2 minutes on… Getting customer surveys right

Mats Rennstam highlights the six main areas to consider when implementing a customer feedback strategy.

1.    Do make sure your sample size is right

Statistically speaking, you only need to interview 1,500 customers to gain a representation of the average customer’s impression.

However, to gain truly actionable insight, you need to gather feedback on an individual level. This allows you to drive individual behaviour and coach using the results, while at the same time accumulating thousands of surveys to identify trends and highlight potential business issues.

Bright has found that a minimum of 20 surveys per agent per month provides a sufficiently robust amount of data to continuously deliver external 360-degree feedback.

Any less than this and the data can be questioned – but overdoing it and striving for as many surveys as possible can result in an overload of data that ceases to be actionable.

2.    Don’t survey too often

It’s counter-productive to simply use every available opportunity to gather feedback from customers. Being as non-intrusive as possible and sensitive to when customers are open to giving feedback will actually improve response rates.

Some ways to make sure you are being non-intrusive include:

• Ensure you leave a minimum of 30 days before calling the same number twice (especially if the customer has opted out of the survey, or simply hung up).
• Try text message surveys – these are easier to ignore and so less likely to annoy customers.
• For email surveys, skip all the reminders. Chances are, the customer hasn’t forgotten about your survey, they simply don’t want to respond. Send just one follow-up email – or, even better, include an opt-in link near the email signature.
• Avoid huge web pop-ups. Instead, use a floating tab or a widget near the edge of the screen that is noticeable, but can be ignored if the customer is not interested (better to be ignored than get another opt-out).
• Do something for the customer in return for responding. Tell them what you’re going to do with the data – and tell them when you’ve done it. You will see a huge return on this in terms of customer engagement and loyalty.

3.    Do make your data collection specific

The key to building a successful post-contact survey is to keep it short and simple. Two minutes is a good benchmark, with a maximum of 6 questions, regardless of the channel.

This means you have to keep to the point. Decide what you want to find out through the survey and build your questions around that.

The three main areas of consideration include:

• What drives customer satisfaction? Is it speed of answer? Agent engagement? First Call Resolution?
• Who are the individuals on the front line that have a negative/positive impact? Why?
• If the problem is not with the advisor, then what other area is the customer unhappy with?

4.    Don’t let agents ‘cherry pick’ which customers to survey

Many companies rely on a manual approach to surveys, allowing agents to pick and choose which customers to survey – inevitably leading to skewed results. If you are reliant on manual methods, pick a day when every customer must be asked to take the survey – with no exceptions.

However, if you have the right technology, it is far better to automate the system so that the advisors are unaware which customers have been asked.

5.    Do prove the value of customer satisfaction

Return on investment in customer service has traditionally been tricky to establish. However, if you measure key metrics in tandem with customer retention and spend, you should see a correlation.

You should find your budget requests are approved a lot quicker when they are accompanied by an irrefutable benefits case.

It may take a while to accumulate enough data to be compelling in the boardroom, but First Call Resolution (FCR) can provide a quicker business case.

6.    Do use the information you gather to drive change across the business

Customer satisfaction figures can be met with scepticism by board members – as they are seen as something ‘fluffy’ and non-essential to the business.

Below are a few ways to make them more compelling:

• Make customer satisfaction surveying accountable and actionable – Asking for specific feedback on an individual level makes it much more valuable, allowing you to see who and what is affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Deliver 360-degree feedback to staff – Instant feedback after calls allows your agents to see how the way they treat a customer impacts that customer’s perception of the company. Make the results of the surveys available to agents and you will soon see them repeating desired behaviours.
• Empower your managers – Equally powerful is putting structured customer service feedback in the hands of your team leaders. Feedback direct from customers is more powerful and will encourage more effective coaching than having managers subjectively analyse a limited number of calls.
• Use verbatim to create a real-time information hub for your organisation – Thanks to the arrival of new technology, large numbers of verbatim comments can be collected and converted to text. These can be sent to the relevant departments to make improvements. Suddenly the call centre becomes a business intelligence hub that is helping to reduce customer contacts by solving common problems.
• Discover the real drivers of customer satisfaction and close the loop – Regular surveys will tell you what customers prioritise and in what order. If you then correlate these with your internal performance metrics, you will identify the issues that are affecting customer satisfaction. This will keep you focused on the right things and enable you to exceed customer expectations at the lowest possible cost.

With thanks to Mats Rennstam, Managing Director at Bright UK