CustomerSatisfactionUK/10-steps-to-a-successful-customer-survey

When executed properly, customer satisfaction surveys can become a powerful and popular management tool, producing real commercial benefits to your business.

1. Set clear objectives
Define why you are doing the survey. For example, is it to increase customer retention, or to drive new business growth? Vague goals lead to vague benefits.

2. Gauge the survey's success
Make sure that you can clearly demonstrate the impact of the survey. For example, if your goal is to increase customer retention - what are the current levels to measure against?

3. Involve your colleagues
Ensure you have buy in from colleagues and managers before starting the survey. Take time up front to consider their needs and listen to their opinions. This will pay huge dividends when presenting the survey results and encouraging commitment to carry out improvement actions - and will ultimately deliver real business benefits.

4. Schedule time to collect customer details
It almost always takes longer than expected to collect the customer data required. This can delay the project and undermine colleagues' expectations. Allocate plenty of time for this and ensure the data reflects a representative sample of your customer base.

5. Communicate the survey results
Tell your customers what you are doing as a result of their feedback and how they will benefit. Be honest about your shortcomings but emphasise your strengths. Ensure you take advantage of this opportunity for positive PR to demonstrate that you care about your customers and take their views seriously.

6. Produce a meaningful measure of performance
Typical satisfaction scores of 90.2% or a rating of 6.4 do not mean much to staff. Instead, for instance, measure the proportion of customers who are extremely satisfied.

7. Coordinate customer and employee surveys
Surveying both customers and employees using common goals and consistent methodologies is particularly valuable.

8. Build the results into performance reviews and staff appraisals
Ensure that staff at all levels staff are judged and rewarded according to their contribution to customer satisfaction and its impact upon business success.

9. Focus on the key conclusions and resultant actions
Recognise that the real work starts once a survey has been completed. Set expectations, allocate resources, prepare management and colleagues for the effort they must make to act upon the results of the survey.

10. Don't do a 'dissatisfaction' survey
Often, surveys just focus on the dissatisfied customers. Don't neglect the others. Find out what to do to increase the satisfaction of all customers.

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