Measuring Customer Satisfaction Depends on Asking the Right Questions

New white paper explores how companies get a competitive edge when seeing themselves through customer eyes

SEATTLE – January 22, 2008 – Measuring customer behaviors – going beyond typical customer satisfaction surveys – is critical for companies to have an accurate view into customer loyalty. And companies that measure only buying behaviors are missing critical information that ultimately can affect their bottom line, according to Impact Achievement Group.

Spending behavior, while very important, can be less reliable than many companies may think to assess future business, advises Rick Tate, senior managing partner of Impact Achievement Group. Buying may be related to many things besides pure satisfaction or loyalty. Customers may buy because of convenience or price, or may be locked in to purchasing because they’re not aware of other suppliers.

In a new white paper, "Asking the Right Questions: How to Get ROI on Customer Surveys", Tate and Julie White Ph.D., co-senior managing partner, explore how companies can use customer surveys to improve the bottom line. Download the white paper.

"Companies that don’t assess a customer’s referral behavior or their future spending plans (behavior) may be unpleasantly surprised when business levels or even drops off," said White. "A buyer may have virtually no loyalty to the company – may even talk it down – yet continue to purchase from the company because they are "stuck". The problem with captive customer behaviors is two fold—(1) when no longer captive they flee with glee and (2) while captive, they torch the company with enthusiastic negative commentary."

Most satisfaction surveys contain common flaws. For instance, many surveys are thinly disguised marketing surveys. Also, the wrong customers may be responding—those with enough time or compulsion to answer long, detailed questions of the survey company, for instance. Likewise, typical random sampling may not be the best way to measure customer behavior. Responses from many customers with an ax to grind aren't helpful. Instead, companies need their best customers involved, so they can continue to improve the business experience to keep them as customers.

So how do companies legitimately use satisfaction surveys? Download the white paper.

About Impact Achievement Group

Impact Achievement Group provides assessment, coaching, customer loyalty and leadership development training that focuses on employee selection, retention, employee engagement and customer engagement. By integrating and blending the world's best assessment and recruiting processes, workshops and eLearning training, coaching and measurement programs, Impact Achievement Group helps organizations improve human performance to achieve bottom line results.