And on and on it goes.
It would seem I could make a part-time job out of completing surveys. Survey Monkey, the popular online survey company, stated that they have over 16 million survey questions completed daily, which translates to nearly six billion survey questions every year – and that’s just from one survey platform!
I don’t know about you, but I honestly feel like I’m being surveyed to death.
Which begs the question: why all the surveys? And better yet, what is being done with the results? I take the airline survey after every flight, giving my opinion on a variety of topics, but I never see positive changes happening from the customer’s standpoint. I give my wireless provider feedback, but I have yet to experience better customer service as a result. The only thing I see is an automated response thanking me for my feedback, and that’s that.
So what’s the point?
Are companies using survey results to simply validate what they already know, giving themselves a big old pat on the back? Or, are they really looking to use the results to elevate their company’s service standard?
The first option, of using surveys to just gather mass amounts of data, seems like a bad approach to me. Companies relentlessly send out survey requests hoping that sheer quantity will help their organization. For one, the customer eventually stops filling out surveys, regardless of how short they are. Survey fatigue is a real thing! I know, I experience it constantly. Or if the customer does fill out survey after survey, you have to wonder how honest those results are. Is the respondent just ‘checking the box’ to complete the exercise without having a desire to share truthful, valuable feedback? What good is that data to an organization?
I often wonder, if less time was spent asking customers to complete survey after survey and more time was spent actually acting on the results, would we all be happier consumers? I think so.
I believe the latter is the true essence of great customer service. The strategic use of surveys – to listen and learn from customers on what is working well, what could use improvement, and what needs to be changed altogether – is the most important aspect of the survey process.
Strategy in the Survey Process
How great would it be, as a frequent flier, that rather than send me a survey email after every flight, the airline sent me one twice a year that asked me the truly important questions, like consistency in service and my overall experience as a customer. I’m confident that most people, including myself, would be more apt to take a few extra minutes to fill out those surveys with accurate, thoughtful, honest feedback.
For the company, that survey now carries more weight and provides a more accurate snapshot of the company’s service, product, and perception within the marketplace. That survey can now be more effectively used to make fact-based, customer-driven decisions that enhance service and provide better solutions for future customers.
Global Mobility Surveys
Naturally, this led me to think about my own company and industry and how we use surveys. A trend within the mobility industry is to send out a survey request after each touch point with a relocating employee. To put this into perspective, WHR Group (WHR) measures over 300 critical touch points with relocating employees. Can you imagine completing that many surveys for one relocation? We couldn’t either. My fear is that as an industry we’ve taken on that approach of over-surveying and have lost sight of what the survey is designed to do – gauge transferee satisfaction, determine how vendors are performing, and ultimately, drive process improvement and increase service standards.
This is why WHR uses a dual survey approach, with each survey being sent at strategic points during the relocation. The first survey is sent shortly after the relocation has begun and the second, immediately after the relocation has concluded. Questions are asked to gather valuable data and measure service, vendors, and overall satisfaction.
Survey results are critical in determining how WHR makes improvements to the mobility process; however, the focus has always been on building the transferee and counselor relationship. Instead of surveying transferees after each touch point, we promote proactive communication between the transferee and counselor. If something isn’t going well, we want to hear about it before a survey is even required and provide solutions immediately. At WHR, we receive great feedback (both positive and negative) that we use to continuously improve the relocation experience.
