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Mining for Gold: Running Effective Customer Surveys
By: Michael Casey
History tells us that somewhere between 25% and 50%of customers who complete surveys will elaborate on their ratings and explain why they’re either thrilled or disappointed with their printer experience. While rating-based questions are an important way to quantify their opinions and perceptions, the qualitative feedback is where the real value lies.
If you expect to deliver an outstanding customer experience, you must know why they provided high or low survey ratings if you plan to use that information to either stay the course or shift gears when something isn’t quite right. It’s like a coach in a football game; if he spent every minute staring at the scoreboard, he would never improve or adjust things to improve his team’s game. But by watching individual plays and observing field conditions, he’s able to adjust his strategy and win the game. As a manager, you must also look beyond the revenue and profit scoreboard to quantify and qualify your position with every customer.
Print buyers typically work with more than one printer, which gives them unique and invaluable insight into how you stack up against the competition. Further, regular customers think of you as a partner and want hassle-free experiences and quality output. The best way to keep them buying from you is to find out what’s really on their minds.
Collecting Meaningful Comments
Here are a few things to consider when developing your survey.
• Always think with the end in mind. This will help you clarify and focus customers’ comments. Whether it’s an annual, semi-annual or project survey, think of the best spot to ask open-ended or comment boxes. Don’t just put “additional comments” wherever it feels convenient.
•Start open-ended questions with inviting words such as “What” or “How.” For example, ask “What could we do to improve your experience next time?” If you send out an annual survey, two or three different open-ended questions may be needed that focus on product quality, customer service, and breadth of services.
• Don’t approach the survey with the notion that all customers are thrilled with you. Be prepared for and ready to learn from anything and everything they say.
Analyzing the Results
Some printers will collect several hundred post-project surveys each year while others may collect a couple hundred from a single annual survey. No matter how many surveys you conduct, the analysis process is essentially the same. Here are a few tips:
• Read all the comments to identify key themes or thoughts, and then categorize them by theme
• Just one golden nugget from a single customer can make a huge impact on operations. Ignore nothing.
• Look for ideas from respected customers who "see the forest from the trees."
• Read between the lines. One customer’s subtle message of dissatisfaction may be a bigger deal than their words let on. Don’t underestimate them.
• Pick the right person to analyze surveys…a detective who’s objective and understands your overall operation. There is no room for defensiveness in the analysis of criticism.
• Review comment analysis during monthly or annual team meetings so that issues are transparent to key stakeholders, and to ensure that all are contributing to solutions and aware of next steps
Taking Action
Acting on customer comments can be simple or complex, tactical or strategic. It depends on the scope and scale of the issues at hand. One printer reviews comments daily and fixes problems by immediately delegating responsibilities. At monthly team meetings, the staff reviews the information to identify and address trends early to ensure accountability.
When action is needed, consider these steps:
• Have a way to follow up with whomever is addressing the issue internally
• Post positive comments on the corkboard in the lunch room.
• Reward individual employee praises with a small gift of appreciation. Maybe a $5 coffee shop certificate.
• Always thank customers for their thoughts because all customer feedback is positive.
Taking action promotes more feedback on the next survey, drives closer relationships with customers, and ultimately enhances customer spend and retention. Good luck with reading those customer opinions, taking action and, more importantly; building customer loyalty.
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Michael Casey, President and Founder of Survey Advantage, a business focused on helping printers maximize customer relationships. Michael is a frequent speaker at Graph Expo, printer franchisor events, and printing association events, has worked with hundreds of printers to help them drive revenues, and integrates surveying with printer MIS providers. Michael can be reached at mcasey@surveyadvantage.com or 401-560-0311 ext 103.
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