Alternatives to Customer Feedback Survey in ISO 9001

[Deepu]

I work as the MR of an organization which is a fully owned subsidiary of a UK company in the education domain. We generally don't directly interact with the end customers (teachers in schools). So the customer feedback mechanism set up involved getting feedback from our UK counterparts who anyway directly interact with the end customer. We had used Customer Satisfaction Surveys (with 10 -12 parameters) for collecting feedback for a number of years. Then we switched to Net Promoter Scores (NPS) mainly because most teams were considered an extension of the UK team and many of the parameters used started becoming obsolete. Now my CEO is asking whether we can do away with the whole thing. I know that customer feedback is mandated, though 9001 doesn't say it has to be a survey. Would be great if someone in the group can share their insights on this. We do have separate complaint handling and defect tracking mechanisms. Would these be sufficient by themselves?

 

[Jen Kirley]

Good day Deepu,

What products or services do you provide?

I am not familiar with education systems in India, but I know that teachers in the U.S. are not typically empowered to select textbooks for use in the classrooms. Their curriculum is generally controlled by the school but they can write lesson plans. This has generated a good deal of frustration along with the requirement to be evaluated according to written test results.

I would like to better understand what you provide so I can offer relevant ideas.

 

[AndyN]

I work as the MR of an organization which is a fully owned subsidiary of a UK company in the education domain. We generally don't directly interact with the end customers (teachers in schools). So the customer feedback mechanism set up involved getting feedback from our UK counterparts who anyway directly interact with the end customer. We had used Customer Satisfaction Surveys (with 10 -12 parameters) for collecting feedback for a number of years. Then we switched to Net Promoter Scores (NPS) mainly because most teams were considered an extension of the UK team and many of the parameters used started becoming obsolete. Now my CEO is asking whether we can do away with the whole thing. I know that customer feedback is mandated, though 9001 doesn't say it has to be a survey. Would be great if someone in the group can share their insights on this. We do have separate complaint handling and defect tracking mechanisms. Would these be sufficient by themselves?

The simple answers are: No, defect tracking isn't about the "perception of requirements being met" (to paraphrase the standard) and why not speak directly to the "customer"? Is management interested in learning (pardon the pun) what they really think?

 

[Tyler C]

Hi Deepu
I too have struggled with how to capture Customer Satisfaction. There is a note in the 2008 version of the standard that says
"Monitoring customer perception can include obtaining input from sources such as customer satisfaction surveys, customer data on delivered product quality, user opinion surveys, lost business analysis, compliments, warranty claims, and dealer reports."
We tried making "lost business analysis" work but due to the dynamic industry we are in, customer satisfaction is only one of many reasons why we could lose business. So, we have decided to use our on-time ship record and warranty claims for our customer satisfaction measures.

I'm not sure if either of these would work for your company, but they are gladly accepted by our auditor. Hope this helps.

 

[dsanabria]

I work as the MR of an organization which is a fully owned subsidiary of a UK company in the education domain. We generally don't directly interact with the end customers (teachers in schools). So the customer feedback mechanism set up involved getting feedback from our UK counterparts who anyway directly interact with the end customer. We had used Customer Satisfaction Surveys (with 10 -12 parameters) for collecting feedback for a number of years. Then we switched to Net Promoter Scores (NPS) mainly because most teams were considered an extension of the UK team and many of the parameters used started becoming obsolete. Now my CEO is asking whether we can do away with the whole thing. I know that customer feedback is mandated, though 9001 doesn't say it has to be a survey. Would be great if someone in the group can share their insights on this. We do have separate complaint handling and defect tracking mechanisms. Would these be sufficient by themselves?

Check this formula and let me know if it helps you.