One external auditor told me that there is world wide known percentage for the Hit ratio of customer satisfaction process ?is it true?

I define the hit ratio for such process as the percentage of the customers that should reply to the surveys-or any questionnaire- which is sent to them ?

any clarifications please
thanks

Samer

Hello samer

No help here! Don't know what he was talking about.

However, it's possible he was talking about ratio of quotes/contracts, ratio of repeat customers?

As far as universally understood customer satisfaction and customer perception of value indicators, those are the things that come to mind first.

Hello samer

No help here! Don't know what he was talking about.

However, it's possible he was talking about ratio of quotes/contracts, ratio of repeat customers?

As far as universally understood customer satisfaction and customer perception of value indicators, those are the things that come to mind first.
thanks freiind,
ratio of questionnaires received/questionnaires sent ,

I can guess that this ratio is related to the nature of organization and the market,but this is what I have heared

I was always told to expect a less than 20% response rate for a CS/VOC type survey.

Never heard of a world wide percentage.

My experience on surveys being returned is about 10%. I had even less when I had the incentive to be in a drawing to receive a Palm Pilot.

Go figure.

What is your percentage of repeat customers?

What percentage of jobs quoted result in work?

These are important indicators of customer satisfaction, customer perception of value, and performance of your company.

Surveys are useful in many industries and fields, but I don't understand how you measure customer satisfaction with the percentage of surveys you get back.

I confess to being sceptical about satisfaction surveys.
Many years ago, I was an auditor for a registrar which required me to leave a customer satisfaction survey form with the client after each visit.
The survey asked about 20 questions and required the client to rate me from 1 (dismal) to 5 (superb) in each case.
One client gave me a full column of 1s. My boss telephoned to find out the problem only to talk to a happy quality manager who hadn't bothered to read the questions and just rated me first class for everything.
As a result of this, the questionairre was changed to smiley and frowning faces. Next visit I got a column of frowns. The happy quality manager still hadn't read the questions and filled the form in upside down.

The registrar for my current employer has a similar system. I let the auditor fill it in himself. If he doesn't like the result he can't take it out on me next time.

What is your percentage of repeat customers?

What percentage of jobs quoted result in work?

These are important indicators of customer satisfaction, customer perception of value, and performance of your company.

Surveys are useful in many industries and fields, but I don't understand how you measure customer satisfaction with the percentage of surveys you get back.
thanks all or reply
but atetsade , Im just looking for criteria to accept or reject my customer feedback surveys,-just the surveys-
as example if this ratio is less than 40% then I will not complete my analysis,

for KPI this is another issue for me

thanks at all

Samer

I've been told that if you can manage to get 20% or above response to a mailed survey to your customers you have an above average return. (I don't know if this holds true for all industries)

I was also told at that time, that more of the customers that do not return the survey are ones who are satisfied with you as a supplier, or have had no concerns with you.

There are some things you can do to help get those surveys returned, include a self-addressed stamped envelope, make the questions short and to the point, keep the survey short, allow for comments.

I have had better luck by creating a "checklist" of items for our sales people to ask in a conversational manner while visiting customers than sending out a formal questionaire.

There seems to be a better feel and more meaningful information given in a face-to-face setting. "Well, gosh Fred, we really like your product, and it works great, but every time I call I get shuffled through a dozen folks in order to get the technical information I require." vs the standard 1-5 rating on most surveys where everybody just circles the 3 and sends it back.

Why is this important?

Why is this important?

I may be looking at this wrong, but I would say they are trying to meet the requirement of "assessing customer satisfaction" and want to know if the amount of data they will get back is going to be a significant enough sample size to make a valid assessment.

I may be looking at this wrong, but I would say they are trying to meet the requirement of "assessing customer satisfaction" and want to know if the amount of data they will get back is going to be a significant enough sample size to make a valid assessment.

I think you're right. Although, I now wonder if customer satisfaction will not be assessed if < x% respond to the survey. Also wondering if the original poster has a "back-up" method for determining how happy the Customers are.

I think I have heard and read that surveys with a 20% or lower response rate is what you can expect. Since I thought that was pretty dismal, and a terrible waste of time and money to send out the survey. I applied the 80/20 rule. 80% of the company's business comes from 20% of its customers. So, we directly contacted those customers that provided the 80% of the revenue. Even though the % response wasn't high, we explained to the registrar's auditor that we had talked with those customers that gave us the majority of the business. Then the next year, to show continual improvement, we added to the list for new customers added that year. The next year after that, we added target accounts, talking to them about what kind of supplier they wanted us to be.

It was well-received, especially from the target customers and new customers. All-in-all, the sales people spent about 1/2 the time on the surveys that we would have spent just sending a survey to every single customer.

--QG

Well, I have been tracking my Customer Satisfaction Survey return percentage since 1998. Here it is:
1998 - 10.6%
1999 - 28.3%
2000 - 30.1%
2001 - 30.7%
2002 - 39.8%
2003 - 45.3%
2004 - 44.9%
2005 - 48.5%
2006 - currently, YTD, it is 25.3%

I may be looking at this wrong, but I would say they are trying to meet the requirement of "assessing customer satisfaction" and want to know if the amount of data they will get back is going to be a significant enough sample size to make a valid assessment.


Yes ,this is the real situation ,what kind of results you will have from CS of ratio 5%?as example .but now I can show this thread as evidence ....:D

something to comment on, the personal relations between some parties in the two sides could affect those surveys in a negative way , some companies are not dealing with yr company too much but they have a good personal relation with the sales person, this would give a result of 100%??

Lee.....in comparison to me , you have good values.......:yes:

I don't understand how this metric has any bearing whatsoever on customer satisfaction.

Yes ,this is the real situation ,what kind of results you will have from CS of ratio 5%?as example .but now I can show this thread as evidence ....:D

something to comment on, the personal relations between some parties in the two sides could affect those surveys in a negative way , some companies are not dealing with yr company too much but they have a good personal relation with the sales person, this would give a result of 100%??

Lee.....in comparison to me , you have good values.......:yes:

samer, yes, your sales person's "personal" relationship can indeed skew their perceptions. But, that is where you need to include more than your survey into your customer perception results. What is their annual consumption of your product, compared with the total product they consume in a year? delivery, price compared to competitors, your own knowledge of the personality of your sales person. The list goes on.


I don't understand how this metric has any bearing whatsoever on customer satisfaction.

atetsade, I am sorry, but I don't really understand what you are asking for. I think I am getting hung up on exactly what "this metric" means in your statement.

This activity is not designed to directly improve the customer's satisfaction, it is designed to collect data for the organization to analyze to find areas that they may be able to improve customer satisfaction while providing evidence that they are fulfilling the requirements of the standard [8.2.1 Customer satisfaction]. How better to monitor the customers' perception than to ask the customer? In our industry we have a third party survey that we can purchase, but not all industries have that luxury.

I don't understand how this metric has any bearing whatsoever on customer satisfaction.

What those numbers tell me is is that my method works...for now. I am getting a high return percentage. Higher than the norm I bet.

The whole survey process starts when the customer returns our "warranty card" in the mail to us. (All products have a warranty card in the box.) From there, we've got their name and address and then we send the survey to get their opinion, story, comments, etc.

I do all of these and a little more:
- Surveys are mailed: We enclose a pre-paid self-addressed envelope
- The survey is simple to understand and quick to complete
- We send the surveys to the persons who bought our product and used it
- The survey has note explaining why we are surveying and we end that statement with thanking them for their time
PLUS
- We send a small new product brochure, and/or sportswear brochure
- We send a sticker kit (small and large sizes)
- We ensure their comments and names are "not sold", etc.
- We ask for the comments/experiences with our products - we want to hear their story, good or bad.

After, we receive the survey:
- quite a few get a call back, maybe a t-shirt or a hat or a catalog, etc.
That there alone....they tell a friend, who tells a friend, etc. that we "listened" to them and responded.
I do the reading. I respond in some cases, other departments may respond as well. There is NO middle company filtering/reading the surveys for us.

Slightly off topic, but if you have decided to use surveys to assess customer satisfaction then there are some things you can do to improve response rate. For example:

- If you send the survey by mail, enclose a pre-paid self-addressed envelope
- Make the survey simple to understand and quick to complete
- Make sure you send it to the appropriate person or department
- Consider a covering note explaining why you are doing it and thanking them for their time

These are just the first things that spring to mind. There are whole books written on this subject, so maybe you could look into those. :read:

In general, try to make it as easy as possible for the recipient to respond.

I'm sure some of the previous posters (especially Lee with those impressive %ages :applause: ) could give you more advice.

Slightly off topic, but if you have decided to use surveys to assess customer satisfaction then there are some things you can do to improve response rate. For example:

- If you send the survey by mail, enclose a pre-paid self-addressed envelope
- Make the survey simple to understand and quick to complete
- Make sure you send it to the appropriate person or department
- Consider a covering note explaining why you are doing it and thanking them for their time

These are just the first things that spring to mind. There are whole books written on this subject, so maybe you could look into those. :read:

In general, try to make it as easy as possible for the recipient to respond.

I'm sure some of the previous posters (especially Lee with those impressive %ages :applause: ) could give you more advice.
Yep, I do all of the above. Thanks for the applause. I edited my previous post above to show what it is that I do to get good results. But I think a lot of it is that my employer's reputation is extremely high and that is a factor. It is the 3rd most important reason on the "Purchase Reasons" question in our survey.

One external auditor told me that there is world wide known percentage for the Hit ratio of customer satisfaction process ?is it true?

I define the hit ratio for such process as the percentage of the customers that should reply to the surveys-or any questionnaire- which is sent to them ?any clarifications please
thanks Samer

I am a bit of a nostalgia buff for the good old days of Madison Avenue advertising. Back when mail was a major medium. Some of the old books I have collected say that for direct mail 3 to 7% was considered wonderful.

A mail campaign needed to include more than 7 mailings before people begin to tune in. This may explain why we get so much junk mail, our shields are up.

http://www.businessknowhow.com/QandA/mailrespon.htm

Lee, 45% is a huge return rate! Wow.

I am a bit of a nostalgia buff for the good old days of Madison Avenue advertising. Back when mail was a major medium. Some of the old books I have collected say that for direct mail 3 to 7% was considered wonderful.

A mail campaign needed to include more than 7 mailings before people begin to tune in. This may explain why we get so much junk mail, our shields are up.

http://www.businessknowhow.com/QandA/mailrespon.htm

Lee, 45% is a huge return rate! Wow.

Thanks. It has to be due to the "Reputation" factor. And the fact that from what I have read (comments), they like the fact that we asked for their personal opinions and felt we cared about what the customer wants/needs. When we respond via telephone, mail, or email and they do not expect it, their satisfaction level shoots through the roof. We're working on getting satisfaction surveys added to our website - but I am worried about the validity.

Heh

I think you are doing a wonderful job, Lee, and it inspires envy.

Heh

I think you are doing a wonderful job, Lee, and it inspires envy.

Thank you. I have posted my entire process in the Benchmarking Forums in case anyone is interested.:)

If your secret involves giving $100 of free Amazon vouchers to anyone who responds, I'll be VERY disappointed!!! :nope:

If your secret involves giving $100 of free Amazon vouchers to anyone who responds, I'll be VERY disappointed!!! :nope:

Well, we do not offer anything.:( Though, I have started to consider offering the first 10 responders a hat, t-shirt or both from my employer. Gotta get management approval to do it though. Acoustic Guitar magazine does on-line surveys and offers a set of strings to the first 10 responders. (Yes, I received a set.)

I strongly disagree that the return rate of customer surveys is a good metric for measuring and monitoring customer satisfaction. This is probably because I am in a majority of people who either do not like or do not respond to surveys.

My normal assumption is that the customer survey is not a good way to measure or monitor customer satisfaction or customer perception of value, but Lee has proven this wrong.

By proper administration and sophistication in your survey process, you have brought new life to a tired old vehicle. I'm sure I would be glad to respond to one of your surveys, because I would feel like I'm being listened to and I would feel involved in the product.

After, we receive the survey:
- quite a few get a call back, maybe a t-shirt or a hat or a catalog, etc.
That there alone....they tell a friend, who tells a friend, etc. that we "listened" to them and responded.
I do the reading. I respond in some cases, other departments may respond as well. There is NO middle company filtering/reading the surveys for us.

The reason I wanted to respond at this stage is to emphasize that the customer survey Lee is administering is quite a bit different from the standard survey I have seen sent out of job shops and mom n' pops.

IF we are using surveys for assessments of customer satisfaction or qualification of suppliers, I think the performance of Lee's system should be examined more closely.

http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=15632

Not bad at all.

IF we are using surveys for assessments of customer satisfaction or qualification of suppliers, I think the performance of Lee's system should be examined more closely.

http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?t=15632

Not bad at all.

Thanks! I have not posted all of the surveys. I only posted the one that applies to the end-user. I will go back and post the Retail store survey (Account / Distributor) and the OEM survey AND the year end 2005 results for each.:)