How I discovered the need for an annual survey script update
I reviewed a transactional survey script at a meeting with a new client. I suppressed the urge to say, “These questions are wimpy. They don’t get to the heart of what customers expect from service delivery like you provide.” Instead, I asked her to explain the history of how the script was developed, when the most recent survey script update was, and how the results were being used. Her answers to these questions were so mind-numbing I had to fight a reaction to scream. Here, in summary, are the answers:
- How the script was developed – Ten years ago, they wanted to find out how their front-line people were doing, so four people sat around a table and guessed what was important to customers and then did what committees always do – they agreed on questions everyone liked.
- When was it last updated – never.
- How are the results being used – to bonus the front-line employees.
In August 2009, I wrote a guest blog for Vovici titled “Jumping into the Pool Before You Know the Water Depth.” In that post, I talked about identifying the most critical customer touch-points before crafting a survey instrument for a continuous customer feedback collection process. The advantage of this methodology is that your survey focuses on experiences that matter to your customers. You wind up with fundamental questions about real drivers of loyalty, not the results of a committee decision made by people without the experience of being your customer.
Naturally, as people gain experience with your business, they come to expect what you do well and want improvements to what you do not do well. This set of circumstances implies that you must periodically update your survey based on customer feedback. In other words, find out what touch-points are at the top of your customer’s minds and ensure you are either exceeding their expectations or, at least, making good progress towards that objective.
Now comes the real fun! For years we have heard:
“What gets measured gets managed.” – Peter Drucker
“What gets measured gets done” – Tom Peters
Based on these well-used quotes, many companies decided that the ultimate use of measurement is compensation. My client decided to incentivize their employees to improve the experiences they deliver to customers. And the quantification metric of improvement was the survey results. They created a bonus plan tied to CSAT numbers, improvements led to customers’ reporting being more satisfied, and employees took home more money. But then a strange thing happened – CSAT results leveled off, customer complaints increased, and employees kept taking home their quarterly bonus checks.
The logical solution was to raise the target, which makes sense, but the survey results were already very high. The better choice is to update the survey instrument to ensure the critical factors are measured and improved. But managers resist this option because they know that CSAT scores will drop, along with bonuses, until the company can figure out what needs improving and what to do. In the meantime, employees will be agitated because their compensation took a hit without any behavior change!
If you find yourself in this position, you need to be creative. One clumsy solution is to add new questions to the survey but, for a short period, continue to bonus on the original set of questions. You can then transition away from the old after the employees have a chance to start working on the new feedback.
Another approach is to switch baselines “cold turkey.” There may be pushback, but the business will focus the employees on the job, making customers more satisfied. Here are three reasons I think this is the better approach:
- Everyone knows you are serious about customer satisfaction, especially if your income is affected by the decision.
- You get whining and complaining out of the way all at once.
- Your customers and the business quickly enjoy the benefits of the knowledge and follow-up actions.
Of course, the real winning approach is to periodically update the survey and change the baseline quickly and as frequently as needed. I believe most mature professionals will understand this approach and get on with the task at hand.
Remember, when dealing with unfavorable changes to people’s incomes, there is no silver bullet!
Related article: Surveys Without Action Only Annoy Customers
About Middlesex Consulting
Middlesex Consulting is an experienced team of professionals with the primary goal of helping capital equipment companies create more value for their clients and stakeholders. Middlesex Consulting continues to provide superior solutions to meet the needs of its clients by focusing on our strengths in Services, Manufacturing, Customer Experience, and Engineering. If you want to learn more about how we can help your organization create more actional feedback by performing a survey script update, please contact us or check out some of our free articles and white papers here.