Does customer satisfaction really matter?
Really?! If you’re still wondering about whether or not customer satisfaction is important, you probably ought to skip along to the next blog on your reading list!
Now, I didn’t say that measuring customer satisfaction tells you all the answers. Or that customer satisfaction surveys will solve all your business problems. I just meant to say that YES, customer satisfaction, and its second cousin, customer loyalty, are both extremely important metrics in today’s competitive environment. So let’s talk about putting together an actual customer satisfaction questionnaire.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions
All too often, I run into sample satisfaction questionnaires that ask the survey participant to respond to a battery of rating questions for each and every possible aspect of the business’ product or service. And many times both. Restaurants are the worst offenders.
- How would you rate the cleanliness of the forks? The spoons? The butter knife?
- How was the temperature in the dining area? The waiting area? The bar?
- Was the restroom clean and spotless? Was the sink dry? The mirror cracked?
- And was your server, courteous? Humorous? Kind? Loyal? Prompt?
- Etc. etc.
The obvious problem with this approach is that not all of the aspects of an experience are equally significant. Yet the format of questions suggests equal weight be given to each, whether the patron actually cared about that component or not.
A Better Approach to Satisfaction Questionnaires
First, ask an overall satisfaction rating, and then follow up that question with an open-ended survey question to see what actually mattered to the respondent. Instead of a dizzying array of customer satisfaction metrics, all of which are based on preconceived notions of what should matter, this question provides an opportunity for the respondent to say what actually matters — and why.
Rather than 27 customer satisfaction questions, limit your questionnaire to just two:
- An overall satisfaction rating, and
- A simple follow-up probe.
Improve Your Customer Satisfaction Survey Template
In addition to the concept of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty is important to measure. You can greatly improve the effectiveness of your satisfaction surveys by adding two additional questions that each get at whether the respondents see your product or service as worthy of recommendation.
“How likely would you be to recommend [product or service] to a family member, friend or colleague?”
You’ll want to use a 0-to-10 rating scale for this question if you intend to follow the format suggested by Fred Reichheld – who labels this singular item as The Ultimate Question.
Of course, it too, should be followed up by an open ended question that seeks to understand the customers’ rationale for giving the overall rating they did.
See these Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions in Action
For an online presentation of a survey using the type of questions we’ve been discussing, see the sample customer satisfaction survey.
The Benefits of Getting Customer Comments
Sure, it takes extra effort to review, code, and summarize the open-ended questions for this survey approach. But you’ll also be rewarded by hearing, in customers’ own words, what they consider to be satisfaction and loyalty drivers. The longer the answers, the more engaged the respondent and the less likely rating an array of obvious product or service attributes would have captured the essence of their response.
