Do I Really Have to Take One More Customer Satisfaction Survey?
Rest assured, if I have something to say (positive or negative), my voice will be heard.
Are you an active consumer? Of course, you are. I know I am.
By now, you, like me, have become very familiar with the concept of a customer satisfaction survey after a purchase, a service or even a doctor visit. Everybody wants to know what I think about my purchasing experience.
Everybody wants to remain front and center in my mind when I go to make my next purchase, appointment or service request.
They all want pretty much the same thing.
- Am I happy?
- Did I like the product or service?
- Was I treated with respect and courtesy by the representative?
- Were my needs met?
- Most importantly, will I recommend their business or service to everyone I meet?
No doubt the first customer satisfaction survey was a unique and enticing concept. After all, we all want to believe that our opinion matters in the overall scheme of things. It was flattering to think that businesses, service providers and medical offices actually cared enough about our satisfaction to quiz us about our experience.
Flash forward to the current day — customer satisfaction surveys have ceased to be unique and enticing. In fact, they have become downright annoying. The saturation point has been reached and exceeded — and exceeded — and exceeded. . .
Customer satisfaction surveys have expanded far beyond that simple “thumbs up” for a show of approval, followed by a space to add any pertinent comments. Instead, I find many of these surveys now go on and on for pages, drilling down into fine-tuned minutiae.
I am handed surveys in check-out lines. I received surveys via text, email and voice mail. I even receive printed surveys in my mailbox. Sometimes I receive surveys via multiples methods for the exact same transaction.
Each survey gets longer and more involved. I am often asked to rate each small aspect of a transaction on a scale from one to ten. I’m not really sure how to differentiate the fine line between, oh, say a seven and an eight.
Of course, most surveys only want the highest evaluation — and the vendor or service representative will have no problem telling you the expected way to respond.
I am always amused at the surveys relating to my travels and vacations. The survey will specifically ask if anyone on their staff has requested a certain high rating. I assume this is a no-no in the overall scheme of things — but, without a doubt, I have been asked MANY times to provide the highest possible rating.
I have even experienced an attempt to make me feel guilty for giving a less than perfect rating because the service person being rated claims they will lose their job or, at the very least, not get a much anticipated raise, all because I rated them a nine instead of a ten.
I’m not exactly sure what customer satisfaction surveys offer in the way of improving service and providing cost reductions for businesses.
Many businesses now devote significant personnel power, sometimes entire departments, to conducting surveys, badgering customers for responses and evaluating the results. I know they promise improved service and quality customer experiences based on the feedback they receive from these surveys but, quite honestly, I, and most other consumers question whether any significant changes ever occur as a result of their input.
I expect top-notch service.
When I receive it, the service provider did their job. They did not necessarily go above and beyond to service me — that scenario is rare and I really don’t expect that level of service in most cases. I also don’t feel obligated to give them some superior rating - I expect good service. It shouldn’t just be a pleasant surprise that gets rewarded.
If I don’t receive the service I expect, I feel I have two basic options. I will complain when and where it is needed in order to achieve the end result I want — or — I will stop doing business with the business. Sometimes I will do both.
Once a business has done enough to chase me away, it is highly unlikely they will win me back just because I issue a negative rating on their survey. It takes much more than simple lip service to keep my business.
Funny thing about customer satisfaction surveys. They tend to get very repetitive. They rephrase questions (is that supposed to trick me into a better response???). They also ask questions in such a vague, nondescript way that often makes me want to check off a high rating just because there is nothing in the phrasing of the question that makes me feel inclined to complain. I just have to take a step back and wonder why.
After seeing the same style of question over and over again, I become a little brain-weary. I might just check off a bunch of answers to get the survey out of my text/email/voice mail just to avoid getting the inevitable second or third request.
As a final blow, let me just say — I am a creature of habit.
I generally return repeatedly to places of business that serve my needs. I do not need/want to be coaxed to complete the same survey each and every time I make a transaction. If I gave my opinion last week, it is highly unlikely to change this week. And I do not appreciate having my time wasted with trivial, repetitive nonsense.
Having sixteen copies of my survey from my last six months of interaction with a company is not going to provide the unbiased results the company is hoping for. I, as a regular consumer, will skew the results to my own personal biases. I doubt that’s the desired result for any business.
Unhappy customers do not usually wait for a survey to express their displeasure. Often, they will shout it from the rooftops. They want satisfaction NOW, not somewhere down the road when the results of customer surveys are evaluated at length and some small change is implemented long after the fact.
In their infancy, customer satisfaction surveys may have served a higher purpose. And, like most things in the business world, once one business started asking their customers for their valued opinions, every other business had to follow suit or get left behind.
Today, the survey market is saturated. Repeatedly asking me what I think about a business or service provider, and continuing to simply offer the same product or service in spite of my input, is a complete waste of time for everyone concerned.
So, on a scale of one to ten, how did I do?
RECENT STORIES
