Customer service surveys are everywhere. 

A 2010 study by Vovici revealed that Americans are inundated with over 7 billion survey requests per year. That’s nearly 23 survey requests for every American. 

The intent of these surveys is to capture Voice of the Customer (VOC) information that can be used to improve service. Unfortunately, that intent is rarely realized. Some surveys are poorly designed. Others have low response rates.The worst problem is not doing anything with the data collected. 

This is a common theme among the small and medium sized business I work with. Most have some sort of survey program in place but there’s a nagging feeling that it's not very useful.

Perhaps your company is considering a customer service survey. Or, you have one already but now you’d like to make the most of it. Here are three common roadblocks you’ll need to avoid:

#1 Inertia

Many customer service professionals believe that a robust VOC program is important but they just don’t know how to get started. Inertia sets in. Do any of these excuses sound familiar? 

• I don’t have time right now.
• It’s too expensive.
• Our customers are tired of surveys.
• It’s just a number that senior management wants to see.
• Surveys don’t really apply to us.

Nothing changes without action. Companies who delay implementing a VOC program could be missing out on a gold mine of information. Even worse, they might continue to run an ineffective program that wastes everyone’s time, including their customers'.

#2 Poor design

Customer service surveys are often little more than a pile of questions that reveal little or no insight. The surveys become longer and longer as each stakeholder thinks of things they’d like to ask. A simple transaction survey soon becomes 100 questions long. 

The net result is the survey annoys the customer while the company is left with piles of data they don’t know how to use.

#3 Low response rates

Poorly designed and executed survey programs often yield low response rates. It can be disheartening to go through the trouble of creating a survey and then have hardly anyone respond. Continuing the program can be difficult to justify if customers aren’t responding.

Solutions

I’m offering a complimentary webinar to help you avoid these roadblocks.

Designing Effective Customer Satisfaction Surveys

• Date: Thursday, February 13
• Time: 10 am - 11 am (PST)

You’ll learn: 

• Simple ways to quickly create surveys on a tight budget
• Proven techniques for writing impactful survey questions
• Three secrets to improving your response rates

This is the first of a two-part webinar series that covers the basics of customer service surveys. The second webinar, called How to Analyze and Act on Customer Satisfaction Data, will be held on March 5.