The Power of “I Don’t Know”

Early in my prior life as a product manager, I realized that guessing at what customers want and need from products was not a sound strategy. That’s when my passion for soliciting insights from customers directly was born vs. taking a stab in the dark when faced with tough decisions. I’ll never forget one particular meeting I was in where we [...]

Will You Give Me a Good Satisfaction Rating???

I’m a huge fan of companies who solicit my feedback after I’ve done business with them…after all, that IS the business I’m in—ensuring that companies have information about how well they are meeting their customers’ needs.  However, I definitely think that there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. How many of you have been asked the [...]

Customer Satisfaction Bonus Traps

Guest Blogger: Lynn Hunsaker, head of ClearAction Customer Experience Management Why do sales and service representatives feel compelled to tell customers how to answer a survey? Does the company want to know what the customers really think, or is the company trying to build positive publicity by claiming superior ratings? The answer to the second question exposes the company's culture and [...]

Plain talk about determining sample size

  In preparing for a session of the Power of Market Research class that I teach at UCSC Extension Silicon Valley,  I was brushing up my ‘spiel’ about how to determine sample size for research studies (surveys, focus groups, etc.)…and realize that this is a mysterious concept that could use some plain talk. Sample size is a very important element of [...]