Customer Satisfaction Survey - Seeking Form

[Robs]

Customer Satifaction Survey

I am about to undertake the task of getting together a Customer Satisfaction Survey or questionaire for our main customers.

I have seen several templates from various websites none of which seem to quite hit the nail on the head.

My question is how should I go about formulating a good questionaire that a customer will not only fill out but will yield good info.

For example I would like to know how important 100% on time delivery REALLY is to our customers; I know that when we ask the question it is human nature for people to rate it as very important even though it REALLY may not be and we would therefore be focusing on the wrong area.



Has anyone had any good success stories in this whole area or is a Survey the actual way to go??

Any feedback would be appreciated,

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Howard Atkins]

I have found that nothing works better than personal visits.
As the Quality Manager when you visit the customer then " as you don't talk about money" then they open up to you.
For example I had 2 customers in Belgium, 30 minutes from each other, and no more than an hour from our wharehouse in Belgium. I spoke to the logistics people and one said that they are not willing to accept parts before the 1st of the month. The other said it was more important that he knew it was at his facility than the day it arrived.
This is an example of how you can get the info.
Your visit ( especially if it is not on the background of a non- conformance) remains in their minds and acts as a preactive prevention action.
I am not a fan of questionaires as if they reply you have no real way of knowing if this was true.
GE have what they call a customer dashboard. They agree with the customer on a number of important parameters and then measure them.

 

[SniperMan]

I recently had updated our customer profile including customer satisfaction matrix which we do by sending survey questionnaires to our customers, aside from that I do have follow up by calling them to ask how we can serve the customers better. By asking ideas and suggestions to improve customer relationship.

Mr Atkins idea of visiting customer site is credible but one question that comes to me is that what if the customer's location is say more than 30 minutes of travel time. Is the idea still feasible?

Customer survey questionnaires are still a good starting point to solicit information from customers.

 

[Marc]

I agree that visits are nice. Phone calls come next and surveys last. It all depends upon your company and product. Norelco isn't going to visit each purchaser's house to ask them about their shaver.

Of most concern to me is that the company looks closely to see what combination of feedback is appropriate for them. Visits are wonderful things. One of my former clients sold bulk chemical metal cleaners. He, or one of the staff, visited every customer at least once a month for a day. I've had other clients that never, ever visited a customer's facility.

It is also important that you understand the limitations of any feedback methodology. We all know survey's are notoriously open for interpretation much like log files on web sites. On the other hand, I have seen companies send out evaluation letters to customers and really follow up - like phone calls, etc. Their data was, I believe, relatively accurate because of their follow-up methodology. One client had a return rate on their 'letters' of almost 100% - they really pushed it.

 

[Jim Biz]

Food for Thought

One other way I have observed - is that IF the company has the resources to assign a dedicated Quality Engineer to each of it's customers...

Daily phone calls to check out "how are we doing today - what can be done better? Information logs were kept & the follow up was a meeting with the executive officer on a bi-weekly basis and a written report on - results of the information gathered.

Regards
Jim

 

[Howard Atkins]

Mr Atkins idea of visiting customer site is credible but one question that comes to me is that what if the customer's location is say more than 30 minutes of travel time. Is the idea still feasible?

Yes it is feasible, obviously you must plan your visits, I used to go to 3 countries in 4 days and visit 6 customers. If you travel further then they remember it better.
You also meet the SQA and thus if you have a non conformity he remembers you and usually it is easier to solve.
You need to convince the organisation that it is a good policy, after the results come in they will see it for themselves.

 

[venkat]

Customer satisfaction survey questionnaire

Can I request anyone fo the viewers of the forum to mail the customer satisfaction measurement questionnaire.

I would like to see the template. References to some websites are also ok

 

[Marc]

There are several in the Cove Members directory in the Procedures-Forms sub-directory. http://Elsmar.com/Cove_Members/Procedures-Forms/

 

[venkat]

To access this site one needs a user name and password.

MaY I request the members to help me please

 

[E Wall]

Members Info

Certainly happy to help out venkat...I'm surprised you haven't already become familiar with this but here is the (brief) scoop on file access:

If the files are in the 'Free Files' area follow link from Cove Home Page, (IF FILES ARE NOT IN FREE SECTION or TO BECOME A MEMBER) then follow this path and choose a membership option: http://Elsmar.com/join.html

Otherwise, search engine works great at finding topics and many include links where Marc or others have taken the time/effort to identify the helpful files that are available.

*Edit: Added all cap text above