Customer Satisfaction + Importance

Customer satisfaction measurement can be best described as part art, part science, and part intuition. Regardless of how you view it there are several moving parts to this equation. Satisfaction, as a measure itself, is part of a larger equation centered on profitability. When designing a...read more

Are You Using More Than One Barrel? Tips for Question Writing

When is two not better than one? In survey design two is certainly not better than one. In this case it refers to the use of double-barreled questions. Those with little research training often do not realize they are combining two distinct elements into one question. The best practice is to...read more

Ozzy Osbourne's Advice for Questionnaire Design

In one of Ozzy Osbourne’s songs he uses the phrase “going forward in reverse.” Little did the singer know that his lyrics would also apply to survey research, specifically to the area of questionnaire design.  One of the key concerns facing researchers today is data quality. It is all too easy for...read more

20 Most Popular Posts of 2012

While we highlight the most popular posts from a given month in our newsletter, one of my favorite activities is to look back and see what posts were the most popular overall each year. Keeping with tradition, here's a look back across the 20 most popular posts of 2012!   Customer Loyalty Month: 25...read more

10 Ways Customer Service Reps Anger Your Customers

Tom Smith recently published a list of the top ten reasons customers rated retailers poorly in customer service. The BIGinsight.com survey asked 6,000 adults what store had the worst customer service and why. While the first half of that questionnaire would probably be beneficial for big box stores...read more

Checklists for Survey Project Success

As survey researchers we are more like projects managers than we may think. The more I work around project managers the more I realize we are managing projects with the same goals as any dedicated PM. Now our projects may not be on the scale of building a new hospital, installing a new computer...read more

Let's Simplify Jargon!

While searching for this week's TedTalk inspiration, this title jumped out at me: Let's Simplify Legal Jargon! I agree 100%. Let's just speak in plain English that's understood by everyone, not just those with law degrees. During this talk, Alan Siegel discusses how difficult it is to understand...read more

Questions Gone Bad

Questions, like people can go bad. When they do, the quality of your data will suffer significantly. What do I mean by questions gone bad? There are three primary areas, according to Professor Joseph Hair, et. al. in the book Essentials of Marketing Research. They are:   Unanswerable questions...read more

Hotel Satisfaction: Maximizing Customers' Experience

I was recently away on business and was impressed with how my hotel solicited customer feedback.  Here are some ideas for your hotel survey to ensure you get the most out of your customer feedback: The survey at the hotel was different than the one delivered to my email after my stay.The hotel,...read more

A New Twist on Personnel Evaluations

Over the weekend, I was shopping for some much needed items for my house.  As I was browsing the curtain aisle, I heard someone speaking to the man who was stocking the area near me.  She was asking him a series of questions about his work environment, his department, and his likes or dislikes with...read more
The Rise of the Smart Phone: Are you Leverging Mobile? 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Survey Creation