Monday, October 5, 2009
Categorized | E-mail Best Practices, Survey
How to 'Listen-React-Reflect-Act' Proactively (Effectively)
Posted by Sundeep Kapur | Monday, October 05, 2009
I visited a travel agency once where the CSR's (customer service representatives) were busy tabulating surveys that were filled out by customers who had taken a trip. It seemed really impressive - most customers filled out the survey that they mailed.
A clothing retailer encouraged their customers to fill out a survey and mail it back to them. Miss Edna at the switchboard would diligently capture their responses during her lunch hour and turn them in to Mr. Steve. Once a month, Mr. Steve would take the people who were upset and send them a personal letter.
A rental car company used to perform a phone survey - the reps usually called from India and the Philipines. If you were not satisified they would escalate the issue to their elite service desk in the US.
Many financial institutions conduct an annual survey to measure the satisfaction level of their members and customers. People who are not happy are contacted immediately.
The travel agency shut down, the retailer filed for chapter 11, & the rental car company got acquired. Many FI's are taking a hard look at the value of the annual survey - it asks the right questions, but all at the wrong time.
In all four instances - people want to be heard when they are upset. If the company had responded in real time and even given the consumer to vent in real time - each company would have identified potential issues that could be addressed for other customers.
A clothing retailer encouraged their customers to fill out a survey and mail it back to them. Miss Edna at the switchboard would diligently capture their responses during her lunch hour and turn them in to Mr. Steve. Once a month, Mr. Steve would take the people who were upset and send them a personal letter.
A rental car company used to perform a phone survey - the reps usually called from India and the Philipines. If you were not satisified they would escalate the issue to their elite service desk in the US.
Many financial institutions conduct an annual survey to measure the satisfaction level of their members and customers. People who are not happy are contacted immediately.
The travel agency shut down, the retailer filed for chapter 11, & the rental car company got acquired. Many FI's are taking a hard look at the value of the annual survey - it asks the right questions, but all at the wrong time.
In all four instances - people want to be heard when they are upset. If the company had responded in real time and even given the consumer to vent in real time - each company would have identified potential issues that could be addressed for other customers.
Unfortunately, most people conduct surveys as one of or single channel surveys. There is also no real plan to follow up. And it is rare to see the concept of a proactive survey.
Email & surveys empower us to listen in real time, so we can react to the needs of the consumer while they are upset. Mr. Steve wanted the customer to cool off before he contacted them. We should also be looking at the survey responses not as individual surveys but across time so we can reflect on what might be a bigger issue. The other thing to do is to keep encouraging innovation amongst your team by proactively reaching out to your customers or members to engage them for feedback.
This really comes down to integrating your surveys into your preferences and incorporating the concept of a rolling survey in all your campaigns. Also, survey responses (specially when bad) should be routed in real time to real people so they can be addressed.
Email & surveys empower us to listen in real time, so we can react to the needs of the consumer while they are upset. Mr. Steve wanted the customer to cool off before he contacted them. We should also be looking at the survey responses not as individual surveys but across time so we can reflect on what might be a bigger issue. The other thing to do is to keep encouraging innovation amongst your team by proactively reaching out to your customers or members to engage them for feedback.
This really comes down to integrating your surveys into your preferences and incorporating the concept of a rolling survey in all your campaigns. Also, survey responses (specially when bad) should be routed in real time to real people so they can be addressed.
Do read Friday's post as well - it is about serving customers well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 Responses to “How to 'Listen-React-Reflect-Act' Proactively (Effectively)”
Post a Comment