Increasing the Impact of Customer Surveys

We recently interviewed the VP of Customer Insights for a major communications firm who commented that his firm spends millions of dollars on surveys yet still lacks actionable information. In that company, like many, satisfaction surveys have acquired a reputation for being unactionable and frustrating.

Why do many research studies end up on the shelf gathering dust? How can VPs of Customer Insights assure actionable, integrated Voice of the Customer (VOC) solutions? There are four barriers to making surveys impactful.

Why reports are not acted upon

Most surveys have little impact in the real world, based on the following four reasons:

1. "The data is not relevant; it doesn't tell me what needs to be fixed." in most cases this means it is either too general or too tactical, missing the actionable insight.

Most surveys are usually about the relationship or about the transaction. The "relationship" surveys measure what happened over the past six months or year and focus on ratings over general dimensions of the relationship. The problem is that a customer often wants to give specifics on one aspect of the dimension, but then s/he is not given the opportunity. Relationship surveys often ask for general comments when a respondent really wants to tell you about "this one specific thing you do that bugs me."

The "transaction" surveys measure the tactical interactions: "How did Mary Lou the Customer Service Rep handle your call?" In most cases, the transaction survey is conducted right after or within 24 hours of the call because the outcome of the transaction is often not obvious at that point, or she was fine but the policy she articulated didn't help me.

2. "The data you are providing is not telling me what I hear from other reliable sources."

Your internal customers are receiving two other ongoing flows of information about the customer experience. The first describes what your company has done for (e.g., on-time delivery) or to (e.g., missed delivery) customers via transactions by units like Operations, Sales, and Accounts Receivable. The second flow is information from Customer Service and Sales describing recent contacts, complaints, and interactions. Nothing happens in a vacuum. Often operational data and survey data highlight a completely different set of issues than contact and complaint information from Service. These three somewhat contradicting data sets give another excuse for inaction.

3. "I can't easily make sense out of this survey report. I will need to study it later when I have more time."

Most survey reports are poorly packaged, precluding the desire to move quickly to action. These reports do not suggest a specific set of priorities within opportunities nor recommendations for specific actions. Because the internal customer cannot make an immediate determination of the problem and the appropriate resulting action, the prudent approach is to put the report aside until there is enough time to review it in detail. It sits on the shelf along with other market research reports.

4. "I agree there is a significant problem but I have other issues right now. I'll get to this next quarter."

Most reports do not create an economic imperative to take action from showing the cost of inaction. The revenue impact of problems tends to be 10-20 times the cost of impact, but such impacts are seldom estimated in most satisfaction research reports.

How to make your survey reports more actionable

• Ask a direct question about what did not work
• Integrate your survey data with other sources, including operational data and customer contact data
• Suggest specific actions
• Create an environment imperative to act now

A few years ago, TARP highlighted an engine problem to an auto company that was causing $50 million in potential damage to customer loyalty. The auto company agreed that it was an important issue but other items had higher priority. The minute TARP recast the data to say, "Each month you fail to take action will cost you $4.6 million," the auto company took action. If you can quantify the cost of inaction for a month, you will almost always precipitate action.

In summary, your clients are busy, swamped with information from other sources, and are primarily concerned about the bottom line. Unless your reports cut through the clutter with immediate, relevant information, your reports will continue to sit on the shelf. The best course of action is to tell them what it will cost them not to take action.