Why Conduct a Customer Service Survey?
Customers are the lifeblood of any small business, especially in challenging economic times. Businesses need a steady stream of satisfied customers and, even better, a group of regular repeat customers. To get to really know your customers better, why not ask them to fill out a customer service survey?
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Customer Satisfaction is King
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Companies can offer excellent customer service iif they follow a few simple rules. Rule number 1 is to listen to your customer, through email contact, on-line forms, phone calls, and regular mail. You can also offer them the chance to complete a customer satisfaction survey to really dig deeply into the heart of customer service in your company.
Customer Service Surveys
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Customer service surveys should be designed with specific goals in mind. They should also be short and to the point, asking specific questions about specific products and services. For example, if you have noticed a lot of returns of a certain product, you might want to design a survey to discover why. If you feel that your customer service center is getting overwhelmed by complaints, a well-designed customer service survey should help you get to the bottom of some of the main issues.
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Which Customers Should You Survey?
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Once you have decided what your customer service survey goal is, survey a large enough sample of customers within your target group. It can be every buyer of a certain product, for example, or a certain segment of that group, such as customers who bought products three months ago, versus customers who bought a week ago.
Designing the Right Survey For Your Customers
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Your survey should be clear and simple to use. It should target the customer who has made the purchase, and be brief and to the point. It should also use a clear sliding scale, such as 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, for example, to keep the answers uniform. Leave room at the end for any other comments and feedback they might want to provide. You can also give them the option of providing their email address if they wish you to follow up on the issues raised in their survey.
Encouraging Customer Response
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It is important to get enough customer responses to make the survey results meaningful and be able to act upon them. Some customers will welcome the chance to give you constructive feedback, especially if you allow them to remain anonymous, and if you keep the survey short and specific. Other customers might need a bit more persuasion. Plan to offer an incentive, or "ethical bribe" to fill out the survey, such as a free special report, which she can download instantly once she has completed the survey.
Results of the Customer Service Survey
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It is great to get positive feedback, but be prepared to deal with negative or even unfair comments. Make sure you plan to follow up on any of these comments and feedback. Don't take the comments personally, but do what you can to make the situation right for the customer if you can. Be grateful for the opportunity to do better. And be glad you have been given the chance to get one step ahead of your competition by knowing what your customer wants. Your survey results will give you actionable data, to improve your customer service and increase your profits.
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