MarketTools Blog

One of the things I enjoy most about working at MarketTools is the ready access we have to true experts in the fields of survey design, market research, customer loyalty, survey panel management – you name it – who can provide best practices advice. Just last week I was fortunate to interview Jolinda Decad, one of our MarketTools CustomerSat Research Consultants, to discuss survey design best practices for EFM (enterprise feedback management). Here are some highlights of what I learned – or you can hear the entire interview here (about 10 minutes).

•  Focus, Focus, Focus:  As you begin, resist the urge to pull together a cross-functional team to start brainstorming survey questions. The best surveys focus on a specific purpose and ask only questions that are relevant and actionable.  The more people involved, the more likely the purpose will be clouded and the more difficult it will be to get the information you need from the survey.
• Clarify survey objectives:  What problems are you trying to solve by asking customers about their experience? Often companies are looking to understand how to meet their customers’ evolving needs within a particular touchpoint, and it’s helpful to think through the end-to-end customer experience within that touchpoint.  For example, if you’re evaluating customer satisfaction in your contact center, you’ll want to think through the typical contact center experience and determine questions you could ask about each aspect of the experience, such as how long they are on hold, how they are greeted, how their issue was handled, if there was any follow-up, etc.  
• Anticipate Action:  Think through how you might incorporate the survey results into decisions and actions. This will help you in two ways:
  - First, it helps you determine the demographic variables you need for decision-making.  If you want to make decisions based on customer segment, region, product lines, etc., you can ensure you include these demographic variables in the survey to more easily segment the data for analysis.

  - Secondly, you can ensure that questions are asked in a way that drives clear action without setting false expectations. For example, if you sense that some customers want longer support hours but need a better idea of the number of customers that actually require this, you will want to ask whether the current support hours are meeting their needs without asking a question like “would you use support after-hours if it were available?” Not only is this question leading the respondent, it also sets the expectation that you’re considering extending support hours, which you may determine isn’t necessary if only a small percentage of customers feel their needs are not being met.

That’s only the beginning – learn more about how to design a great customer feedback survey from one of our EFM best practice consultants.