Question

Topic: Research/Metrics

Best Format For Customer Satisfaction Survey

Posted by Anonymous on 7/3/2007 at 3:47 PM ET 125 Points
I work for a small accounting firm and have been recently given the duty of creating a client satisfaction survey. I have looked at several and do not know with what to go with. What generally gets the best results?
Online surveys?
Mailed surveys?

Also what is a good format for the actual survey?
Most of our clients just use us for tax and auditing purposes but we also offer consulting services, inventory evaluation, etc and we want that department to grow. I was thinking of having about 10 questions using a scale of Strongly Disagree, Somewhat Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Somewhat Agree, and Strongly Agree.
i was then going to list all of the services we use and ask if they would be interested in services we offered that they did not know about.

Any feedback on what would be best would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, and Have a Great Day!
Jbrewer
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by BlueSage on 7/3/2007 at 3:53 PM Member
    I like radio buttons, online, not taking a lot of my time.
    I willingly do surveys, unless they are the kind you propose. If made to delve into my mind too deeply, I would rather pass and go on to something else. A survey should not make a person have to think too much.

    Make it fun. Make it quick.

    Please rate if you would use these services:

    OR,
    Are you interested in these services our company
    offers?

    Please vote only once.

    And do NOT say, 'we know your time is valuable, this will only take 10 minutes of your time'.

  • Posted by Tracey on 7/3/2007 at 4:01 PM Member
    I would recommend having some people at your company take the survey to test it & give their feedback. I've gotten many surveys that are multiple choice but don't really offer the right answer choices -- so having some testers might eliminate that problem.

    I actually think it's important to say exactly how long the survey will take. I'll take a 1-7 minute suvey, but not a 15-minute one.

    You could automatically enter all respondents in a drawing to win a prize, to motivate them to take it. Also, if you do ask them if they want to know about your services, make sure you tell them that they will (or won't get a call). Otherwise, they may indicate they are not interested in your other products, just because they don't want to get a sales call. You could ask if they want to get a call as another question.
  • Posted on 7/3/2007 at 4:48 PM Member
    Hi jbrewer,

    Given your target audience, an online survey would probably be the best. In addition to asking your agreement scale, you should also ask each respondent to indicate how important each service is, so that you know what to focus on. You may also want to consider discontinuing those services which are of low value.

    Also, there is a trend to use something called 'net promoter' and the impact of asking "would you recommend us" when researching customer satisfaction. Read more about it here:

    https://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_05/b3969090.htm?chan=searc...

    It's a good idea to become familiar with this method - there are also other articles that critique this approach so that you can find out if it makes sense for your business.

    Good luck!

    Joy L.
  • Posted by L. Duggan on 7/3/2007 at 5:35 PM Accepted
    I would strongly recommend that you spend some time with your management and determine what the objectives of the survey are. This is a critical first step that will ultimately provide guidance to the survey methodology, sample size and areas covered.

    The questions that end up on the survey and how you ask them will be driven by the objectives. While it's good to think about the sorts of things you might want to ask your customers, in advance of specific objectives, you run the risk of asking "nice to know" instead of "need to know" questions. The last thing you want to do is conduct a survey that results in data that you either have already or you can't act on.

    Take the time and develop your objectives. It is time well spent. As a market research consultant, I would certainly recommend using a third party, especially if you want to understand what drives your customers satisfaction levels. That requires statistical analysis to understand how the things your company does or does not do affects customer satisfaction.

    If this is just a one and done Customer Sat. effort then a third party may not be necessary. However, if you are considering an ongoing customer sat measurement system, then let the professionals assist you in developing the benchmark survey. You can then run subsequent surveys on your own. It's usually best to continue with customer sat tracking once you've started if for no other reason than to track the effectiveness of the things you have put in place to impact customer sat.

    Finally, you need some honest feedback from your management. If there are no plans to act on the data and make changes to improve satisfaction, then you are better off not asking your customers how they feel about your products, brand and services. By asking them for their opinions you are setting expectations that you are interested in their feedback and will act on the results. Ask for their feedback and then do nothing you run the risk of your customers feeling you have wasted their time and that could have negative impacts. Customer satisfaction measurement should be carefully planned not just for the initial survey but for what happens post- survey. I'd be glad to give you some advice to get you started.
  • Posted by bobhogg on 7/4/2007 at 12:43 PM Member
    Hi Jason...

    Just to add one thought on the subject:

    Before you ask cutomers how satisfied they are with aspects of your service, ask them how important that aspect of your service is to them - indeed, ideally, ask them what's important to them BEFORE you decide on what aspects to measure. Otherwise, you can end up with very high satisfaction figures for aspects of your service that customers don't care about - and then you wonder why customers are leaving even though your satisfaction figures are great!!

    Good luck,
    Bob
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 7/5/2007 at 10:43 AM Accepted
    The answer depends on what you are trying to achieve.

    However, clients usually don't appreciate being asked to contribute a whole lot of their time, unless you make it more palatable for them to do so.

    If you have to determine some subjective, qualitative matters looking for lengthy feedback about satisfaction with your service, invite a group of clients in for a nice in-house lunch and run a moderated group through the list of issues you want to cover.

    If it's more of an objective, yes/no thing, send customers and email with a link to a very short online clickable survey (use www.surveymonkey.com or similar).

    Survey often, and keep it short. Publish trends in-house, and if the results warrant it, in client newsletters. Offer a small prize each month to one lucky respondent to encourage more participation if you are not getting many responses.

    Keep a version of the survey available via your website so any client can provide feedback any time - with an option to leave their details so they can be contacted, if they have a problem.

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB


  • Posted by steven.alker on 7/9/2007 at 8:14 AM Member
    Part of the problem is attracting the recipients attention and then holding it until they click to a link on SurveyMonkey or whatever.

    I once asked a bunch of clients and prospects if they would spend 3 minutes filling in a survey about the services we offered. I also said that if they wanted to do the same thing one-to-one, I would send round an ex-monk, equipped as a scribe with quill pen and ink, but that they would have to provide the necessary vellum on which he could illuminate their responses. Also he would have to hold the interview in Latin. Had anyone said yes to the latter, I would have been sunk and my son’s Godfather would have had a great time touring Britain asking searching questions, but boy did it get the invitation noticed and the survey attended to.

    Accountancy firms do need to broaden their horizons and web surveys are the answer. The open question is valuable, but beware the problems you invite should you decide to try to analyse it. A recent posting on the forum concerning open ended questions, rather came to the conclusion that the originator had temporarily lost his marbles!

    Keep the questions short and to the point. Go for a 10 point scale with a radio button and brainstorm the new services you would like to offer which you do not at at the moment. For example, If you knew how to advise on sales forecasting and planning, then if my experience is anything to go by, you would get a huge response. But, as so few people know how to do it properly, you’d have to hire SalesVision! So ensure that you have the competences and resources to carry out whatever you suggest.

    Best wishes


    Steve Alker
    SalesVision
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