Please Review our Customer Survey and help with your opinions and suggestions

[Gmayes]

My company is about to conduct their 3rd semi-annual customer survey (I belive it should be annualy, but that is another story) and I wanted to revamp our survey.

Attached you will find what I have so far. I wanted to keep it short (4-5 questions) and 1 page.

I'd like to get some feedback and ideas on how this could be better.

For the last part about communication, I couldn't think of anything good to put there so it reads

"• TESSADA maintaining open lines of communication with you"

Any and all suggestions will be helpful and appreciated.

~Gregg

 

[Rob Nix]

Nice job! That is very good as it is, IMHO.

But what about delivery performance?

One thing to keep in mind is not to limit yourself to the manner in which the customer will complete it.

We E-Mail (or fax) our customer the survey, then allow them to complete it by hand, electronically, verbally over the phone or in person. In short, whatever mode of communication is most convenient for the customer.

Make sure your management uses the information to improve its processes. If you don't, it'll have an even greater negative effect than not having one at all, and, at the very least, be a waste of time.

p.s. I love the avatar!

 

[Gmayes]

Thanks Rob.

In the past we have used two versions:

1. Online. They are emailed a letter from the CEO requesting their feedback along with a link to the survey. Each link is identfies them so all they have to do is click their answers and hit submit

2. Mail. SOme of our clients don't have access to the internet, just their intranet, so we send them a letter from the CEO, a hard copy version of the survey, and a stamped self-addressed envelope for them to return it in.

Over the two surveys, the % of respondents has dropped from 33% to 13%..this is based on 35 customers. We'd really like to shoot for a higher percentage. I've suggested we give them a call and ask for 5 minutes of their time to answer the questions. I belive this would put us close to 99% and may gather some valuable feedback.

The results from our surveys are definately not wasted. The CEO, COO, and all of top management reads them and Correcitve Actions put into place for those that are not satisfactory. I definately can say that our mgt. is very involved with the QMS and value the feedback.

Thanks again.

 

[qualitygoddess - 2010]

Over the two surveys, the % of respondents has dropped from 33% to 13%..this is based on 35 customers. We'd really like to shoot for a higher percentage. I've suggested we give them a call and ask for 5 minutes of their time to answer the questions. I belive this would put us close to 99% and may gather some valuable feedback.


QUOTE]

In the past 10 years, I have only seen the 90% plus response rates when you call up the customer (or drop in for a visit) and ask them to complete the survey. That being said, if your customers are really ticked at your company, you might see an increase in the response rate...........

I always advocate to my clients to do the on phone/in person surveys, and to focus on the list of customers that make up 80% of their revenue. I also recommend including a few target customers or newer customers to help with future trends.

--QG

 

[Statistical Steven]

Survery response rates are usually low unless as it has been stated, there is a problem. Very few people complain when things are good.

I would suggest a change in approach to calling each customer doing the survey with the decision maker. Sometimes surverys are filled out by people within the organization that do not ultimately make the go/no-go decision.

 

[Barbara B]

Gregg,

just one additional point: It could be better to use a 6-point scale instead of a 5-point one to track the trend of satisfaction. With 5 points your customers could tick always the middle, while they had to decide to one side in a 6-point scale.

Barbara

 

[Mike S.]

Good replies so far -- especially making sure the respondent is a decision maker.

If you get a negative response, since there are relatively few respondents, does someone in your company follow-up in person with that respondent to make sure it is addressed?

 

[Net123]

We have a similar customer survey in our organization. We make tooling equipment, so we would like to get customer surveys for all new products (atleast).
For now, the percentage of customers (usually project managers) who send in the surveys is low. We hand them the surveys in self addressed envelopes or email. It would be nice to see greater feedback; however I am wary of using phone calls or other direct methods because I noticed that the project manager responds positively to everything. While that’s good, I am afraid the management might not get a real feel for the customer’s perception of our product/service quality. Comments??

In general I feel it’s harder for the customer to be critical of you when directly talking to you. Are there any other methods that would increase customer feedback?