MarketTools Blog

As Voice of the Customer / customer loyalty researchers, we recognize that at the root of every loyal or disloyal customer is a history of interactions—calls with sales, tech support, maybe an installer or a billing specialist.  We know that each one of these customer interactions has the power to impact customer loyalty.

The survey process is an interaction as well.  It is a chance for the customer to tell you how well you are performing.  Like any other interaction, it can be handled well or handled poorly.

Our best advice to researchers designing their feedback program is to channel the principal tenet of the Hippocratic Oath, “Do No Harm”.  This should be the primary consideration in the decision making process at every step of designing/implementing a satisfaction measurement program.

Obviously the first step is to work with the right partner so you know you’ve designed an excellent survey (just the right length, focused questions, only the required open-ended questions, etc.).  This is critical.  But don’t spend weeks refining and vetting the survey instrument, just to leave other key parts of the interaction to the last minute (or even until after the survey is live!).  Here are some other areas that should be given equal consideration when designing a feedback program.

Pre-Survey:
A personalized email is generally preferred to a generic greeting.  However, personalization requires a reliable database.  I would rather receive an email with “Dear Valued Customer” than any of the following:

Dear MIKE MILBURN  (why are you yelling at me?)
Dear mike milburn  (only acceptable if gauging opinion on the poetry of ee cummings)
Dear milburn mike  (do I even need to explain?)
Dear tbd unknown  (am I a client of yours or not?)
Dear Mrs. Milburn  (would be ok if it was for my wife, this one wasn’t)
(By the way, avoid Mr., Ms., or Mrs. unless you are absolutely sure, and even then, don’t)

Is your database ready for the survey process?  Even if it is accurate 99.5% of the time, 10,000 emails could yield 50 upset/turned off invitees.

Follow up on specific requests:
Often companies will include a survey question asking respondents if they want someone from the company to contact them.  If a respondent says yes, then contact them — you have now set an expectation that you need to follow through with.  It sounds simple, but many companies turn this kind of opportunity to interact with an individual respondent into a reason for the respondents to feel as if the company doesn’t value them when they neglect to follow up.  Loyalty is an emotion; hurt feelings will quickly damage the relationship.

Also, companies may ask if the respondent needs certain materials, documentation, etc.  Again, if someone says they  need it, provide it.  I have seen programs where, 6 months in, the client has removed this type of question because they realized no one in their company had been following up on it since the program began.  That is 6 months of setting expectations and not fulfilling any of them.

Do you have the infrastructure in place to deal with the volume of contact or information requests?  If not, you are better off not asking these questions until you do.

Survey follow-up (in general):
The ability to follow up in real time with respondents who give low scores to your survey can be very powerful.  Imagine this from the respondent’s point of view:  Let's say I had a bad experience, I expressed it in your survey and that same day I get a phone call from your company.

“Hello, is this Mike Milburn?  Thank you for providing feedback recently on your service experience.  I understand things were not handled up to our usual standards.  I’d like to take a minute to discuss…”

Think about it.  I am no longer a nameless person throwing my feedback into a void.  Someone saw my responses and acted on it.  I’m now part of the solution.

Much better than this call:  “Is this Mike?  Yeah, Mike, why did you give us a 2 on courtesy and professionalism?”  (Hmm, I wonder.)

Companies spend millions of dollars putting the right messaging campaigns together.  Yet, when following up with respondents in critical one-on-one interactions, these events are often left to the whims of the individual reaching out to the client.

Do you have a scripted, structured follow-up mechanism in place?  If not, how do you know these interactions are being handled in a consistent, professional manner?

A feedback program is another opportunity to interact with your clients.  How you interact with them is up to you.  At every step of the process, let “Do No Harm” guide your decisions.