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Digivey Survey Software Article Series
Tracking customer satisfaction in retail
Happy and contented customers come back. They help businesses by saying good things about your organization to others, spreading a positive word. If they are unhappy, they might not take the time to talk to you; they will just buy from someone else and badmouth your product or service to others.
It is easy to find out how your customers feel, yet, not all businesses take the time to track customer satisfaction. Regular customer satisfaction tracking would prevent many a customer from leaving and finding himself another office supply, garage, restaurant, hotel, dentist, chiropractor, beauty salon, tire shop, print shop, or fitness center to meet his needs.
It is a lot easier and less expensive than you would think to conduct customer satisfaction surveys that work. To separate truths and myths about your customers’ perceived needs and behaviors, you must conduct an objective survey. That is, one that is not designed to get the answers you want -- but to get the answers you need -- to help make critical business decisions that impact your bottom line.
T ips to get the most from your marketing research dollars:
Gather fresh data: If you wait too long before you conduct a survey, the customer may have forgotten the details. Time makes a difference for good and bad experiences, but with bad ones, closer timing would allow you correct a problem. And, the sooner you get the survey results, the sooner you can act on the information.
Acknowledge respondent comfort: People don’t like to be confronted when reviewing products or services. Take the interviewer out of the equation, if you can, by using e-mail, touch screen or other computer-aided surveys. When designing, consider the survey’s design -- both in terms of the way questions are phrased and the way they are presented. Put yourself in your respondent’s shoes. Would you feel confronted or comforted by the survey you prepare?
Keep it short and fast: Do not try to answer too many questions with one survey. Show that you value your customers’ time by keeping the questions direct and to the point. The longer the survey, the more likely the respondent will become weary, dropping the quality of his answers. Touch computer-assisted, self-administered surveys at the point of sales are fast; the respondents can move on faster than an interviewer can ask and write down answers.
Make it easy to use: Avoid company jargon and complicated terminology. Make it easy for everyone to understand.
Gather a representative sample: A small customer sample from a small customer base will not give you an accurate reading. However, you will only need a small portion to respond when you are surveying a large customer pool.
Respect the respondent's privacy: Most people shy away from a survey if they fear their responses will not remain anonymous – or worse yet, they will give false information. It matters less who had these experiences than finding out if they are affecting your business.
Communicate the outcome: Customers will be pleased to know their input made a difference between a good and great experience or that you have fixed a problem they thought needed attention. Acknowledging that your customers helped you improve validates they made the right decision to buy from you in the first place.
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Case study - How one of our customers successfully uses the Digivey Survey Suite in a retail environment.