Its also important to let them know that theiranswers were appreciated and that theyrebeing acted upon. That feedback can be individual responses to the customers if this is appropriate, or it can simply be fixing the thingstheyve told youne ed to be fixed.