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 following question (or some variation) at the end of an interaction, whether in person or on the phone?
“When you receive our follow-up survey, will you give me a good rating?”
Sure, it’s great that customer service staff who ask this question 1) know that they are being measured based on how satisfied customers and 2) care about the measurement. But when they ask this question, do they REALLY want to go further to ensure that I’m a satisfied customer? What will they do when they get a ‘No’ response?
I personally think that referring to ANY post-encounter survey, except to encourage you to take the time to complete it, is just TACKY…certainly there are better ways to ensure that you have fully met a customer’s expectations such as:
- “Is there anything else I can do to help you today?”
- “Have we resolved all of the issues you called about?”
These variations still help ensure that you have a satisfied customer on your hands, but don’t come off quite as pushy or needy…but what do you think?