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A basic and
effective baseline customer satisfaction survey
program should focus on
measuring customer perceptions of how well the company
delivers on the critical success factors and dimensions of
the business as defined by the customer; for example,
service promptness, courtesy of staff, responsiveness,
understanding of the customer's problem, strategic
partnering, etc. The findings of company performance
should be analyzed both with all customers and by key
segments of the customer population.
Sometimes
an organization's customer service personnel are included
in the survey so that a gap analysis can be performed to
determine differences in perceptions between the service
providers and the customers.
Relevancy
of Dimensions and Factors:
An
effective customer satisfaction survey reflects what
respondents care about most. Pre-survey interviews with
customers to surface and identify the dimensions and
factors they consider as important assure that the survey
questionnaire does not overlook one or more important
areas and specific service details. If at all possible,
pre-survey interviews, especially when developing a customer
satisfaction baseline questionnaire, should be conducted with
customers to assure that all important service dimensions
are included in the survey.
More Return for Your Research
Investment: In today's highly
competitive environment, companies need an extra edge, and
many have found that high quality customer service can make
the difference in winning and retaining customers or losing
them. Research shows that organizations which employ
customer satisfaction research that goes beyond customer
satisfaction, loyalty and retention measurements to
identifying and measuring perceived customer value can
deliver much more return for their research investment.
By
determining which factors produce the highest perceived
value by customers, research can provide the knowledge to
both correct deficiencies in today's customer service and
assist in building high value strategic, customer service
offerings for the future. Special sets of questions can
built into survey questionnaires to learn about the
perceived value of services and how a company stacks up
against its primary competitors in delivering on the
critical value factors.
Organization of a
Basic Customer Satisfaction Survey:
Section
1. Overall dimension rating questions
Section
2.
Ratings by service dimensions and specific service factors
Section
3.
Respondent demographics
Section 1 -
Overall Rating Questions
This first
part of the survey (or the first part of each dimension
rating section) will typically have an overall rating
question for each major customer service dimension plus
one or two related open-end questions at the end of the
dimension's section.
Scale
and Question Examples:
(5 point scale - Excellent,
Good, Average, Fair, Poor)
(5-point scale - Very
satisfied, Satisfied, Neutral/Not sure, Dissatisfied, Very
dissatisfied)
Please rate ABC's customer
service overall.
Please rate ABC's customer
support overall.
Please rate ABC's technical
product training courses overall
Please rate ABC's
documentation overall.
Overall, how satisfied are
you with ABC's customer service?
Overall, how satisfied are
you with ABC's customer support?
Overall, how satisfied are
you with ABC's customer technical product training
courses?
Overall, how satisfied are
you with ABC's documentation?
In addition, reference and
retention questions may be added.
Examples:
How likely would you be to
recommend ABC's customer service to a friend (or
colleague)?
How likely would you be to
buy or use ABC's customer service again?
Open-end questions in
section 1. allow respondents to elaborate on their overall
ratings.
Comment question
examples:
What did
you like (like best) about ABC's customer service
(support, technical product training courses,
documentation)?
What did
you dislike (dislike most) about ABC's customer service
(support, technical product training courses,
documentation)?
How could
ABC improve their customer service (support, technical
product training courses, documentation)?
Section
2 - Dimension Factor Rating Questions
Dimension
factor rating questions comprise most of the survey.
Examples of service dimension factors for the dimension of
personal responsibility such as promptness, courtesy,
accuracy and thoroughness can each be rated by your
customers. The individual factors' ratings combine to
produce an overall average rating for the dimension.
By
combining these in a gap analysis, the relative
significance of performance compared with importance can
be judged.
However,
this approach has several drawbacks. It doubles the number
of dimension questions, making the overall survey longer,
and that may affect response rates. But what customers rate as
important may, in fact, not be what actually affects their
behavior. They may say thoroughness is most important while
responsiveness may more likely affect their choice of service
supplier.
A more
reliable correlation is that between dimension performance
ratings and the overall customer satisfaction rating or
customer retention rating.
Another
consideration is rating dimension performance against the
competition's. While this may be very valuable to ask in
some intensely competitive environments, it may not be
valuable or appropriate to ask in other environments - and
it does add another question per dimension.
Dimension Question Structure:
Though
dimension questions can be structured in a number of ways,
it is best to use one question structure as much as
possible throughout your survey. Examples of question
structures:
How
satisfied are you with ___________?
(Very
satisfied, satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, Very
dissatisfied)
Please rate
__________ customer service.
(Excellent,
Good, Average, Fair, Poor)
ABC
provides good customer service.
(Strongly
agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree)
How often
does ABC's customer service exceed expectations?
(Very
frequently, Frequently, Not Sure, Infrequently, Very
Infrequently)
To what
extent does ABC's customer service exceed expectations?
(To very
great extent, To great extent, To some extent, To little
extent, To very little extent)
Some
additional general customer service satisfaction dimensions
and factors:
- Overall
customer service
- Helpfulness
- Friendliness
- Support
staff that solves problems quickly
- Provides
poor support
- Very
talented professionals
- All the
necessary resources to service you
- A very
valuable service resource
- Competent
- Unprofessional
- People
that are easy to deal with
- I
receive the support I need from my ABC field engineer
to resolve any service problems
- Ethical
- Dishonest
- Support
staff which gives you a hard time
- Staff
which is interested in your comments and suggestions
- Phone
calls returned quickly
- People
answering the phone are polite
- People
on the answering the phone are cheerful
- Knowledgeable
operators
- Listening
to the customer
- Attentive
to customer complaints
- Close to
its customers
- Unwilling
to go the extra mile for its customers
- Ignores
customer suggestions
- Impossible
to get satisfaction unless you go to the top
- In tune
with the needs of its clients
- Prompt
in dealing with customer complaints
- Efficient
- Easy to
get information on the phone
- Poor
customer phone support
- People
who answer the phone have clear, easy to hear voices
- It takes
a long time to reach the right person on the phone
- You are
often put on hold for a long time
- Telephone
support personnel who do not seem to have time for you
- Attention
to detail
- Helpfulness
- Available
support offerings fit your needs
- Phone
support quality overall
- Ease of
gaining access to support
- Time to
reach technical personnel
- Effectiveness
of answers/workarounds
- Access
to technical support
Some Dimensions and Factors of Training Courses - Training
Manager Satisfaction:
- Overall
rating of the course(s)
- Courses
taken personally
- Courses
taken by people I supervise
- Reasons
you decided to attend a course
- Reasons
you decided not to attend a course
- Reasons
you decided not to send people to a course(s)
- Appropriate
course offering to meet their needs
- Effectiveness
of the training courses in improving employee
performance
- Effectiveness
of the training courses in developing employee growth
- Do test
scores influence status of employees - (pay,
promotion, etc.)
- Rate the
quality of the learning materials (individual media)
- Length
of courses
- Amount
of classroom time
- Amount
of hands-on time
- Training
facility
- Course
delivery (instructors' theoretical knowledge, hands-on
knowledge, etc.)
- Instructors'
presentation/communication skills
- Encouragement
of participation
- Good use
of time in the class
- Difficulty
of tests
- Test
process
- Structure
of tests
- Levels
of achievement
- Knowledge
your (various positions) have of ABC products
- Skills
your (various positions) have to administer, operate
and service ABC products
- ABC
courses are a good educational investment considering
the tuition/travel cost
- ABC
courses are well presented
- Knowledge
gained has had a direct impact on my (my business)
performance
- Skills
gained have had a direct impact on my (my business)
performance
Tracking
Dimensions:
- Compared
to one year ago, is ABC's customer service (any
dimension):
- (Better,
Worse, Same)
Section 3
- Demographics
These
questions provide the ability to analyze results by
respondent segments and sub-segments. For a customer
service satisfaction survey, demographics may include a
variety of variables which would classify customers. For
example:
- Geography/location
- Type of
business
- Position
title
- Function/role-responsibilities
- Types of
product(s) used
- Types of
service(s) used
- Frequency
of product/service use
- Spending
range on products/services
- Sex
- Age
range
- Income
range
- Highest
education level
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