Using Customer Satisfaction Surveys to Your Advantage

Good customer service is essential to any business. Although new customers are important, good customer service will help ensure customer loyalty and repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business is likely to win more customers through word-of-mouth. If you aren't taking care of your customers, your competition will. A survey will help you not only identify problem areas but will also demonstrate to your customers that you care about them and are looking for ways to improve your service.

Before you start compiling your survey you should first consider what the objectives of the survey are, in that way you will remain focused and find it easier to decide what questions to ask. In addition to this objective, consider also how you will analyze the answers having completed the survey. Keep in mind that questions where the customer is asked to choose from a limited number of responses are easier to analyze than those where the customer can reply any way they want. Much will depend on the volume of customers; the higher the volume, the more important it is to have an easy method of analyzing the results.

As well as obtaining valuable market research, surveys are also a good way to publicize aspects of your service that your customers may not be aware of. After you have drafted your survey, read through the survey from a market research view point and check that you are asking the right questions in the right way. Then, read through the survey from a marketing view point, check that you have phrased each question so that every opportunity has been taken to promote your business. The ideal question will: provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels (and your business); promote certain aspects of your business; and advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of. Remember, to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst. A satisfaction survey should be designed to highlight problems to be addressed--regular surveys help prevent complacency and will give early warning on where you might be losing business.

Although each business will have specific and unique factors that are important in providing good customer service, there are some common areas that are relevant to all businesses.

Do you make it easy for the customer to communicate with you? When a customer phones you, is the phone answered promptly? Are questions about products or services adequately answered? A good business will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person quickly and fairly. Do you avoid delays, or does your customer spend an inordinate amount of time waiting? Giving the customer attention is one thing, but this needs to coincide with a quick and satisfactory solution to the issue or question. Do your customers find it easy to visit you (or find you online)? Are your products of good quality? Not only should you measure the quality of the service that you provide but you should make sure the products and services that you market are actually what the customer wants.

Take the time to profile your customers demographically. For example, where do they live and what is their average age? The more you try to understand your customers, the better you will be able to target your business. Allow customers to highlight specific problems and provide contact details in the survey.

When you're finished gathering information and you have completed the survey, analyze the results. Look for common and specific areas where the service is failing. Ask yourself if the criticism is valid and if anything can be done to resolve or minimize the associated problem. Is your staff properly trained, and do they have sufficient knowledge of the products they're selling? Where training programs have been put into place, have they had a positive (or negative) impact on the business? You need to be strict and truthful with yourself for the survey to do you any good.

If a customer who completed your survey raised a specific problem, contact them when the issue has bee addressed so they understand you meant what you said. Don't lose an opportunity like this to resolve a problem and keep a customer; you may even find them grateful that you listened and will pas your name on to other like-minded customers.