Many companies send out surveys in order to process large amounts of data about services or people. The questions in surveys are often closed questions which don’t offer us an opportunity to express our thoughts.
The lack of ability to express the “why” we answered a question one way or the other skews the results. I believe it sends companies in the wrong direction with great technologies and analytical rigor.
Frankly, in many cases, companies get the wrong answer and it costs them a lot.
Question:
How did we do?
Good or Bad (please check the box)
It isn’t that simple and if I put bad, I ruin all the good and if I put good, I can’t explain where there is room to improve and why. There is an argument for the case that people don’t want to be bothered with surveys and we must make surveys easier. This is bologna. Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) or Net Promoter are being used today for purposes well beyond their initial intent.
CSAT measures customer satisfaction with a product or service, whereas Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty to the organization.
CSAT targets a “here and now” reaction to a specific interaction, product, or event, but it is limited when it comes to measuring a customer’s ongoing relationship with a company.
CSAT can also use multiple questions to focus on specific parts of the customer experience, e.g., “How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the telephone service you received/helpfulness of assistant/delivery?’”
Conversely, the NPS’s single-question loyalty measure, “How likely is it that you would recommend [Organization X/Product Y/Service Z] to a friend or colleague?” asks customers to take a much wider view of the brand or product, and focuses on their intention, rather than their overall feeling of satisfaction. (attribution)
Send a Note
I can’t send a note every day under all conditions but if someone through a service or a product made an effort, it makes sense to me to mention it in some capacity as a way of expressing my appreciation. Conversely, if a person or service is substandard, I make the same effort.
Here are some things I do, maybe it can spark some ideas for you.
- Food and services, I use Yelp and make mention. I don’t take pictures of my food or anything like that but I do make a comment and I try to make it productive and accurately reflective.
- Products and technology, I will send a short note to say “thank you” or address an issue. It is normally less than a paragraph and takes about 3-4 minutes to write.
- Working Context, When I am working with a service provider, platform or capability, I make the effort to write, reflect and express with clarity what I think about the services. It helps me to think through my strategy and planning and it gives me an opportunity to express my position with the provider.
Time
Does this take time? Yes.
Depending on what you are working on, it will take time to express your thinking on a service or product. It is worth the effort.
- Better service and responsiveness
- Enhances the service and helps clear up issues and concerns or reinforces good services and products.
- Helps YOU plan from a work perspective or even at home. (Planning a trip, how did it go last time?)
Generally, the time spent on average is less than five minutes in writing and it can be done as a natural transaction as part of a normal day.
If you are looking for examples or more information on this, send me a note!
Hey, just one other thing.. When you send a note about someone doing their work well, it does make you feel good as well. I know I enjoy when I can make someones day by expressing how I enjoyed or benefitted from their product or service.
What do you think? I’d like to know.
The Cohenization Project 