Editor’s note: Michael J. Britten is president of Lincoln, Neb.-based Service Research Corporation.

Customer satisfaction research has come to be viewed over the past three decades as a viable business tool. But while many have glowing remarks about the process in general as a component of any competitive firm’s general business practices, others are much less positive about its benefits. In the following paragraphs, using a perspective gained from nearly 25 years of customer satisfaction research, I’ll explore some of the positive aspects and then touch on some negative views and how to counteract them.

I believe that one of the most valuable, but often overlooked, benefits of a good customer research process is that it gets the organization engaged in listening and reacting to customer opinions and expectations. Many employees feel secure in the notion that if you do not hear anything, satisfaction levels must be fine. Unfortunately, the sound you are not hearing may be the scurry of fleeing customers.

One example of getting an organization engaged was a project we did about 15 years ago with a maker of environmental diagnostic devices. The firm had a few hundred customers in the United States and most did around $200,000 of business each year. The CEO had asked the marketing manager to bring a customer list to the initial meeting. Upon seeing the poor quality of the list the CEO erupted: “Do you mean this client does nearly a quarter-million dollars of business with us annually and we only know him as Billy and we do not even have a telephone number?”

At that point, the organization became engaged. It became a team that produced accurate lists, fine-tuned a survey, anxiously awaited survey results and crafted some pretty tough action plans to improve its service and relationships with its customers. Customer service now belonged to everyone. The organization was engaged!

Uncovering service champions within the firm is another benefit of the satisfaction research process. When these people see survey results, they step up and begin fixing everything in their power. They make great service and process improvement team members and will likely support special service enhancement initiatives. On the other hand, there are also the naysayers, the non-believers and the “it ain’t me” group who point fingers at others and fail to look in the mirror.

How you are doing

Naturally, the primary output of talking and listening to customers is the survey report - be it virtual, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual - with its numbers and verbatim comments. I have always believed a survey should be designed to tell you how you are doing (scaled questions, yes/no, categorical, etc.) and that open-ended responses provide intelligent clues about what should be done to improve. If the research process is clean, the scope and sequence are appropriate and a sound design was used, the reliability should be good.

Sample design and sample size always seem to be debatable issues. A good survey is continually improved and shortened by using factor and regression analysis. This process should also be used to properly weight questions.

Customer satisfaction research must be treated with the same consideration as other research strategies. It should begin with well-conceived goals, a general rollout and reporting strategy and of course a time frame and budget. There should always be room for mistakes in concepting and the toe-stubbing that comes with juggling a seemingly endless stream of project details.

Hoop-jumping

Many customer surveys are designed to produce ongoing, trackable data and contribute to incentive and bonus systems. Unfortunately changes often require considerable organizational hoop-jumping and it becomes easier to simply ask the same questions again and again rather than fight the system. Thus, surveys are conducted for intrinsic purposes and lose their meaning as organizational development tools.

The biggest flaw in the customer satisfaction research process is failure to use data to establish an ongoing improvement process. Many organizations gather a wealth of information that fuels incentive and bonus programs with little consideration for actually improving customer service and business processes. Customer satisfaction must be a constant factor and a continuous “walk-the-walk” organizational belief. Appropriate metrics and evaluative tools are part of the process. In today’s research environment, data are often considered as a commodity and the act of using data to add value to the company begins only when improvement processes begin.

Can be overcome

Some of the organizational resistance toward measuring satisfaction is understandable. However, most hurdles can be overcome. Following are some common problems or issues surrounding customer satisfaction research and possible solutions.

Problem: No organizational consistency toward the measurement process. This is normally the lack of solid vision, communication and a consistent/structured approach to improving customer satisfaction.

Solution: Leadership. Someone must pull it all together so organizational vision and operational strategies connect. Someone must identify and cherish service champions and create and evaluate exemplary business processes.

 

Problem: Lack of an organizational strategy to deploy the information and implement improvement-related performance goals.

Solution: Design research that will improve both business processes and employee performance. Hold people accountable with improvement metrics.

 

Problem: Copycat research and the use of norms.

Solution: Design research that fits your strategic plan, not the strategy of some other business. Being five points above average is still average and not great.

 

Problem: Asking too many questions to the same sample, time and time again.

Solution: Define core questions and surround them with questions that change as the marketplace changes, and constantly refine the sampling process.

 

Problem: Frontline employees do not see the data and surveys are not connected to training.

Solution: Design surveys that produce strategic and operational data, and develop systems to involve everyone in improvements. Use survey results in training programs and in new employee orientation.

 

Problem: Customers never see results or are unaware what is being done to improve services and processes.

Solution: Continually communicate: “You said . . . we did.” Tell customers what you are doing as a result of their feedback. Thank them frequently!

 

Problem: Not asking the right people the right questions.

Solution: Segment customer groups and continually refine questionnaires. Get people engaged!

Right planning

Most criticisms of customer satisfaction research can be overcome with the right planning and attention to detail. Organizations that have figured out the right questions to ask of the right people and how to use the data both operationally and strategically will continue to prosper. Naturally, a quality product and a competitive price are also components of the customer satisfaction equation. However, competition through customer service remains alive and well as a contemporary business strategy.