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

Are Using the Right Test?

Testing 1,2,3, test, test.  Consumer and B2B market researchers, well actually researchers of all stripes and disciplines, are tasked with collecting data. Said data can be from transactions, a customer satisfaction survey, brand awareness tracker, or some other data collection method (e.g. analysis...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

Don’t Train Your Employees – Educate Them!

Poor customer service could land you a prime time spot filled with bad reviews on various social media channels for everyone to see. Customers have power, which means they can and will publicize both good and bad experiences, so exceptional customer service is necessary. You probably already know...read more

Best of the Blog: Happy 4th Birthday!

The Survey Blog turned 4 this month! Reflecting back over the last year, we wanted to share some of our favorite posts from the last year. Enjoy! ABC's for Trainers Sarah has tips for every letter of the alphabet from ADDIE to Metrics aren't evil to Perceptions are not always Reality to Zinc. Pick a...read more

What's in a Score

What goes into a score? In a previous post, it was relayed that one of the primary differences between a survey and an assessment is that questions are scored. There are other differences of course, but assessments, be they employee assessments or knowledge checks before a training course, typically...read more

A is for Assessments

What is the difference between a survey and an assessment? The short answer is not much. If you think back to your days in school, the tests you took were nothing more than a scored survey. Chances are the survey design had both structured and unstructured questions with the intent of measuring your...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

Forrester Customer Experience Forum, Day 2 Takeaways

Harley Manning kicked off the last day of the Forrester Customer Experience Forum by reviewing some of the key takeaways from the day before, and this AWESOME song recorded by Ed Hadley and his team at Neolane: The presentations yesterday spent a lot of time on design, governance and culture. While...read more

5 Most Hated Customer Service Sayings

Dealing with customer service representatives, particularly those stationed on phones in call centers, can be a frustrating experience. I always picture an episode of the television show Friends, where Phoebe takes a job as a call center operator selling toner. She's given a huge binder of scripts...read more
The Rise of the Smart Phone: Are you Leverging Mobile? 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Survey Creation