Writing surveys is easy; or is it? The reality is that writing surveys is easy but writing effective surveys is more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you with your survey questionnaire design and help you write effective surveys.
1. What is the purpose of the survey?
There are many reasons for conducting surveys. By phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When designing a survey do not lose sight of its purpose.
2. Title the survey
The title of the survey is an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey's objective and encourage respondents to participate. Respondents need to invest time in completing the survey so encourage them that the investment they make will be worthwhile.
3. Ensure that you do not make the survey any longer than it needs to be
Every question asked should be asked for a reason. Minimize asking questions that will provide you with 'nice to know' information and concentrate instead on 'need to know' questions.
4. Use plain English, maintain consistency, avoid jargon and acronyms and don't ask questions that may result in ambiguous answers
Care must be taken in wording a question. If a question can be interpreted in more ways than one then there is a risk that any analysis of the survey results will be worthless or at the very least suspect.
5. Don't have long questions
Use concise sentences wherever possible. Long questions can cause a respondent discomfort and lead to them abandoning the survey.
6. Ask only one question at a time
Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like 'Do you like athletics and tennis?'
7. Don't influence the answer
It is important not to load the question. 'Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell cigarettes to minors be prosecuted?' is likely to have no value.
8. Make sure that the answer format used allows the respondent to answer the question being asked
Ensure that the respondent is able to answer how they really feel or they may abandon the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a "No comment", "Can't say", "Don't know" or similar response option.
9. While you are compiling your survey consider how the survey results are going to be analysed when the survey is complete
When asking questions that allow for a free text open ended response, such as when asking the respondent for their comments, appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider how the answers could be grouped. For example "Indicate your length of service?" - 'less than 1 year', 'between 1 and 4 years' and 'more than 4'.
10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows
Group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.
11. Target your respondents carefully
Sometimes you will want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can't easily control the respondents consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents that don't match your target profile.
12. Allow the respondent to expand on their answer or make comments
Allowing respondents to make additional comments will increase their satisfaction level and the comments will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember though for a large sample collection it may be difficult to analyze free text open ended responses.
13. If you are conducting a confidential survey ensure that your pledge for confidentiality is honoured
If you have assured respondents that the survey is to be confidential you need to ensure that the collated data is not shared with anyone or used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained and any contact information deleted after the survey is complete.
14. Consider the benefits and disadvantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable
If your respondents are to be anonymous then you will be unable to follow up specific complaints or match "pre" or "post" surveys. However in some cases allowing respondents to remain anonymous will allow respondents to respond without possible peer pressure.
15. Carefully consider the best response format
Maintaining a consistency in the format used for responses is good practice. When creating your survey keep in mind that when analyzing the data radio buttons are easier to analyze than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. Do not use a check box if a radio response would do.
16. Give the respondent an estimate as to how much time the survey will take to complete
If the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions then respondent drop out can occur. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so that the participants can choose the best time to complete the survey.
17. Provide respondents with the survey end date
Encourage respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise respondents as to the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.
18. Trial the survey
Before publishing a live survey publish the survey as a trial to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.
19. Before publishing the survey proof read the survey carefully
Check and check again that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If practical get a colleague to check the survey before you publish, if no one else is available then take a break before checking again.
20. Thank the respondents
To complete surveys respondents need to invest their time and they should be thanked at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a reward of some sort.
Getting started is easy and there are many survey software websites to choose from.
Showing posts with label customer services. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer services. Show all posts
Thursday, July 02, 2009
b2b Customer Satisfaction Survey
Companies that are part of the supply chain such as manufacturers and wholesalers can often benefit enormously by conducting their own b2b customer satisfaction survey.
Improving the relationship between wholesalers and their suppliers and also between wholesalers and retailers brings potential benefits that will help improve the product in terms of:
A manufacturer can improve the relationship that they have with their wholesalers to the extent that the wholesalers would need to think long and hard before they switched to a rival supplier. For example by improving the communication and being proactive in automating much of the paperwork a manufacturer can add value to the entire product range and that may be just enough to encourage a wholesaler to invest time in resolving any potential problem as opposed to making it easy for them to dictate terms by threatening to switch to a rival supplier. By improving a business to business relationship the products that are supplied will become less of a commodity item and judged along with the whole fulfilment service, a service that may not be available with any Tom, Dick or Harry.
Wholesalers are often doing themselves a disservice if they only focus on price and do not adequately value the many benefits of working with a professional and well organised supplier, a supplier that will deliver on time, will supply products that meet strict the agreed quality and that have invoice and delivery documentation that is clear and accurate.
By conducting customer satisfaction surveys aimed not at the end user but at those involved in the supply chain there are many rewards to be had. It takes a degree of understanding and consideration as to the requirement of the other to establish good and streamlined business processes between any two organizations. With the introduction of more efficient order fulfilment programmes the manufacturer and wholesaler can both benefit.
It is in the interest of manufacturers to establish long term contracts as that will provide them with the security that is necessary for them to plan and reinvest, confident that their customers value the benefits that long term relationships can bring. By manufacturers and wholesalers working together the whole fulfilment process can be streamlined and companies can work towards a just in time model where the need to hold large volumes of stock is reduced and along with all the associated costs.
The starting point for such an exercise is an exchange of information that can be obtained easily by utilising online customer satisfaction survey software that is now widely available and that makes the whole intelligence gathering process quick, easy and cost effective.
Improving the relationship between wholesalers and their suppliers and also between wholesalers and retailers brings potential benefits that will help improve the product in terms of:
- Quality, range and design
- Delivery method, speed
- Communication, method and level of service
- Payment, quality of documentation and settlement time
- Prices, wholesale and retail price
A manufacturer can improve the relationship that they have with their wholesalers to the extent that the wholesalers would need to think long and hard before they switched to a rival supplier. For example by improving the communication and being proactive in automating much of the paperwork a manufacturer can add value to the entire product range and that may be just enough to encourage a wholesaler to invest time in resolving any potential problem as opposed to making it easy for them to dictate terms by threatening to switch to a rival supplier. By improving a business to business relationship the products that are supplied will become less of a commodity item and judged along with the whole fulfilment service, a service that may not be available with any Tom, Dick or Harry.
Wholesalers are often doing themselves a disservice if they only focus on price and do not adequately value the many benefits of working with a professional and well organised supplier, a supplier that will deliver on time, will supply products that meet strict the agreed quality and that have invoice and delivery documentation that is clear and accurate.
By conducting customer satisfaction surveys aimed not at the end user but at those involved in the supply chain there are many rewards to be had. It takes a degree of understanding and consideration as to the requirement of the other to establish good and streamlined business processes between any two organizations. With the introduction of more efficient order fulfilment programmes the manufacturer and wholesaler can both benefit.
It is in the interest of manufacturers to establish long term contracts as that will provide them with the security that is necessary for them to plan and reinvest, confident that their customers value the benefits that long term relationships can bring. By manufacturers and wholesalers working together the whole fulfilment process can be streamlined and companies can work towards a just in time model where the need to hold large volumes of stock is reduced and along with all the associated costs.
The starting point for such an exercise is an exchange of information that can be obtained easily by utilising online customer satisfaction survey software that is now widely available and that makes the whole intelligence gathering process quick, easy and cost effective.
Making Customer Satisfaction Surveys Work
Why bother?
Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although you should try and attract new customers good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and encourage repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business will secure many more customers through word of mouth and you should always keep in mind that if you are not taking proper care of your customers there is always a competitor that will.
Online customer satisfaction surveys will help by not only identifying problem areas but show that you care and are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service that you provide.
Where to start?
Objective - Before you start compiling your survey 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.
Analysis - In addition to the objectives consider how you will analyze the answers having completed the survey.
Bare in mind that 'closed' questions (where the respondents are asked to choose from a limited number of responses) are easier to analyse than questions that are ‘open’ (where the respondent can reply in anyway they want).
Much will depend on the predicted volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analyzing the results.
Opportunity – Keep in mind that as well as obtaining valuable market research data customer surveys are also a good way to advertise 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 and that with the feedback information you will be able to properly analyze the data allowing you to make informed decisions.
Next, 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 perform the following three functions:-
For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?
In asking this question the store will hopefully not only receive useful feedback on the baby changing facility but they will also promote the store as being a child-friendly and caring store even to those the customers who do not actually require the facility.
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst.
A customer satisfaction survey should be designed to identify any problem areas so that they can be fixed; conducting regular customer satisfaction will help prevent complacency and will also give early warning on where you may be losing business to your competitors initiatives.
What to ask?
Depending on their own particular size and makeup each business is likely to have unique factors in relation to providing good customer services however there are common areas relevant to all businesses be they a physical store, online store or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - What do you do to help your customers communicate with you?
When customers telephone are their calls answered quickly; are their enquiries about products or services handled properly? Good businesses will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person, quickly, politely and fairly.
If a problem cannot be resolvable immediately do you promise to respond in a given time period and do you deliver on your promise?
Use a customer satisfaction survey to confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Are you doing everything you can to ensure that your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical store, does it have good access and is it conveniently located?
Making it pleasant, making it easy - For an internet business it is important to ensure that your website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Regardless of the store being a bricks and mortar or purely an online internet store, is the store properly laid out, can your customers find what they need and is there sufficient information and help on hand to explain how a particular product works?
The right quality products – You should not only measure the quality of the service that you provide but you should also monitor that the products and services that you market are what the customer wants and closely match their expectations.
Value for money – Cheap or expensive is hardly ever a good measure, value for money is.
Do your current customers consider your services as value for money, if not, why not?
Speed and attention – No matter what the business, the majority of customers will want to be dealt with quickly but attentively.
Are you doing everything you can to avoid any delay?
Customers like to be treated as individuals, how do you treat your customers? Attention is one thing but this has to be hand- in-hand with a quick and satisfactory resolution of the query.
Demographics and Specific issues – Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example where do they live and what is their age group?
The more you try to understand your customers the better you will be able to target your business.
As part of the survey allow your customers the opportunity to highlight any problems that they may have and provide you with contact details so that their problems might be later addressed and their concerns followed up.
What is next?
Analyze the results once the survey has been completed.
Trends – Identify specific and common areas where the service is found wanting.
Ask yourself if any criticism is valid, be honest to yourself, is there anything that can be done to properly resolve, or at the very least, minimise the problem?
Training – Are all employees properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge?
Where employee training programmes have been implemented have they made a positive contribution to the business and improved the customer service?
Follow-up – If a customer has raised a specific issue through completing a survey ensure that they are contacted and that their complaint is properly addressed.
Do not lose the opportunity to resolve a problem and keep a customer.
Continuously Monitor - Make changes and then measure by issuing further surveys.
If you are interested in tracking customer satisfaction and would like to see a sample survey for a store that demonstrates some of the above advice please view the following example that can be used as a customer satisfaction survey template.
Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although you should try and attract new customers good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and encourage repeat business. With each satisfied customer your business will secure many more customers through word of mouth and you should always keep in mind that if you are not taking proper care of your customers there is always a competitor that will.
Online customer satisfaction surveys will help by not only identifying problem areas but show that you care and are proactive in looking for ways to improve the service that you provide.
Where to start?
Objective - Before you start compiling your survey 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.
Analysis - In addition to the objectives consider how you will analyze the answers having completed the survey.
Bare in mind that 'closed' questions (where the respondents are asked to choose from a limited number of responses) are easier to analyse than questions that are ‘open’ (where the respondent can reply in anyway they want).
Much will depend on the predicted volume of respondents, the higher the volume the more important it is to have an easy method of analyzing the results.
Opportunity – Keep in mind that as well as obtaining valuable market research data customer surveys are also a good way to advertise 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 and that with the feedback information you will be able to properly analyze the data allowing you to make informed decisions.
Next, 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 perform the following three functions:-
- Market research - provide valuable feedback to help you improve your customer satisfaction levels and in turn your business
- Marketing - promote aspects of your business
- Information/Education - advertise a service that you provide that your customers may not have been unaware of
For example:- Do you find the in-store baby changing facilities useful?
In asking this question the store will hopefully not only receive useful feedback on the baby changing facility but they will also promote the store as being a child-friendly and caring store even to those the customers who do not actually require the facility.
Warts and all – to benefit most from a customer survey you need to be prepared to dig deep and accept the worst.
A customer satisfaction survey should be designed to identify any problem areas so that they can be fixed; conducting regular customer satisfaction will help prevent complacency and will also give early warning on where you may be losing business to your competitors initiatives.
What to ask?
Depending on their own particular size and makeup each business is likely to have unique factors in relation to providing good customer services however there are common areas relevant to all businesses be they a physical store, online store or a service industry. The following are some key areas to providing good customer service.
Communication - What do you do to help your customers communicate with you?
When customers telephone are their calls answered quickly; are their enquiries about products or services handled properly? Good businesses will make every effort to ensure that whatever the customers query it is resolved by the right person, quickly, politely and fairly.
If a problem cannot be resolvable immediately do you promise to respond in a given time period and do you deliver on your promise?
Use a customer satisfaction survey to confirm that all your staff are perceived by your customers as being helpful, courteous and knowledgeable.
Location – Are you doing everything you can to ensure that your customers find it easy to visit you, if a physical store, does it have good access and is it conveniently located?
Making it pleasant, making it easy - For an internet business it is important to ensure that your website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Regardless of the store being a bricks and mortar or purely an online internet store, is the store properly laid out, can your customers find what they need and is there sufficient information and help on hand to explain how a particular product works?
The right quality products – You should not only measure the quality of the service that you provide but you should also monitor that the products and services that you market are what the customer wants and closely match their expectations.
Value for money – Cheap or expensive is hardly ever a good measure, value for money is.
Do your current customers consider your services as value for money, if not, why not?
Speed and attention – No matter what the business, the majority of customers will want to be dealt with quickly but attentively.
Are you doing everything you can to avoid any delay?
Customers like to be treated as individuals, how do you treat your customers? Attention is one thing but this has to be hand- in-hand with a quick and satisfactory resolution of the query.
Demographics and Specific issues – Take the opportunity to profile your customers, for example where do they live and what is their age group?
The more you try to understand your customers the better you will be able to target your business.
As part of the survey allow your customers the opportunity to highlight any problems that they may have and provide you with contact details so that their problems might be later addressed and their concerns followed up.
What is next?
Analyze the results once the survey has been completed.
Trends – Identify specific and common areas where the service is found wanting.
Ask yourself if any criticism is valid, be honest to yourself, is there anything that can be done to properly resolve, or at the very least, minimise the problem?
Training – Are all employees properly trained and do they have sufficient knowledge?
Where employee training programmes have been implemented have they made a positive contribution to the business and improved the customer service?
Follow-up – If a customer has raised a specific issue through completing a survey ensure that they are contacted and that their complaint is properly addressed.
Do not lose the opportunity to resolve a problem and keep a customer.
Continuously Monitor - Make changes and then measure by issuing further surveys.
If you are interested in tracking customer satisfaction and would like to see a sample survey for a store that demonstrates some of the above advice please view the following example that can be used as a customer satisfaction survey template.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
B2B Customer Satisfaction
Companies that are part of the supply chain such as manufacturers and wholesalers can often benefit enormously by conducting their own b2b customer satisfaction survey.Improving the relationship between wholesalers and their suppliers and also between wholesalers and retailers brings potential benefits that will help improve the product in terms of:
- Quality, range and design
- Delivery method, speed
- Communication, method and level of service
- Payment, quality of documentation and settlement time
- Prices, wholesale and retail price
A manufacturer can improve the relationship that they have with their wholesalers to the extent that the wholesalers would need to think long and hard before they switched to a rival supplier. For example by improving the communication and being proactive in automating much of the paperwork they can add value to their entire product range and that may be just enough to encourage a wholesaler to invest time in resolving any potential problem as opposed to making it easy for them to dictate terms by threatening to switch to a rival supplier. By adding value to the relationship the product moves away from just becoming a commodity item that any Tom, Dick and Harry can supply.
Where wholesalers only want to focus entirely on price they are often doing themselves a disservice by not properly valuing the benefits of working with a professional and reliable supplier, one that delivers on time, provides products that meet strict quality control and that are delivered and invoiced accompanied by documentation that is clear and accurate.
By conducting customer satisfaction surveys aimed not at the end user but at those involved in the supply train there are many rewards to be had. Streamlining the business processes between any two organizations will ensure that costs for all parties are kept to a minimum and that the requirements of both parties are acknowledged and taken into consideration.
For manufacturers it is in their interest to establish long term contracts that will allow them to plan and reinvest, confident that their customers are interested in the benefits that long term relationships can bring. For the wholesaler they may be able to minimize the stock that they hold by improving the ordering and delivering process allowing them to adopt an efficient just-in-time supply chain.
The starting point for such an exercise is an exchange of information that can be obtained easily by utilising online customer satisfaction survey software that is now widely available and that makes the whole intelligence gathering process quick, easy and cost effective.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Flawed Customer Services (Part 3) - Single Point of Failure
In the previous two parts of this article the suppliers were shown to be wanting but their main problem was that they did not have sufficient and effective feedback in place to identify and resolve problems.
In this third and final example the supplier is relying on a procedure that has a serious and unnecessary 'single point of failure' risk.
Example 3 – Single Point of Failure
This final supplier offers customers a very clever application that converts between different media formats and offers a free trial that will allow the software to be fully tested before purchasing.
They market their product as a full suite and also in a number of 'lite' versions for customers who do not require all the bells and whistles. The product is sold in the region of $800 for the full version and $250 for the 'lite'.
For this supplier I purchased the 'lite' product on Christmas Eve as I required the software to complete a project that I needed to be finished by the New Year.
The order was confirmed online and a message displayed to inform me that an email would be sent to confirm the order and that it would contain download instructions, I was able to confirm that the email address that it would be sent to was correct.
No email was received confirming the order and containing download instructions so I logged onto the suppliers website and using the order detail menu options I was able to locate the order.
Mistake 1 – No backup
Although in this particular case the email entered was correct I noticed that within the ordering process there was no facility that would have allowed me to correct the email if it were wrong.
There was also no procedure to confirm that the email entered was typed correctly, this would normally done by requesting that the typed email be repeated.
There was no procedure to allow the customer to resend the confirmation and if the email were entered incorrectly, but by chance was a valid email address, it would be possible for an unauthorised third-party to receive the download instructions and validation key.
Even though there was a facility provided that allowed the customer to track the order through the website there was no procedure to allow the download to be initiated through logging onto the website.
Although there was the facility to download the full suite and then activate it using a software license key, this facility was not available for the 'lite' version.
Mistake 2 – Reliant on customer services
In this particular case the problem was made worse because the order was place on Christmas Eve and so contacting customer services meant waiting until their personnel returned from the Christmas holidays.
For problems such as being unable to download a product a backup procedure online would reduce the number of support queries requiring human attention.
Mistake 3 – No feedback
Ordering procedures that do not allow customers to give feedback are missing the opportunity to gain from the customer's experience and this supplier was another who did not have any official feedback channel.
Summary
The reliance of email notification without having any backup procedures fails to take into account that mail systems are becoming less reliable as a first contact often due to over zealous and multi-layered spam filters.
Not validating an address before sending sensitive information such as download instructions and access keys is very cavalier.
Having made the effort to allow an order to be tracked, it makes little sense not to include a download option along with the order details.
In Conclusion
This series of articles has showcased three companies that each had automated procurement procedures and had established a customer service methodology that on paper would appear to be effective.
In each case the manufacturers would have benefited from employing a simple 'catch all' customer satisfaction survey to allow them to check that their ordering procedures were quick and effective that in turn would have allowed them to improve their sales and/or reputations.
Experiencing problems is a fact of life, but for good customer services it is important to be able to catch problems and then learn from them in a manner that continually validates and challenges a businesses ordering and fulfilment systems.
To view a number of other articles relating to customer services and customer satisfaction surveys please visit Survey Galaxy Knowledge Base.
In this third and final example the supplier is relying on a procedure that has a serious and unnecessary 'single point of failure' risk.
Example 3 – Single Point of Failure
This final supplier offers customers a very clever application that converts between different media formats and offers a free trial that will allow the software to be fully tested before purchasing.
They market their product as a full suite and also in a number of 'lite' versions for customers who do not require all the bells and whistles. The product is sold in the region of $800 for the full version and $250 for the 'lite'.
For this supplier I purchased the 'lite' product on Christmas Eve as I required the software to complete a project that I needed to be finished by the New Year.
The order was confirmed online and a message displayed to inform me that an email would be sent to confirm the order and that it would contain download instructions, I was able to confirm that the email address that it would be sent to was correct.
No email was received confirming the order and containing download instructions so I logged onto the suppliers website and using the order detail menu options I was able to locate the order.
Mistake 1 – No backup
Although in this particular case the email entered was correct I noticed that within the ordering process there was no facility that would have allowed me to correct the email if it were wrong.
There was also no procedure to confirm that the email entered was typed correctly, this would normally done by requesting that the typed email be repeated.
There was no procedure to allow the customer to resend the confirmation and if the email were entered incorrectly, but by chance was a valid email address, it would be possible for an unauthorised third-party to receive the download instructions and validation key.
Even though there was a facility provided that allowed the customer to track the order through the website there was no procedure to allow the download to be initiated through logging onto the website.
Although there was the facility to download the full suite and then activate it using a software license key, this facility was not available for the 'lite' version.
Mistake 2 – Reliant on customer services
In this particular case the problem was made worse because the order was place on Christmas Eve and so contacting customer services meant waiting until their personnel returned from the Christmas holidays.
For problems such as being unable to download a product a backup procedure online would reduce the number of support queries requiring human attention.
Mistake 3 – No feedback
Ordering procedures that do not allow customers to give feedback are missing the opportunity to gain from the customer's experience and this supplier was another who did not have any official feedback channel.
Summary
The reliance of email notification without having any backup procedures fails to take into account that mail systems are becoming less reliable as a first contact often due to over zealous and multi-layered spam filters.
Not validating an address before sending sensitive information such as download instructions and access keys is very cavalier.
Having made the effort to allow an order to be tracked, it makes little sense not to include a download option along with the order details.
In Conclusion
This series of articles has showcased three companies that each had automated procurement procedures and had established a customer service methodology that on paper would appear to be effective.
In each case the manufacturers would have benefited from employing a simple 'catch all' customer satisfaction survey to allow them to check that their ordering procedures were quick and effective that in turn would have allowed them to improve their sales and/or reputations.
Experiencing problems is a fact of life, but for good customer services it is important to be able to catch problems and then learn from them in a manner that continually validates and challenges a businesses ordering and fulfilment systems.
To view a number of other articles relating to customer services and customer satisfaction surveys please visit Survey Galaxy Knowledge Base.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Flawed Customer Services (Part 2) - Alienating the Customer
In part one of this three part article it was shown that a particular supplier failed to make a sale because they had made it unnecessarily complicated for a certain category of customers to locate the required information to purchase the product. Because they also failed to gather any feedback the flaws in their procurement procedures are likely to remain undetected and unresolved.
This second example does receive feedback but as you will see it is feedback that is going to the wrong person, if the 'problem' is also the customer services channel then problems can exist that are not apparent to the company.
Example 2 – Alienating the Customer
While in travelling in South Africa I found myself wanting to watch a DVD on my notebook computer but when I tried to access the DVD through Microsoft's Windows Media Player it displayed an error which advised me that I needed to purchase an add-on before I was able to access DVDs.
Windows Media player directed me to a list of suppliers and I chose one who greeted me with the marketing line, 'You are five minutes away from watching a DVD on your computer'.
Mistake 1 – No trial
Not providing any free trial for commodity applications is unusual as it benefits the manufacturer and the customer if the software can first be tested to ensure it works and meets the customer's expectations.
With a trial offer if there is any problem with the application potential customers do not generally mind if they have had the chance to try before they buy.
Mistake 2 – Un-documented and Unnecessary Restrictions
Because of the relatively low price of the product I completed the online order form and received an email order confirmation giving me a link for the download. I clicked on the link and my download accelerator kicked in that allows me to download files quicker by splitting the download file into smaller files and using simultaneous downloads.
After a few seconds the download failed and I found that I was unable to restart the download. I looked at the email confirmation and found instructions on how to log onto the suppliers website and check the progress of an order and in doing so I found a download button. Unfortunately when I clicked on the download button I received a message informing me that I had exceeded by download limit which was set at five and therefore was left with no option but to email the suppler for assistance.
I received an automated response to my email to notify me that my email query had been received and that they would deal with my enquiry using their first come first served support policy.
After several hours I received a response to my email informing me that they had reset the download count and then, as an aside, also notified me that their download procedure did not support download applications that allowed the download to be restarted and/or accelerated.
Turning off the download accelerator I was able to download the file without too many problems.
Download accelerators are common and allowing restarts only sensible as it reduces the download traffic where some unreliable connections are concerned. However, if there are restrictions that do apply, then not displaying what they are prior to the customer clicking on the download link is inviting support problems.
Mistake 3– Falling between Sales and Support
Once the download was complete I installed the software and when loading the DVD that I wanted to watch a DVD I was asked to register the product online which I did.
Once I had completed the online registration and created an account to allow me to receive technical support the application started and the application read the title and gave me the options to 'play', 'reset' or 'eject'.
I selected 'play', the screen went blank and then it returned to the same menu, no error message. No matter how many times I tried, even after restarting the computer I could not get past the 'play' option.
I visited the supplier's website and navigated to the support page and entered my account details but the password I entered was reported as being incorrect. After a few attempts I took the option to have my password sent to me again. A message came up to say that an email had been sent to verify the password and I was able to see from the displayed message that the verification email was being sent to the correct email address.
After several hours and multiple attempts at having the password re-sent no password confirmation email was received therefore preventing me from being able to register my problem using the proper technical support procedures.
Mistake 4 – Not understanding the Customers query
I sent an email explaining the initial problem with the download that I confirmed resolved and reported that I now had a problem with the software and was also unable to access the technical support page to report the technical problem.
After several hours I received an email reply that simply gave me instructions on how to download the software.
I replied pointing out that the problem was no longer with the download but with the software and also not being able to access the online technical support.
I then received an email confirming that I needed to register the product to get technical support.
I replied to say that I had registered the product, that the registration was confirmed because when I tried to log on to the support I was receiving a message to say that although it recognized my login ID the password was incorrect. I was able to request a password confirmation, that appeared to be being sending it to the correct address but I was not receiving the email. I confirmed to them that I was therefore unable to log on to technical support and register the problem.
Mistake 5 – Annoying the customer
I was naturally annoyed to receive a reply to say that they were unable to deal with technical support calls and that I needed to contact the technical support by telephone. A basic rule for good customer services is that you do not get the customer to do a company's internal communication.
In my reply to them I pointed out that the cost of the software was not worth the cost of the international phone call in trying to call a technical support line in the USA. I requested that they notify their own technical support team on my behalf or perhaps they might find it easier to offer me a refund.
Mistake 6 – Making the customer really annoyed
I received confirmation that they were unable to deal with technical queries and again listed the procedures for me to register the product to obtain technical support.
I took my time to reply and spell out clearly that they really needed to read what I had previously written and that we were now beyond the technical support stage and that we were now in the commercial decision stage where I would like then to agree, or advice otherwise, to a refund.
Mistake 7 – Loosing the customer
I finally received an email offering me a full refund and a partial apology for the problems. The refund was received once I had agreed to delete the downloaded software which I was more than happy to do.
Summary
By offering a full refund the supplier resolved the problem to my full satisfaction but made no attempt to fix any of the reported problems, either as to why I was unable to access the support area, why I was not receiving the password confirmation and why the software did not function properly.
Whatever personal criticism I might have with the people who were responding to my emails, there was no alternative channels open to me to contact the company's management so that I could alert them to my growing frustration.
When one customer experiences a problem it is often important and useful to understand the cause of the problem even if the final solution is to offer that customer a full refund. In this particular case there seemed an unnecessary demarcation, and no internal communication, between sales and support preventing customer's problems, that fall between both camps, to be addressed.
Requesting customer feedback that is then channelled through to management is not a new idea. Hotel and restaurants chains have for years often had feedback cards that are not handed in to the staff but posted directly to head office, ensuring that negative comments are not lost and positive comments genuine.
To view a number of other articles relating to customer services and customer satisfaction surveys please visit Survey Galaxy Knowledge Base.
This second example does receive feedback but as you will see it is feedback that is going to the wrong person, if the 'problem' is also the customer services channel then problems can exist that are not apparent to the company.
Example 2 – Alienating the Customer
While in travelling in South Africa I found myself wanting to watch a DVD on my notebook computer but when I tried to access the DVD through Microsoft's Windows Media Player it displayed an error which advised me that I needed to purchase an add-on before I was able to access DVDs.
Windows Media player directed me to a list of suppliers and I chose one who greeted me with the marketing line, 'You are five minutes away from watching a DVD on your computer'.
Mistake 1 – No trial
Not providing any free trial for commodity applications is unusual as it benefits the manufacturer and the customer if the software can first be tested to ensure it works and meets the customer's expectations.
With a trial offer if there is any problem with the application potential customers do not generally mind if they have had the chance to try before they buy.
Mistake 2 – Un-documented and Unnecessary Restrictions
Because of the relatively low price of the product I completed the online order form and received an email order confirmation giving me a link for the download. I clicked on the link and my download accelerator kicked in that allows me to download files quicker by splitting the download file into smaller files and using simultaneous downloads.
After a few seconds the download failed and I found that I was unable to restart the download. I looked at the email confirmation and found instructions on how to log onto the suppliers website and check the progress of an order and in doing so I found a download button. Unfortunately when I clicked on the download button I received a message informing me that I had exceeded by download limit which was set at five and therefore was left with no option but to email the suppler for assistance.
I received an automated response to my email to notify me that my email query had been received and that they would deal with my enquiry using their first come first served support policy.
After several hours I received a response to my email informing me that they had reset the download count and then, as an aside, also notified me that their download procedure did not support download applications that allowed the download to be restarted and/or accelerated.
Turning off the download accelerator I was able to download the file without too many problems.
Download accelerators are common and allowing restarts only sensible as it reduces the download traffic where some unreliable connections are concerned. However, if there are restrictions that do apply, then not displaying what they are prior to the customer clicking on the download link is inviting support problems.
Mistake 3– Falling between Sales and Support
Once the download was complete I installed the software and when loading the DVD that I wanted to watch a DVD I was asked to register the product online which I did.
Once I had completed the online registration and created an account to allow me to receive technical support the application started and the application read the title and gave me the options to 'play', 'reset' or 'eject'.
I selected 'play', the screen went blank and then it returned to the same menu, no error message. No matter how many times I tried, even after restarting the computer I could not get past the 'play' option.
I visited the supplier's website and navigated to the support page and entered my account details but the password I entered was reported as being incorrect. After a few attempts I took the option to have my password sent to me again. A message came up to say that an email had been sent to verify the password and I was able to see from the displayed message that the verification email was being sent to the correct email address.
After several hours and multiple attempts at having the password re-sent no password confirmation email was received therefore preventing me from being able to register my problem using the proper technical support procedures.
Mistake 4 – Not understanding the Customers query
I sent an email explaining the initial problem with the download that I confirmed resolved and reported that I now had a problem with the software and was also unable to access the technical support page to report the technical problem.
After several hours I received an email reply that simply gave me instructions on how to download the software.
I replied pointing out that the problem was no longer with the download but with the software and also not being able to access the online technical support.
I then received an email confirming that I needed to register the product to get technical support.
I replied to say that I had registered the product, that the registration was confirmed because when I tried to log on to the support I was receiving a message to say that although it recognized my login ID the password was incorrect. I was able to request a password confirmation, that appeared to be being sending it to the correct address but I was not receiving the email. I confirmed to them that I was therefore unable to log on to technical support and register the problem.
Mistake 5 – Annoying the customer
I was naturally annoyed to receive a reply to say that they were unable to deal with technical support calls and that I needed to contact the technical support by telephone. A basic rule for good customer services is that you do not get the customer to do a company's internal communication.
In my reply to them I pointed out that the cost of the software was not worth the cost of the international phone call in trying to call a technical support line in the USA. I requested that they notify their own technical support team on my behalf or perhaps they might find it easier to offer me a refund.
Mistake 6 – Making the customer really annoyed
I received confirmation that they were unable to deal with technical queries and again listed the procedures for me to register the product to obtain technical support.
I took my time to reply and spell out clearly that they really needed to read what I had previously written and that we were now beyond the technical support stage and that we were now in the commercial decision stage where I would like then to agree, or advice otherwise, to a refund.
Mistake 7 – Loosing the customer
I finally received an email offering me a full refund and a partial apology for the problems. The refund was received once I had agreed to delete the downloaded software which I was more than happy to do.
Summary
By offering a full refund the supplier resolved the problem to my full satisfaction but made no attempt to fix any of the reported problems, either as to why I was unable to access the support area, why I was not receiving the password confirmation and why the software did not function properly.
Whatever personal criticism I might have with the people who were responding to my emails, there was no alternative channels open to me to contact the company's management so that I could alert them to my growing frustration.
When one customer experiences a problem it is often important and useful to understand the cause of the problem even if the final solution is to offer that customer a full refund. In this particular case there seemed an unnecessary demarcation, and no internal communication, between sales and support preventing customer's problems, that fall between both camps, to be addressed.
Requesting customer feedback that is then channelled through to management is not a new idea. Hotel and restaurants chains have for years often had feedback cards that are not handed in to the staff but posted directly to head office, ensuring that negative comments are not lost and positive comments genuine.
To view a number of other articles relating to customer services and customer satisfaction surveys please visit Survey Galaxy Knowledge Base.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Flawed Customer Services (Part 1) - Not closing the sale
Ask most businesses to rate how important it is to them to have satisfied customers and few would say anything other than 'essential'.
From a company's own perspective their customer services procedures might appear to tick all the right boxes but what appears to be a good procedure can sometimes fall short when viewed from a customer, or perhaps more importantly a potential customer's perspective.
Some would argue that customer service has been in decline as the growth of automation and the need to minimise overheads has eroded the human side of customer service. There is no doubt that the type of personal one-on-one customer service that was so common throughout the USA and Europe in the 1950's is a relic of the past with technology steadily replacing people.
Some automated technologies have proved more successful than others, call centres, especially when they are situated in far flung countries, can come in for criticism that may or may not be fair. Although the economics make sense it is easy to see how customers can get frustrated when the technology and savings drivers are put above customer experience.
What can often be missing from many a customer service procedure is the canvassing of regular and effective customer feedback, not for the sake of ticking another box, but because a customer's real-life experience is possibly the most important metric available to any business, large or small.
This three part article was inspired after I recently experienced first-hand problems with three separate suppliers that resulted in them either loosing a sale and/or frustrating me, a potential customer.
What struck me was that all three had what appeared at first to be well established customer services procedures that would be able to handle my query and resolve any difficulties in an efficient and professional manner, yet all three failed and for different reasons.
Automation is not the enemy, but automation must be carefully thought through as being frustrated by a machine is universally despised.
Example One – Not closing the sale
This first supplier offers one of the most popular FTP applications and a thirty day fully functional risk free trial. Emails are sent to 'remind' the customer at about the halfway stage and then towards the end of the trial period to that has the effect of encouraging those that have not yet purchased the product to both fully test the application and hopefully make a decision to purchase the product.
However, for this US supplier I was working outside the USA and when after a successful trial I went to click on the link to purchase the product the price I was quoted was in US dollars.
The US dollar is a global currency, no, it IS the global currency and I, like many others, are not often put off, certainly when it comes to low value commodity items, if the currency is not our local currency but on this occasion there was a notice that stated, 'for international customers please click here'.
Mistake 1 – Planting doubt and causing hesitation
For anyone seeing the message from outside the USA it would naturally cause them to hesitate, which I did, thinking perhaps that I should just check that there might be benefits in purchasing the application locally.
On clicking on the option I was requested to select my country, which I did, and then I was provided with a list of perhaps a dozen or so local, but unfamiliar, suppliers.
Since none of the names were familiar and other than their address to go on I chose one, a choice based on nothing more than arbitrary reasoning.
Mistake 2 – Going backwards
When clicking on my chosen link I was taken not to the product page but the local supplier's website's home page and greeted not with information about the application I was interested in, but general information about the supplier who it turned out provided a number of software applications and IT services.
Because of the extensive range of services and products they provided it took me some time to first locate a general list of available applications, then to navigate to the correct section where I found a number of the FTP supplier's applications. From the list of five products I was finally able to select the FTP application that I was interested in.
Mistake 3 – No 'buy now' option
Having spent time locating the product I was to be disappointed further because there was no price, nor 'buy now' button, just another offer to download a 30 day free trial.
Because I had already trialled the software I was ready to purchase and I wanted to know the price.
Mistake 4 – Not making it simple
I decided to go back to the list of local suppliers and choose another name from the list but my experience was the same, I was faced with the problem of locating the application and this time I was not advised of the price but instead given an offer to request a quotation for what I knew to be a $40 commodity item.
Mistake 5 – Loosing the sale
It was at this point that I thought I would just go back to the original screen and purchase the product direct from US manufacturer as had been my first intention, but because I was feeling that I had been sent on a wild goose chase I then decided that I could actually do without the product and so cancelled my order.
Mistake 6 – Not learning
The final mistake that the manufacture makes is that where at the end of the trial period when I do not take up the option to purchase the product they make no effort to find out why.
Summary
This supplier has a good and popular product. They offer a 30 day free trial of the software that can be purchased online direct from the manufacture. By offering local suppliers they would be able to provide local support that some customers might prefer, or find essential.
In failing to get feedback, they are missing an opportunity to not only validate their procedures but maintain contact with potential customers who are perhaps undecided as to purchasing the product.
Simple and clear pricing is important, especially for a commodity item and although a free trial is commendable it still requires a commitment from the customer who will often want to know the cost of a product before they invest the time needed to test the product.
Their biggest mistake is that they do not integrate their own products tightly enough with their distributor's websites. If the manufacturer has potential customers that are being referred to a local supplier they are in a position to link directly to their products on the local supplier's website and should insist that the local supplier ensures that the pricing is clear and the order process is simple.
To view a number of other articles relating to customer services and customer satisfaction surveys please visit Survey Galaxy Knowledge Base.
From a company's own perspective their customer services procedures might appear to tick all the right boxes but what appears to be a good procedure can sometimes fall short when viewed from a customer, or perhaps more importantly a potential customer's perspective.
Some would argue that customer service has been in decline as the growth of automation and the need to minimise overheads has eroded the human side of customer service. There is no doubt that the type of personal one-on-one customer service that was so common throughout the USA and Europe in the 1950's is a relic of the past with technology steadily replacing people.
Some automated technologies have proved more successful than others, call centres, especially when they are situated in far flung countries, can come in for criticism that may or may not be fair. Although the economics make sense it is easy to see how customers can get frustrated when the technology and savings drivers are put above customer experience.
What can often be missing from many a customer service procedure is the canvassing of regular and effective customer feedback, not for the sake of ticking another box, but because a customer's real-life experience is possibly the most important metric available to any business, large or small.
This three part article was inspired after I recently experienced first-hand problems with three separate suppliers that resulted in them either loosing a sale and/or frustrating me, a potential customer.
What struck me was that all three had what appeared at first to be well established customer services procedures that would be able to handle my query and resolve any difficulties in an efficient and professional manner, yet all three failed and for different reasons.
Automation is not the enemy, but automation must be carefully thought through as being frustrated by a machine is universally despised.
Example One – Not closing the sale
This first supplier offers one of the most popular FTP applications and a thirty day fully functional risk free trial. Emails are sent to 'remind' the customer at about the halfway stage and then towards the end of the trial period to that has the effect of encouraging those that have not yet purchased the product to both fully test the application and hopefully make a decision to purchase the product.
However, for this US supplier I was working outside the USA and when after a successful trial I went to click on the link to purchase the product the price I was quoted was in US dollars.
The US dollar is a global currency, no, it IS the global currency and I, like many others, are not often put off, certainly when it comes to low value commodity items, if the currency is not our local currency but on this occasion there was a notice that stated, 'for international customers please click here'.
Mistake 1 – Planting doubt and causing hesitation
For anyone seeing the message from outside the USA it would naturally cause them to hesitate, which I did, thinking perhaps that I should just check that there might be benefits in purchasing the application locally.
On clicking on the option I was requested to select my country, which I did, and then I was provided with a list of perhaps a dozen or so local, but unfamiliar, suppliers.
Since none of the names were familiar and other than their address to go on I chose one, a choice based on nothing more than arbitrary reasoning.
Mistake 2 – Going backwards
When clicking on my chosen link I was taken not to the product page but the local supplier's website's home page and greeted not with information about the application I was interested in, but general information about the supplier who it turned out provided a number of software applications and IT services.
Because of the extensive range of services and products they provided it took me some time to first locate a general list of available applications, then to navigate to the correct section where I found a number of the FTP supplier's applications. From the list of five products I was finally able to select the FTP application that I was interested in.
Mistake 3 – No 'buy now' option
Having spent time locating the product I was to be disappointed further because there was no price, nor 'buy now' button, just another offer to download a 30 day free trial.
Because I had already trialled the software I was ready to purchase and I wanted to know the price.
Mistake 4 – Not making it simple
I decided to go back to the list of local suppliers and choose another name from the list but my experience was the same, I was faced with the problem of locating the application and this time I was not advised of the price but instead given an offer to request a quotation for what I knew to be a $40 commodity item.
Mistake 5 – Loosing the sale
It was at this point that I thought I would just go back to the original screen and purchase the product direct from US manufacturer as had been my first intention, but because I was feeling that I had been sent on a wild goose chase I then decided that I could actually do without the product and so cancelled my order.
Mistake 6 – Not learning
The final mistake that the manufacture makes is that where at the end of the trial period when I do not take up the option to purchase the product they make no effort to find out why.
Summary
This supplier has a good and popular product. They offer a 30 day free trial of the software that can be purchased online direct from the manufacture. By offering local suppliers they would be able to provide local support that some customers might prefer, or find essential.
In failing to get feedback, they are missing an opportunity to not only validate their procedures but maintain contact with potential customers who are perhaps undecided as to purchasing the product.
Simple and clear pricing is important, especially for a commodity item and although a free trial is commendable it still requires a commitment from the customer who will often want to know the cost of a product before they invest the time needed to test the product.
Their biggest mistake is that they do not integrate their own products tightly enough with their distributor's websites. If the manufacturer has potential customers that are being referred to a local supplier they are in a position to link directly to their products on the local supplier's website and should insist that the local supplier ensures that the pricing is clear and the order process is simple.
To view a number of other articles relating to customer services and customer satisfaction surveys please visit Survey Galaxy Knowledge Base.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)