What to do after conducting customer satisfaction surveys?
When you have measured customer satisfaction among your customers, the first important step has already been taken; you have given your customers the opportunity to give their honest opinion about your company and bring to light areas for improvement. In this way, you show that you value their experiences and want to better meet their needs.
When you have received and collected all the responses, all that remains is the question: where to start? We have listed the most important steps for you:
1. Analyse the scores on the questions in the questionnaire
Usually, a customer satisfaction survey starts with a general rating question. This question gives an overall impression of your customers’ satisfaction. Think for instance of the NPS method (Net Promoter Score) or a report grade. This score alone is not enough to gain insight into satisfaction. The score indicates how enthusiastic your customers are, but you don’t know why or what about. Therefore, in addition to this score, it is important to present your customers with statements about different aspects of your company, such as the quality of the products or the friendliness of the employees. The scores on these statements give a good indication of where your customers are more and less satisfied.
2. Perform an analysis on the results to determine the most important aspects
To avoid focusing immediately on the parts that score least well, it is possible to perform a statistical analysis on the results. This is because it is not the case that the parts that score least well are actually the most important for improving satisfaction. For instance, the quality of the newsletter may be rated low, but this component is also not very important for your customers. The accessibility of the account manager or the delivery time of the products can be parts that really make a difference. We also call these the drivers of customer satisfaction. This analysis allows you to focus on the aspects that really make a difference for your customers.
3. Close the loop
You are probably very happy if many of your customers take the effort to participate in the survey. Make this clear! Approach each respondent after their participation, thank them and go through the response together. This way, you can immediately solve any problems or clear up any misunderstandings. A nice bonus is that it provides another contact moment.
4. Conduct a workshop to involve the whole team in the activities to be carried out
It is not only important to involve your customers in the outcomes of the survey, creating commitment and support within the organisation is at least as important. Identify the main areas for improvement that came out of the survey. Gather ideas on these with as many people in the organisation as possible. Then convert these ideas into objectives and jointly draw up an activity plan. This is the only way to ensure that the results are actually used.
5. The power lies in repetition
To structurally increase your customers’ satisfaction, it is important to conduct the customer satisfaction survey at least once a year. After the first survey, you know where you stand now, but it only becomes really interesting if you can compare the results with previous surveys. In addition, your customers will start to see it as a regular part of the relationship and this in turn increases the response rate. Read below how one of our largest clients has been measuring customer satisfaction for years and has improved results time and again.
Tessa Harink
Project Manager