What Are the Essential Components of a Great Customer Satisfaction Survey?

You've decided to measure your customerservice. "Did we show interest in solving your
satisfaction (smart choice) and now you're wonderingproblems?" and "Was our staff caring and concerned
what you should include in the survey. Obviously,with your recuperation?" are examples of customer
selecting the right questions is essential if you want toexperience questions.
get meaningful results for your efforts.The last type of questions you must include are profile
In this article I won't be able to give you a magic recipequestions. It is very important to build relevant
for building your specific survey, but I will outline thecustomer profiles that you can contrast with your
essential components. My objective is to offer youvaluation questions. These questions will obviously
some basic guidelines which have been proven overdepend on what is important for your company. A
many years of experience. Hopefully that way youhotel might need to know if the customer is a man or
won't forget anything important along the way. At thewoman, or if the purpose of the stay was business or
end I will also try and give some advice which shouldpleasure. However, a hospital will want to know the
significantly improve the return on your customerage group and illness being treated.
satisfaction investment.When designing a customer satisfaction survey you
Every well-structured customer satisfaction surveyshould be careful to be as specific as possible. Often I
should include the following five basic types ofsee surveys where all the questions are vague and
questions:abstract. This won't allow you to improve your
1. General Evaluation Questionsprocesses. Although you should include a couple of
2. Detailed Departmental Questionsoverall questions, try to include as much detail as you
3. Efficiency Questionscan about aspects of your business which you can
4. Customer Experience Questionsimprove. Don't bother to inquire about things beyond
5. Customer Profile Questionsyour control. For example, why bother asking "Is our
It is important to include at least two or three generalhospital conveniently located?" unless your planning on
evaluation questions in your survey. One of the mostrelocating. However on the other hand, "Was the wait
important results of the process should be thefor receiving analysis results adequate?" is a great
identification of factors which maintain a highquestion.
correlation con overall satisfaction. These factors areSince you've endured to the end of this article, I'd like to
where you should expend the greatest effort.share with you a new and exciting solution which
Questions like "What is your overall opinion of ourmakes measuring customer satisfaction much easier. It
performance?" or "Did we adequately meet yourhas several characteristics which will help you reduce
expectations?" permit us to establish theseyour costs and maximize your participation rates.
correlations.This powerful management tool allows you to
The meat and potatoes of your survey are the detailmeasure customer and employee satisfaction in
questions. You should make an inventory of therealtime. Customers answer quick surveys by touching
"contact points" that your customers experience whenthe screen of the "gustometer" with their fingers. Since
they do business with you. Who do they talk to?the entire survey process usually takes about a minute
Which departments are responsible for meeting theirand a half, the use of the gustometer can be
needs? For each of these contact points, you shouldincorporated into the normal day to day interactions
design a specific question. If you run a hospital youwith your customers. Once completed the survey is
might ask "How well did the nurse administer the iv?"automatically collected by the servers, tabulated and
or "Did your doctor keep you informed every day?"ready for analysis.
Whatever your business activity is, time is alwaysIn the analysis stage, this tool really shines. Thanks to
important to your customers. Repeatedly we observethe sophisticated business intelligence system built into
that responsiveness and efficiency correlate verythe online analysis system, you are able to contrast
highly with overall satisfaction. That's why you need toyour custom profile questions with the scores for
include specific questions regarding how well youevery one of your valuation questions. This way not
respect your client's time. "Was the admissionsonly can you extract the maximum value from your
process quick and efficient?" or "Did we respondcollected data, but you can also adapt your surveys
immediately when you pressed the call button?" areon the fly to meet new customer perceptions and
great examples of questions from this category.needs.
The last type of valuation questions you should includeThe benefits of the system are substantial and easy
center around your customer's perception of doingto put into practice, and you can be up and running in
business with you. These questions should clarify theless than a week.
impression that you are causing in your customer'sPick up the phone and call Gustometria toll free at
mind. Optimally they should enjoy working with you and1-877-448-7865.
believe that you provide a professional and friendly