Web Surveys 101

As anyone with a sister, mother, wife, girlfriend or daughter knows, reasons aren't always right or logical. Same is true for the reasons organizations have for not having a customer feedback program. Some of the common "reasons" include: thinking they already know what customers are going to say; being nervous about what they'll learn; lacking the bandwidth, resources or expertise; and believing there's no the value. None of these are good reasons.

More than ever, collecting customer feedback and focusing on customer experience is critical.

Over the last twelve months, many corporations have added a Chief Customer Officer to their C-suite because they understand that good customer experience is a differentiator. In fact, Forrester estimates an organization can see revenue gains of $177M to $311M per year by improving the customer experience and increasing customer loyalty. This is mostly because organizations that deliver the best customer experiences have the lower customer churn and more business from referrals than the industry averagee. There's real financial gains to be had from focusing on customer experience management, and a solid part of customer experience management includes implementing a Voice of the Customer (VOC) program. To reach feedback utopia takes a real commitment, and it wont happen overnight.

Many organizations have an annual customer survey. This is a great first step to achieving Voice of the Customer utopia, but an annual (or even quarterly) satisfaction survey does not a VOC program make. These surveys are just a snapshot of a moment in time. While these snapshots still provide valuable insights that can be used to improve marketing efforts and highlight underlying trends, you still need to collect feedback at the point of engagement. Successful VOC programs are an ongoing dialog with the customer base. It's the difference between a voicemail and a conversation.

Organizations cannot live in a vacuum and should think about all the ways they interact with customers, as well as different types of customers (newly won, recently finished with implementation, long-term customers, etc). Each customer type will have a different experience with your organization at each of these touch points. Failing to collect regular feedback through a formalized feedback program may mean you're missing business critical information. Without a formalized program, it's likely you'll never hear from the unhappy customers. In a recent study, the Temkin Group found that only 21% of respondents said they sent feedback directly to the company instead of posting it online or discussing with friends and family. This means you'll continue to disappoint these customers if you're not proactively reaching out and completing your own customer satisfaction scorecard.

In our newest whitepaper, 5 Steps to Driving Sales with Customer Insights, we outline why every organization needs a formalized customer feedback program and the five steps needed to successfully implement a Voice of the Customer program. While of course collecting feedback from customers helps you grow your business through customer renewals, it also helps you acquire new customers and stay competitive in today's highly-competitive global economy. This resource offers advice to make sure vital customer insights are not lost within organization silos. To be truly successful, organizations need to change the way employees think and interact with customers. As you read through the five steps, keep in mind this is a process that will evolve and grow over time. When first starting out, set mini goals that are achievable and be wary of biting off more than you can chew in the first phase. Each step you make towards a full program will have real ROI associated with it.

Download this whitepaper to learn more about the five steps to successfully capturing and using customer insights to improve renewal rates, increase sales and have a profound impact on revenue growth.