A great article by John Goodman and Patty David from TARP Worldwide Inc. on why customer satisfaction surveys are not actionable was recently written for Quirks.com. I want to focus on the methods they bring forward to create a more actionable survey and expand on those ideas.
Ask direct questions about what went wrong: Pre-populate your questionnaire with a list of things that could have gone wrong.This is a strong point and according to the authors it helps in uncovering as many as three times more problems. I assume that it provides a base and starting point for clients or consumers to analyze problems they are currently having, a great starting point.
Integrate survey data with other sources: Placing the research data alongside the contact data along with key data describing what the company has done with the client creates a more relevant analysis.
As more CRM applications open application programming interfaces (API) it is imperative on market research to tie this data with customer satisfaction analysis providing companies with a more in depth analysis compared to standard demographics. Sales forces and Oracle both have methods to integrate data with third party applications.
Suggesting specific actions: Start to come up with suggested solutions for at least the top problems within the report.Where I thought the authors were going to go with this point is to suggest actions that the client or consumer can take right after the survey is complete. If during the development of the survey a company can already establish what some of the core issues that may arise, it would be worth while providing direct solutions automatically emailed to the client after the completion of the survey based on their responses.
By providing clients with preemptive solutions before the entire analysis is conducted company can show a desire to improve and further develop strong client relationships.
Creating economic correlation to research data: Quantify the cost of taking action or failure to take action.By placing a dollar amount on the issues that will be located in the Improvement area of the Importance Satisfaction model companies will have a better understanding of the impact in improvement on their bottom line.
For the full article check out Quirks.com (free registration is required).
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