All for-profit organizations are striving to provide value to their customers while functioning in competitive business environments. And value to all customers is what they get vs. what it cost them. 

Organizations provide products, service & customer experiences. And customers pay through the price of the product and/or service as well as the effort they have to exert when making a purchase. Customers can buy shirts & blouses from Nordstrom or Wal-Mart but the value equation is quite different for those two retailers. 

When customers feel they are receiving value, a very positive chain reaction begins - customers become more likely to buy & to recommend the supplier driving market share, profit & organizational growth. But this linkage can only begin when organizations understand their customers' definition of value.

Not understanding customers’ definition of value is a root cause of customer dissatisfaction. And usually this vital information can’t be obtained informally & anecdotally. A Customer Satisfaction Survey effectively designed & conducted with an action plan developed around the feedback will more than pay for itself.

If you plan to survey your customers, our experience at The Focus Group has shown the following to be key steps: 

#1 Determining what your company & those who will use the customer feedback want to accomplish:

• the type of information that will allow the users of the feedback to achieve their survey objectives
• what the users plan to do with the data & how they will determine whether the survey project was a success 

#2 Deciding on the customer segment[s] you want to survey – options include your customers who:

• purchase a particular product or service
• buy in high volume and/or frequency
• are likely to grow & provide you more business
• have certain demographic characteristics, etc. 

#3 Determining the product and/or service attributes that are most important to your customers & therefore what you want to measure – frequently surveyed are industry-specific forms of:

• reliability
• responsiveness
• assurance
• empathy
• tangibles, etc 

#4 Selecting the best survey methodology based on the type of information you are seeking, the availability/number of customers you want to survey, the time & funds available, etc. – optional types of surveys include:

• electronic
• focus groups
• face-to-face interviews
• telephone
• mystery shopping
• customer advisory boards 

#5 Properly designing your survey instrument by:

• using a core vocabulary & brief, simple sentences
• grouping your questions in an order that is logical to your customers
• clustering your questions around a common topic
• placing interesting, informative questions first & sensitive items last 

#6 Determining your sample size depending upon:

• the degree of confidence in & statistical significance required of your customers’ feedback
• your customers’ degree of similarity 

#7 Creating a follow up action plan to make your organization ‘famous for’ providing your customers what they most value - follow up initiatives often include:

• using the customer feedback to make process improvements
• incorporating the feedback into your business or strategic plans
• turning your customer expectations into employee standards of performance, etc. 

Developing & conducting a Customer Satisfaction Survey ‘takes a little doing.’ But your customers will always have expectations & buy based on whether you satisfy those expectations.

Pete Tosh of The Focus Group can be reached at [email protected] or 478-746-6891.