A couple months ago, I cartooned about customer survey fatigue and the barrage of satisfaction surveys for every minor brand interaction.
Marketers sometimes forget that the survey experience is as much a part of customer experience as the customer experience they’re designed to measure. Boring, long, or pestering surveys leave a brand impression too.
I recently bought a new car and was coached repeatedly by the sales rep about what surveys would be sent by the corporate office and how important a 5-star rating is to that dealership to keep low prices, blah, blah, blah. And yet, when some problems emerged (they misplaced the deposit check, they made an error in entering my home address so that statements were returned), it was frustratingly difficult to give that feedback and have those problems resolved.
If we truly want to hear the voice of the customer, I think organizations need to learn to listen when it’s most convenient for the customer, not when it’s most convenient for the organization.
When I helped launch the method brand to the UK market a few years ago, we tried an experiment of sharing the responsibility of taking customer calls across our 10-person office. The phone number printed on every product rang, not in a remote call center, but in our office. We took turns answering the calls.
At times, it was frustrating to have to shift gears from working on a forecast spreadsheet to suddenly talking with Nigel from Edinburgh about how our product failed to remove a stain on his granite counter tops. But, overall, it was magical. It reminded everyone in the office, from accounting, to product development, to marketing, who we ultimately worked for.
That experiment brought the voice of the customer into the room. It was sometimes inconvenient. But that inconvenience was ultimately a good thing. Because rather than being used to validate the status quo, it nudged us to be better. Real customer experience insights often come from unstructured feedback that doesn’t fit neatly in a customer satisfaction survey.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years.
“The Customer Journey” March 2018
“Customer Journey Mapping” April 2016
“Point of Sale” April 2018
Betsy Jonckheer says
December 3, 2018 at 7:08 amMark and I always laugh at your cartoons and then say “SO TRUE”
Merry Christmas!!
Betsy Jonckheer
Janice Francisco says
December 3, 2018 at 7:26 amHi Tom,
you hit the nail on the head here. In a world where we are increasingly overwhelmed by information overload I find the incessant request to give feedback every time I make a purchase or get a service from an organization contrary to creating great customer experience. I think some innovation in how we hone in on feedback is needed. Your example of having people in the organization take client call makes customer experience real.
Jann Mirchandani says
December 3, 2018 at 10:10 amAs soon as I’m told how important the 5-star rating is, I know my ACTUAL feedback is not important!
This is a great reminder to all of us. And taking the survey calls in the office is an inspired idea!
Ben Hughes says
December 3, 2018 at 11:06 amGreat to be reminded that taking the customer survey is part of the customer experience that we need to think about carefully.
Your experiment of sharing customer calls around the office sounds an inspired idea.
Vijay says
December 3, 2018 at 5:41 pmI feel the same about customer satisfaction surveys. Intrusive, uncaring and selfish. Recall a form thrust to me early morning during check out from a hotel which made me annoyed as I was more worried about quick sign off and catching my flight.
Prashanthi says
December 4, 2018 at 1:49 amI so agree with your sentiments around these surveys. Half the time we actually forget about some of our experiences and so do not think this adds meaningfully to the feedback they wish to get. Still they are only getting to a percentage of their clients!
100% organisations should be listening to the real calls and real experiences consumers face everyday, be it good or bad! It’s exactly one of the problems i intend on solving…! 🙂