The end of the year is the time to reflect on progress and plan for the future. At Signal, the customer satisfaction survey is a critical part of this process. Our customer survey offers us priceless insights into what our clients like, what they dislike and where we can make better decisions to keep them exceptionally happy. As we get closer to 2018, consider these best practices for your own customer survey.
Keep it short.
Attention spans are fleeting. You also don’t want to burden customers, which can decrease your response rate. Make it something that can be easily answered in 5 minutes – which means about 10 questions.
Brand it.
Leverage your existing relationship to engage customers in completing the survey. Business logos and high-quality graphics and copy increases trust and willingness to offer meaningful feedback.
Ask the right questions.
Each question needs a reason for being on your survey. We find that a blend of open-ended and rating-scale questions makes it easy for customers – and gives you a good mix of input.
Use the net promoter score.
The net promoter score uses one question to measure customer loyalty: “How likely is it that you would recommend our organization to a friend or colleague?” It’s a simple, quantifiable, standardized way to benchmark the likelihood of referral.
Check any bias.
As you review your survey results, beware of the natural human bias towards what we want to believe. Celebrate praise for your company, but don’t rest on your laurels. And take care not to dismiss negative responses as “those clients no one can please.” Look deeply to improve for the future.
A closer look at the net promoter score
It correlates with business growth
The net promoter score has some weight to it – pun intended! Studies by the Harvard Business Review and Satmetrix show that companies across many industries have higher income when they improve their net promoter scores.
It’s easy to build into your survey
Calculate your net promoter score with the answer to this key question, using a 0-10 scale: How likely is it that you would recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague?
Answers are grouped as follows:
- 0–6 = Detractors—unhappy customers who can hurt your brand through negative word-of-mouth
- 7–8 = Passives—satisfied but indifferent customers who could be swayed by the competition
- 9–10 = Promoters—loyal customers who will keep buying and referring others
Subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters yields the net promoter score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every customer is a Detractor) to a high of 100 (if every customer is a Promoter).
When it comes to customer satisfaction, knowing is better than guessing. Tap into what your customers are thinking with a well-designed survey.
