How Do You Smile When You Don't Feel Happy?

Updated: October 17, 2024

It's not easy to hide your feelings.

My friend Jenny Dempsey wrote a personal and poignant post about this on her blog. Her beloved dog, Miso, had died and she was finding it difficult to hide her grief at work. 

That's exactly what her job required her to do.

Jenny was a customer care manager at DMV.org. Her legendarily warm and bubbly customer service inspires songs from customers.

That's what makes her so good at her job where displaying warmth and friendliness towards customers is expected.

Suddenly, this was very difficult.

How do you bring a warm, bubbly personality to work when you don’t feel that way? As Jenny wrote, grief isn’t often welcome in customer service: “We’re expected to stuff those feelings down and get to work.”

Many customer service professionals do just that. They engage in surface acting, where they pretend to be happy and friendly even when they’re not.

This takes an incredible toll.

Surface acting can cause poor customer service, decreased job satisfaction, and burnout. Here's what you need to know and what you can do about it.

What is surface acting?

Surface acting is a technique where you display an emotion you don't actually feel. For example, smiling when you don’t feel happy.

Customer service employees are typically expected to display certain emotions such as happiness, friendliness, and warmth.

Those emotions might be displayed through smiling, a warm tone of voice, and smiling eyes.

Surface acting is when you don't feel happy but force yourself to smile anyway. The bigger the gap between how you feel and the emotions you put on display, the harder surface acting becomes.

Expending this kind of emotional labor is exhausting.

What is emotional labor?

Emotional labor is the effort required to engage in surface acting. The term emotional labor was first coined by Arlie Hochschild in her book, The Managed Heart.

Like any type of effort, exerting too much can be exhausting.

Think about a time when you were feeling ill at work. Perhaps you had a headache, congestion, or something else that made you feel miserable. Now, try to remember how hard it was to smile and act friendly with customers.

That effort is emotional labor.

 

Why aren’t customer service employees friendly?

A neighbor recently complained to me about poor customer service he experienced while dining with his niece in a restaurant. His server wasn't friendly. He and his niece thought the server should be fired.

My neighbor can be a bit surly. I can only imagine what a gem he must have been as a restaurant guest. It's a challenge to serve someone with a smile who treats you poorly.

Unsympathetic, demanding customers are a big drain on emotional labor, especially when people like this test our natural fight or flight instinct.

I have the luxury of politely ending the conversation with my neighbor when he gets too grumpy. A restaurant server must stick with it and act happy.

Customer service employees face other challenges, too.

You might be grieving, like my friend Jenny, or just be having a bad day. Perhaps you dislike your coworkers, your boss, or even your customers. You might be tired of defending a defective product or a dumb policy.

Many customer service professionals don’t get paid enough. While intellectual and physical skills are highly valued, studies show you don't make a lot of money just for being good at taking crap from other people. 

Unpredictable schedules can also make outside of work difficult.

This incredible New York Times article profiled a young single mother who tried to balance school and child care while dealing with a work schedule that could change from week-to-week or even day to day. 

It's no surprise that retailers came under investigation by several states for requiring employees to be on-call for work without getting paid.

 

How does emotional labor affect service?

There are many ways that emotional labor impact service. 

The obvious one is employees simply get tired. Expending too much emotional labor is one of the biggest reasons why customer service employee struggle to be friendly. 

Researcher Alicia Grandey at Penn State University discovered a strong link between surface acting and low job satisfaction. She also found a clear link to emotional exhaustion.

This may explain why my own study found that 59 percent of contact center agents are at risk of burnout. 

The tangible impact of all of these problems is lower customer satisfaction, lower employee engagement, and higher turnover. 

 

What Can You Do About It?

On a personal level, it's up to each employee to find his or her own happiness. One exercise you can try is called the Attitude Anchor. It can help you recover a good mood.

For customer service managers, the solution is counterintuitive. Don’t try motivational gimmicks like prizes or incentives. Your employees don’t need motivation.

The real challenge is preventing demotivation.

My book, Getting Service Right, explores obstacles that get in the way of great service. It can help you diagnose customer service issues and guide your team to rediscover their natural joy.

Help your team Get Service Right

Overcome the hidden obstacles to outstanding customer service.

Buy on Amazon

Why Your Team Needs Customer Service Refresher Training

Quite frankly, I used to think annual refresher training was worthless.

Conducting these workshops was part of my job years ago when I was the Director of Training for Ace Parking, a parking management company. The training was a requirement written into the management contract for many of our locations.

My first impression was the training was done just to make our clients feel good. (In parking, the clients are the companies that actually own the parking facilities such as hotels, office buildings, stadiums, airports, and stand-alone parking garages and hire a management company like Ace.)

After all, what good could a once annual training do?

I quickly noticed something important. The parking managers who readily scheduled the training with me had higher customer service levels than the few managers who didn't do the annual refresher.

Was it because of the training? 

The real answer was it was because of the training and everything else those managers did throughout the year to elevate service at their locations. The annual refresher was part of a larger system.

Here's why you really need annual refresher training for your team, when you should do it, and how you can get it done.

Why You Need Refresher Training

Let's start with a quick definition. Annual refresher training typically has these qualities:

  • Short duration (my typical program is two hours)

  • Focus on fundamental customer service skills

  • May introduce a new concept or two

So why should your employees attend? Three reasons:

First, it helps your team re-focus on the basics. It's easy to get caught up in day-to-day work. People might even develop some bad habits. Refresher training gets everyone back on the same page.

Second, it sets the stage for the year or season ahead. This is a perfect time to introduce a new customer service initiative. You can also help employees make a connection between customer service and your strategic plan.

Third, it's fun. Good refresher training should be something employees look forward to. I've had many managers position this training as recognition for employees. (It should never be seen as a punishment for poor service.)

Back to my experience at Ace Parking. I quickly learned that managers whose employees were great at service were eager to schedule refresher training for all of these reasons. 

They also saw the training as an integral part of everything they did to support a service culture on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. That was the real secret -- the refresher training was just one piece of the whole puzzle.

 

When To Conduct Refresher Training

There are a few considerations for scheduling annual refresher training.

  • Event-based: Schedule it right before a busy season or a major new initiatives.

  • Volume-based: Schedule the training for a slow period in your normal business cycle.

  • Plan-based: Scheduled at the start of your fiscal year to coincide with a new annual plan.

From a practical standpoint, you may need to juggle some schedules to make sure that work gets done while employees are attending training. Many of my clients schedule multiple sessions so they can maintain operational coverage.

 

How to Conduct Refresher Training

Start with a theme. What is the one thing you want the team to focus on for the next year? Whatever it is, make sure it's connected to your customer service vision.

Next, identify a source for the training. There are options available for all budgets.

If your company has the resources, consider bringing in a professional speaker. This can really charge up the team and show everyone you care deeply about service.

For more limited budgets, you can use training videos like my courses on lynda.com. You may have a lynda.com account already, which means there's no cost to use these videos. If you don't have an account, you can get a 10-day trial just in time for your training.

There are even good options for teams with no training budget at all.

You can also get more low and no-cost training ideas from Halelly Azulay's fabulous book, Employee Development on a Shoestring.

Finally, don't forget to prepare your team for training. Here's a handy planner to help make sure everything is ready to go.

New Year's Plans: Forget New Until You've Mastered Old

You've got big customer service plans for next year.

Maybe it's new technology or adding a new service channel. Perhaps you're contemplating a new strategy or an employee engagement program. 

Forget it.

There's one thing you need to do before you start thinking about all that new stuff. You need to master what you're already doing.

Photo credit: Matthias Buehler

Photo credit: Matthias Buehler

The New Year Trap

There's a lake near my home with a two-lane running and biking path around it. January always brings a large spike in walkers, runners, and bicyclists.

Most will be gone by February. These people made New Year's resolutions to get fit. Unfortunately, history and science tell us that most resolutions fail.

Business initiatives are the same way.

January is the start of the fiscal year for many companies. New investments are approved. Initiatives get started. There are many more project kick-off meetings in January than there are in December.

Like the surge of well-intentioned people at the lake near my home, history and science tell us most of these will stall out at some point in the year.

 

The Importance of Mastery

Let's say you want to add live chat to the mix of customer service channels you support in 2017. Your company already supports customers via phone, email, and self-service.

Before you implement a new channel, ask yourself this question first: Have you mastered the channels you support now?

You can transfer best practices and lessons learned to your new live chat channel if you're already delighting customers via phone, email, and self-service.

On the other hand, your failures will get multiplied if you're struggling with any of these channels now and you add a new one to the mix. Frustrated customers will become even more frustrated. Chaos will reign supreme.

(Side note: here are three questions to ask before adding a new service channel.)

The concept of mastery applies to any new initiative. There's no sense in adding a new idea, feature, concept, or plan to the mix if you haven't mastered what you're doing now.

It will only add confusion and complication. It will amplify frustration. And it will suck resources away from fixing what needs to be fixed.

 

An Alternative to New Year's Resolutions

Forget wiping the slate clean. Try incremental progress in 2017. 

One technique I've found helpful is to create what's called an Operational Direction Statement or ODS. Think of it like a theme that will guide your year.

My ODS for 2016 was "Content."

I had already been building my business to focus more on content like my customer service book, training videos, and free-lance writing.

The "Content" theme was about staying on the same trajectory, but doing even more and (hopefully) doing it in even better. So in 2016 I wrote a second customer service book (due out April 2017), created five new training videos on lynda.com, created some original research, and picked-up a few free-lance writing gigs. 

Better yet, I found ways to use content to serve my clients in new ways.

One longtime client saved money by using training videos like my Innovative Customer Service Techniques course for annual refresher training instead of flying me in. My new course, Customer Service Over the Phone, targeted contact centers who desperately needed affordable training. I added new tips to my Customer Service Tip of the Week email to offer fresh content to many who've subscribed for years. And my blog subscribers were rewarded with an exclusive workbook, 10 Customer Service Activities to Supercharge Your Team.

All of this centered around the Content theme. Looking back on 2016, it was a great choice. So great that "Content" is my theme for 2017 too.

You can do the same for your operation. Focus 2017 on mastering what you're already doing and grow incrementally.

The Critical Mistake to Avoid When Solving Customer Problems

The man's steak was hopelessly overcooked. 

The server noticed almost immediately. He checked on the couple right after they each took a bite of their filet mignon. The woman was quite happy with her steak, but the man's was well-done when he had ordered medium-rare.

The server quickly apologized and promised to fix it immediately. He scooped the overdone beef onto a side plate to take back to the kitchen, leaving the potatoes and vegetables on the man's dinner plate so he could enjoy his sides until the server returned with a new steak.

The manager was alerted.

He stopped by the guests' table to apologize for the steak being overcooked and offered the guests a free dessert. The guests declined, so the manager left the table thinking the guests were happy with the resolution.

He was wrong.

The Problem With Fixing Issues

There's a difference between fixing an issue and solving a problem.

Training programs, procedures, and even our instinctive orientation often focus on fixing the issue. In the restaurant, the issue the server and manager tried to fix was an overdone steak.

The fix was to replace it with another that was perfectly prepared and offer a free dessert. This failed to make the guests happy because it caused two problems that weren't addressed. 

The first was they wanted to enjoy a nice meal together. The was proving to be difficult. The woman could eat her steak immediately while it was the perfect temperature, but her husband would have to wait until his arrived. She could wait for her husband to get his steak, but then her steak would be cold. 

The second problem was the couple had theatre tickets for a performance later that evening. They planned for a leisurely dinner, but the restaurant sat them 30 minutes later than their reservation. The overcooked steak delayed their meal even longer. Staying for dessert was already out of the question by the time the manager offered it as they were now worried about getting to the theatre on time.

The focus on fixing often causes us to miss our customer's real needs. 

I recently wrote about having to contact Spectrum 23 times to set up phone, internet, and cable for my new vacation rental cabin. My issue is fixed in the sense that everything is now working and my bill is finally correct, but my problem hasn't been solved.

I'm frustrated that I had to spend so much time on the issue and disappointed to never receive a response from Kathleen Mayo, the Executive Vice President of Customer Operations I emailed to share my frustrations. 

 

Why Solving Problems is Better Than Fixing Issues

The best customer service professionals focus on helping customers achieve their goals.

This starts with listening carefully to understand customers' rational and emotional needs. Emotional needs are often overlooked in the rush to fix issues, but they're the most important. 

The goal is to help the customer feel better about the situation, and hopefully earn the customer's trust and repeat business.

Here's a good example of problem solving from Martha Sanchez, the owner of Idyllwild Vacation Cabins and our property manager for The Overlook cabin. 

My wife and I arrived at our mountain cabin this past weekend for a short stay. The water wasn't running when we arrived, so I checked the water shut-off valve for the house to make sure it was on and it was. Fearing a frozen pipe, we immediately called Martha for help.

Martha told us the water had been turned off at the street level, which shuts off the water to the entire property. She could have fixed the issue by sharing this information and telling us where the shut-off valve was located, but she solved the problem instead.

Martha drove out to The Overlook and gave us a hands-on winter safety tutorial. She explained that its necessary to shut-off the water when the cabin is unoccupied during winter months to prevent pipes from freezing. She told us it was better to shut off the water at street level to help prevent pipes from freezing between the street and the house. 

Martha took the time to show us some additional precautions to take during the winter. She even pointed out where the cabin once had a pipe burst due to careless maintenance and showed us what had been done to prevent it. 

She understood our real need wasn't just turning our water back on. We're new to owning a home in the mountains and needed to be educated on these winter precautions so we could be confident and capable owners. It was also an opportunity for Martha to demonstrate that our house would be well-cared for while it was being rented to guests.

We had running water and felt a whole lot better by the time Martha left.

Introducing The Overlook, a New Customer Service Venture

In October, I started a new customer service venture with my wife, Sally.

We purchased a vacation rental cabin called The Overlook. It's a four bedroom, three bath home located in the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. There are huge sunset views overlooking the valley below, a nice fireplace to keep the cabin warm in the winter, and a hot tub on a private deck that's perfect for relaxing.

The Overlook is part vacation home (we love the mountains) and part investment since we're hoping the rental income will cover our expenses. Running a vacation rental also provides us the opportunity to try out some of the same customer service techniques that I advise my clients to use.

Each month, I'll report back on our progress and share a few things I've learned. This month's focus is customer service vision.

Photo courtesy of Jonie Photo.

Photo courtesy of Jonie Photo.

What is a customer service vision?

A customer service vision is a shared definition of outstanding customer service.

It's something I advise all my clients to have. When properly implemented, the vision guides strategic decisions, tactical choices, and even our daily activities. (Here's a handy explainer.)

Our vision for The Overlook is Welcome to your mountain community retreat.

Each word was carefully chosen:

  • Welcome: we want our guests to feel welcome throughout their stay.

  • Your: we want our guests to feel like the place is their own, so they'll treat it well while they're there and return on a regular basis.

  • Mountain: Guests come here for the mountains, so we'll emphasize that experience.

  • Community: We want our guests to experience that charming small-town friendliness that comes with being part of a rural community. 

  • Retreat: A mountain cabin like The Overlook is a place to get away from it all, so we want to help our guests relax.

We think this vision fits The Overlook nicely, but we'll be listening closely to our guests to make sure. (More on that in a future post.)

For now, we believe it fits the bill because town of Idyllwild is a popular weekend destination for people living in Southern California. It provides a perfect base for hiking, mountain biking, or just enjoying the fresh mountain air and scenery. It's also a great place to visit for local art, with an impressive array of artists, music, and entertainment for a small town of 3,500 people.

Many people I know tell me, "I love Idyllwild! My family has been spending weekends there for many years."

 

How a Vision Points the Way

Our customer service vision serves as a guide for every decision we make.

For example, we needed to hire a property manager to handle marketing, reservations, guest service, maintenance, and cleaning. The success or failure of the property rides on this decision, so it's important to get it right.

We hired Idyllwild Vacation Cabins to manage The Overlook because the owner, Martha Sanchez, embodies our Welcome to your mountain community retreat vision.

She goes out of her way to make guests feel welcome and has established a strong reputation for outstanding service. Martha is an integral part of the mountain community and seems to know everyone in town. And, she has a keen eye for what can make our guests' stay even better.

Here's another small example of how the vision guides the way.

When we hired Idyllwild Vacation Cabins, Martha walked us through a short questionnaire to spell out our rental policies. For example:

  • Would we allow pets? (Yes)

  • What was the maximum number of guests? (Eight)

  • How would we handle snow removal?

This last one was tricky. Snow is a special treat for most Southern Californians, but many don't realize how much work it takes to clear snow out of the way after a just a little accumulation.

Most cabins in Idyllwild charge an extra fee for snow plowing and shoveling. We decided not to pass this expense along to our guests because we thought it would make them feel less welcome. 

Not charging for snow removal raises our costs in the short-term, but we think it will pay-off in the long-run in the form of repeat business.

Snow came Thanksgiving weekend, and our guests needed some help clearing the snow so they could leave the cabin. Including this in our service for no extra fee undoubtedly made our guests feel more welcome. 

Best of all, they've pledged to return again next year!

Stay tuned for more customer service lessons from The Overlook. Next month's focus is the absolute need to prioritize.

3 Deadly Evaluation Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Training

It's budgeting season for many companies, which means your training programs may be at risk. 

Many of my clients are looking for cheaper ways to deliver customer service training. They're facing pressure from executives to cut costs, but they don't have hard data to prove their training program is working.

Others are trying to get new funding for expansion, but they're having an equally tough time making their case.

Forget the lofty platitudes like "training is an investment" or "it will help our employees grow." You'll need to back up those statements with some real numbers if you want them to fly in the c-suite.

Here are three deadly evaluation mistakes to avoid if you want to make a solid case.

Mistake #1: No goals

If your training program lacks goals, you're sunk.

It's impossible to evaluate training if you haven't set any goals that provide a target to evaluate your program against. I don't mean fluffy goals like "inspire employees to WOW customers" or some other platitude. Trust me, most executives find these worthless.

I'm talking about concrete goals that are set using the SMART model (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). Here are some examples:

  • Customer service employees will reduce monthly escalations 15% by 12/31.

  • We will reduce customer churn by 10% by 1/31.

  • The Support Team will improve customer satisfaction 5 points by 2/28.

Setting goals often results in another important activity.

You need to have baseline measurements in place before you set a goal. It's pretty hard to reduce monthly escalations by 15 percent if you don't know how many escalations you have now, or why they're happening. So, the goal-setting process often forces managers to start measuring how their department brings value to the business.

 

Mistake #2: No linkages

Many training programs fail to link the training to the goals. Here's how a typical organization approaches training evaluation.

  1. Survey participants after the class

  2. ???

  3. Customer service improves

That part in the middle is absolutely critical. 

In his book, Telling Training's Story, Robert Brinkerhoff outlines a simple method called a Training Impact Model for making that critical connection. You do it by working backwards from business goals to the training itself.

  1. Establish business goals (see Mistake #1)

  2. Determine results needed from employees to achieve the goals.

  3. List actions needed to accomplish desired results.

  4. Identify knowledge and skills needed for those actions.

Here's an example for reducing escalations:

  • Goal: Reduce monthly escalations 15% by 12/31

  • Results: Resolve issues to customers' satisfaction without escalation

  • Actions: Apply the LAURA technique

  • Knowledge & Skills: Active listening, expressing empathy

So, my training in this case should focus on developing active listening skills and empathy. I'll want to set clear learning objectives using the A-B-C-D model so I can easily evaluate whether training participants have actually learned the right skills.. 

And, I'll also want to develop a workshop plan make sure employees aren't considered fully trained until I can observe them using the LAURA technique on the job.

 

Mistake #3: No financials

You'd better have some numbers if you're going to a budget meeting.

Many trainers are uncomfortable working with financials, so they avoid them. Or worse, they spout bogus metrics like telling people that ROI equals "Return on Inspiration." (Sadly, that's a true story.) 

Your CFO will laugh at you if you refer to ROI as Return on Inspiration.

You'll need to come correct with some real financial figures instead. Fortunately, this isn't too difficult if you've established clear goals that are linked to business results.

Let's go back to the escalations goal we've used as example. The sample goal was reduce monthly escalations 15% by 12/31.

Connecting those escalations to financial results should be easy. First, calculate the average cost of an escalation. There are a few places you might look:

Revenue: Look at how much your average customer spends (per order, per year, etc.) and compare that to how much customers with escalations spend after they have an issue that's been escalated. The escalations customers almost certainly spend less. Just for fun, lets say its $100 less per customer, per year.

Cost: Calculate the average cost of an escalation. For instance, if the average escalated call takes 15 minutes and is handled by someone making $20 per hour, then each escalation costs $5.

Projected Savings: Now, determine how much more money customers would spend and how much money you'd save with 15 percent fewer escalations. Prepare a nice report (showing your work) and share it with key stakeholders like your CFO.

The summary might look like this:

  • Each escalation costs $105 ($100 in lost revenue, $5 servicing cost)

  • A 15% reduction in escalation would equal 180 fewer escalations per year (based on 100 escalations per month).

  • $105 x 180 = $18,900 projected annual savings

 

Learn More

This short video provides five reasons why you should measure your training programs. 

It's part of the How to Measure Learning Effectiveness Course on lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning. You'll need a lynda.com or LinkedIn Premium subscription to view the course, but you can get a 10-day trial account on lynda.com.

How to Use Simple Video to Save Your Customers Headaches

Product assembly is a moment of truth.

For some customers, this is no issue. For others, its a potential exercise in frustration. If the assembly process doesn't go well, the product may be returned and that customer may never buy another product from your company again.

Hayneedle is an online home furnishings retailer. Many of their products require assembly. The instructions provided by the manufacturer often leave a lot to be desired.

The company solves this challenge using simple video. Here's how they do it and how you can do it too.

Let's say a customer purchases this Orbelle Contemporary Solid Wood Toddler Bed:

Image source: Hayneedle website

Image source: Hayneedle website

There's a little bit of assembly required. The written instructions from Orbelle can be a bit confusing to most customers. (See the instruction booklet here.)

Here's a screen shot:

This may seem simple to you, given your innate mechanical ability and savant-like grasp of obscure terms like "mattress base mullion," but think like a typical customer.

When I was a customer service manager, I once had to walk a customer through how to operate a music box!

"Now, turn that key to the right a few times. To the right. The other way. Yes, now let it go. The key, let go of the key. Yes, that's it. Do you hear the music?"

Fortunately, Hayneedle provides a video explaining the assembly instructions.

This simple video is very clear and makes the assembly process look much easier!

Notice there's nothing fancy going on. You can shoot similar videos using basic equipment, even your smart phone. There are just a few keys:

  • Make sure the person on camera speaks clearly and slowly.

  • Get enough lighting so everything is well-lit. 

  • Zoom in on detail work so it's easy for your audience to see.

You can find some basic tutorials on lynda.com, such as this one for shooting video with an iPhone. (A lynda.com account is required, but you can get a free 10-day trial.)

 

Applications & Benefits

Video like this can be a great self-service option for customers. It can help your company in a few ways:

  • Reduce customer contacts

  • Reduce product returns

  • Improve repeat business

Keep in mind that many customers don't complain about a poor experience. They simply give up and take their business somewhere else.

These videos also give your customer service agents another tool to help customers. Verbally walking customers through instructions over the phone is difficult and time consuming. 

Much better to direct customers to the video, which provides a clear visual reference. Customers can also stop, rewind, and re-start the video to review key parts.

There is one thing that Hayneedle can do a little better. The video link isn't always obvious. Let's look at the product page for that toddler bed again:

Customers may not see the link to the video, or they may not realize that it's a product assembly video. And, you won't see the videos mentioned if you go to Hayneedle's customer help page.

You'll make your videos even more useful if you can put them right where customers go looking for them.

This could mean your help center, your product page, or even your customer contact page. Better yet, put a conspicuous link in all three places since you never know how your customers will navigate in search of help.

9 Underhanded Ways to Boost Your Survey Scores

Updated: January 15, 2024

I'll never forget shoplifting class.

It was a workshop for associates at the retail chain I worked for in high school. The idea was to help us prevent shoplifting by showing us how shoplifters operated.

The class was amazing.

We learned advanced techniques used by professionals, such as how to defeat alarm sensors, conceal piles of merchandise, or confuse clueless sales people.

Quite a few thefts were prevented as a result of the class.

I write this blog post in the spirit of that training. Many customer service professionals are willing to stoop to underhanded means to artificially boost survey scores.

This post will help you catch them.

Technique #1: Manipulate Your Sample

You can't survey everyone, so companies survey a small portion of their customers, called the sample.

Ideally, your sample represents the thoughts and opinions of all your customers. However, you can make a few tweaks to increase the likelihood that only happy customers are surveyed.

For example, you could survey customers who complete a transaction using self-service. You'll likely get high scores since self-service transactions are typically simple and you are only surveying people who succeeded. Customers who get frustrated and switch to another channel for live help won't be counted in this survey.

There are other ways to get higher scores by being selective about your sample.

  • Limit your survey to channels with simpler transactions, like chat.

  • Limit your survey to people who have contacted you just once.

  • Limit your survey to people who contact you for certain types of transactions.

 

Technique #2: Manually Select Respondents

Some employees can manually select survey respondents. This enables them to target happy customers while leaving out the grumpy ones.

The survey invitation at the bottom of a register receipt is an excellent example.

If a customer is obviously happy, the employee can circle the invitation, write down his or her name, and politely ask the customer to complete the survey.

What if the customer is grumpy? It's pretty easy to tear off the receipt above the survey invitation so the customer never sees it.

Look for any situation where employees have some manual control over who gets a survey. There's the potential for an employee to by choosy about who gets surveyed and who doesn't.

 

Technique #3: Survey Begging

This occurs when an employee asks a customer to give a positive score on a survey by explaining how it will directly benefit the customer, the employee, or both.

I've written about this scourge before, but it's worth mentioning again here. Employees beg, plead, and even offer incentives to customers in exchange for a good score.

In one example, a retail store manager offered a 20 percent discount in exchange for a perfect 10 on a customer service survey.

Technique #4: Prime Customers

Survey invitations can nudge customers to give a certain score. An invitation might use language like, “Tell us about our great service,” to get customers thinking more positively.

Other examples are more overt, like this vacation rental company:

The cashier at a sporting good store primed customers by stamping register receipts with the requested survey response:

Image credit: Jeff Toister

Image credit: Jeff Toister

Technique #5: Fake Surveys

Anonymous survey systems are easy to game. These include pen and paper surveys or electronic surveys that aren't tied to a specific transaction or customer record.

Unscrupulous employees have been known to enter fake surveys, complete with top ratings and glowing comments. They enlist their friends and family members to do the same.

 

Technique #6: Write Positive Survey Questions

Survey questions can easily be slanted to elicit more positive responses. Consider these two examples.

This question is positively worded. Notice that the threshold for giving a top rating of "Strongly Agree" is pretty low; the customer merely has to be satisfied with the service they received.

This question is neutral. It's more likely to get a lower overall rating even though the feedback may be more accurate.

 

Technique #7: Use an Even Scale

There's a long-running argument over whether customer surveys should have a odd or even point scale.

An odd-numbered scale, such as 1 - 5, provides customers with the option to provide a neutral rating.

An even numbered scale, such as 1 - 4, forces customers to choose a positive or negative overall rating. 

More often than not, you'll tip customers into a positive rating by eliminating the mid-point.

 

Technique #8: Change Your Scoring Process

The exact meaning of a "customer satisfaction rate" is up for interpretation. You can interpret this loosely to increase your score.

Let's say you survey 100 customers using a scale of 1 - 5 with the following scale points and responses:

  • 1 = Highly Dissatisfied (2 responses)

  • 2 = Dissatisfied (6 responses)

  • 3 = Neutral (7 responses)

  • 4 = Satisfied (45 responses)

  • 5 = Highly Satisfied (40 responses)

You could report the score as a weighted average and call it 4.15 or 83 percent. Or, you could simply add the satisfied (45) and highly satisfied (40) customers and give yourself an 85 percent rating.

Even better, combine this technique with an even-numbered scale. Those same 100 customers might respond this way:

  • 1 = Highly Dissatisfied (2 responses)

  • 2 = Dissatisfied (8 responses)

  • 3 = Satisfied (50 responses)

  • 4 = Highly Satisfied (40 responses)

Suddenly, you can boast of a 90 percent customer satisfaction rating from the same group! This little bit of trickery just boosted the score by 7 percentage points.

 

Technique #9: Adopt a Generous Error Procedure

Some people advocate rejecting surveys with an obvious error.

For example, let's say a customer rates your service as a 1, the lowest score possible, and then writes:

"Hands-down the best service ever. If I could give a higher score I would. I absolutely love their service!!"

You can reasonably conclude this customer meant to give a 5, not a 1. Using that logic, the survey could be removed. Some unscrupulous people might correct the score to a 5 (the highest score possible).

This technique manipulates your scores directly, so unethical service leaders might adopt a generous error procedure. 

For example, a neutral score of a 3 combined with a mildly positive comment might be kicked out as an error or even adjusted to a 4 based on the comment. These adjustments can really add up and significantly impact an overall average!

 

Conclusion

I want to be clear that I don't advocate the use of any of these techniques.

The real purpose of a customer service survey is to gain actionable insight from your customers that allows you to improve service. You can't do that if you use these methods to artificially inflate your scores.

You can learn more about sound methods for implementing a customer service survey via this training video.

You'll need a LinkedIn Learning account to watch the entire course, but you can get a 30-day trial.