Customer Death by Survey? Or Just Bad Surveys?
I recently wrote an article in RainToday called How To Annoy Your Client Without Really Trying, about the excess of customer satisfaction metrics.
Wouldn’t you know it – someone disagreed with me! I know, hard to believe…
But in this case, the someone was pretty interesting and had some good points to make. So please meet Erich Dietz, of Mindshare Technologies.
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Charlie: Erich, welcome. Let’s jump right in. Consumers are getting surveyed to death… but how can one argue that the solution is as simple as changing the survey script?
Erich: You’re 100% right that every time a consumer turns around they are getting hit with surveys – surveys from every business they have ever interacted with. It’s a painful exercise that feeds a market research propeller head in an ivory tower somewhere who never shares what he/she knows; that’s what the problem is.
Which means I also agree with you that the solution is not as simple as changing a survey script.
Charlie: Well, now we’re getting somewhere!
Erich: This is one of those cases where dirt-simple solutions just aren’t realistic. Businesses must change their mindset – from surveying customers to engaging them.
Engagement derives from demonstrating respect for the customer’s time, showing that feedback is actually being used, and using surveys as part of a meaningful, recurring dialogue.
Charlie: So, it’s one of those mindset things: back to ground zero.
Erich: Did you really think otherwise? Me neither.
Unfortunately there will always be businesses that survey in a customer-unfriendly way. But I don’t think anyone is seriously proposing legislation to regulate or ban bad surveying.
What’s important is not how bad most surveying is – what’s important is how a smart company can take advantage of that. Let me suggest that if your business surveys the right way, then out of the 1,000 survey-invites the customer gets in a day, yours will be the one they elect to take. And that’s huge.
Charlie: That is pretty big, actually, and what you’re saying is the bad surveys actually make it easier for the really good ones to stand out.
So let’s jump to the question that begs: how does a business go about surveying the “right” way?
Erich: They increase their focus and commitment to structure, communication, and engagement. Let me start with structure.
Too many surveys are written for the surveyor; they end up long and rigid. Reduce the length of the surveys, focus more heavily on allowing customers to share their experiences, wants, interests, etc. in their own words. This is a radical change from asking the customer to conform to their rating scales or menu choices on every data point.
Transactional surveys should be no more than 2 minutes, and should set accurate expectations with the invite (e.g. “please answer 4 brief questions”).
I strongly recommend that, wherever possible, businesses compensate customers for their time. Think about ways to compensate the survey customer that can actually drive incremental revenue back into the business.
Charlie: Cool! What about communication?
Erich: When did you last feel that your feedback went anywhere meaningful? Most businesses miss the simple layup – tell the customer when they make a change based on customer feedback! You have to show customers you’re listening to – and acting on – the feedback they’ve spent their valuable time providing. Show them their time was not spent in vain.
Charlie: Common sense, even though it’s not common. Engagement?
Erich: Use surveys to enhance and deepen customer conversations. When a surveyed customer indicates service lapse, make sure the front line is empowered to follow up – personally.
Conversely, for those customers who indicated positive experiences – reach out, frequently, just to say thank you.
Charlie: Erich, those are eminently sound recommendations. If all survey designers took your advice – well, that’s an interesting thought-experiment. It occurs to me the effect would be massive. Thanks so much for taking time with us.
Erich: A pleasure, Charlie.