MarketTools Blog

Just in time for tax day in the United States, MarketTools conducted a new survey that gauged satisfaction levels among individuals who filed their 2010 federal income taxes as of April 1st.

Let’s be clear about one thing: the survey didn't ask how people felt about the amount of taxes they paid or whether or not they were satisfied with how tax money is being spent – we’re not touching that one!  Instead, one of the things we wanted to find out was how satisfied people were in dealing with the tax preparation process – which is particularly interesting given that most people find tax preparation pretty stressful.

Can a generally negative experience still be satisfying?  Here’s what we found:

• 75% of filers who worked with a paid individual preparer such as an accountant or CPA said they were “extremely satisfied” with the experience.
• 77% percent of the filers who used an unpaid individual preparer (friend or family member) reported being extremely satisfied.
• Satisfaction was lowest for survey respondents who visited a tax preparation chain to prepare their taxes: with only 64% reporting that they were extremely satisfied with this method, followed by those who used an online tax service (66% extremely satisfied) and those who used tax software (69% extremely satisfied).

It’s interesting to note that when you work with an individual you have a relationship with, even a stressful situation like tax preparation can be satisfying.  This is a great reminder to companies of the importance of maintaining open lines of communication across the full range of interactions with their customers – face-to-face or otherwise.  That’s where an enterprise feedback management solution can come in:  giving those companies the means to capture customer feedback to better understand customer issues and respond quickly to problems when they arise.  With the insights they gain, they can make improvements that improve satisfaction levels, and generate the kind of loyalty that will bring customers back next year.  And if accountants can create extreme satisfaction, surely you can too!

This study was part of an ongoing series of MarketTools surveys with some noteworthy enterprise feedback management-related statistics, including:

• The survey of U.S. workers that showed that nearly 50% of employees have considered leaving their current jobs – and yet 72% of their employers either don’t have a program to solicit employee feedback or the employees aren’t aware of one.
• The survey of large enterprises that found that 94% of companies don’t yet use social media  channels such as Facebook and Twitter to gather customer feedback, despite consumers’ growing engagement with these mediums.

More surveys are coming down the pike – stay tuned!