Customer Survey & Analysis -- Common Problems

Based on our experience, we have noticed several common problems as companies carry out their customer surveys. These include showing the value of these surveys to the company and departments before starting the survey, coordinating different surveys within the company, getting low participation rates during the survey from respondents and quantifying the value of recommendations before implementations.

In general, professionally constructed surveys require coordination among several departments. All involved participants need to understand, internalize the process and be very clear on how the survey can benefit their department. We need to show the value of the survey to each group before starting the work. We have systematic steps in place to show, in dollar terms, the value of the survey to the company.

Unfortunately, many companies launch a variety of survey programs from different departments. Each may use their own structure, style and scale. This mixture of approach could miss important issues from the view point of both customers and employees. Therefore the results are scattered all over the company and fosters a lack of focused approach. We have a systematic approach in place to design one composite survey to cover all departmental needs. Each section of the survey could be used as a stand-alone, or in combination with other sections for collecting customer and employee feedback. Results provide comprehensive recommendations for the company.

There are many reasons to have low response rates from surveys. Some of the issues that we look at are the questionnaire designed correctly? Is it being sent to the appropriate respondent? Do we have proper introduction and follow-up procedures in place? In a recent work, we redesigned our client’s questionnaire, reviewed and refined the respondent’s database, and implemented our introduction and follow up procedures. The response rate for our online global survey improved from 8 percent to over 40 percent.



And how confident are you about your survey recommendations? We’ve noticed that many clients like to measure the value of survey results before taking any actions. We have developed and implemented quantitative methods to show the benefits and cost of the results, before any implementations. This will allow the company to allocate the optimum budget for implementation.