Types of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

A business conducts customer satisfaction surveys to improve operations.

A business creates a customer satisfaction survey to ask its clients for their opinions concerning services. In this manner, the business has an idea of how customers rate the company based on product quality, call service knowledge and operational procedures. The business uses this information to improve on the areas of service customers have displayed dissatisfaction about.

Product Quality Survey

A business conducts product quality surveys to determine if customers are satisfied with the goods or services they've received. If customers display problems with the quality of the product or service or the timeliness of delivery or other factors, the business can adapt to the customers expressed needs or address the deficiency by adjusting its service or product, by either acquiring a different vendor to create its product base or streamlining operations to improve procedures.

Service Survey

A call center relies on customer satisfaction surveys to determine if customer service representatives have handled calls according to business guidelines. The business can determine if the current call center is adequate in answering the volume of calls that come in, if representatives show the proper knowledge and professionalism in the department they are assigned to and if each call is taken in a timely fashion.

Procedural Changes Survey

If a business should change its operations or products, a survey will help to determine customer satisfaction concerning such changes. The business can discover whether customers display loyalty to the evolving business or whether customers show dissatisfaction over the procedural changes. A business must decide how to proceed with this information, such as tailoring to a new customer base to reflect the product change or evaluating whether reverting back to past procedures will continue to allow profits to grow.

Web Browsing Survey

With more businesses conducting operations over the Internet, web browsing surveys make great sense. Web browsing surveys determine how web sites fulfill customer needs. A web browsing survey will ask questions concerning whether web pages load quickly, if product information is easy to find, and how a website compares to a competition's site. A business can use this information to develop new layouts to build customer satisfaction.

References

• Bloomberg Businessweek: The Customer Satisfaction Survey Snag; Kevin P. Coyne; June 2009
• Office of Government Commerce: IT Customer Satisfaction Surveys -- Guidance on Best Practice