AAAACCK! Not another Customer Service Survey!

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This past Sunday there was a Dilbert cartoon that I could really relate to. With the emphasis on customer service, satisfaction, and experience, many companies have turned to surveys to find out how their business is doing.

Unfortunately, these same companies don’t always plan their survey structure and timing very well. In this cartoon Dilbert finally has enough of surveys saying that it has ruined his customer experience at his favorite restaurant. Pat Lobb Toyota had this same problem.

We would take in one of our two Toyotas for service. The very next day, or even later the same day, we would get a phone call to survey whether we were satisfied with everything. Now, once in awhile is OK. But there were times when we took a car back for followup, or regular service (for the other car) or any of the other reasons we might have to return for something quick and simple.

We would get a phone call about that one too. We got calls three days running about service that had occurred the day before. And they were persistant: if we didn’t pick up they would call back later.

We finally had to tell them that if we had any dis-satisfaction with the service, it was with their telephone surveys. Yes, the caller was always professional and polite; yes the service was fine; but PLEASE stop calling so frequently. Put a limit on how often you call to request a survey, get that information to the agents, anything!

I guess they got the message, we haven’t had a call from them since. I expect we weren’t the only ones with a problem. But make sure when you do decide to perform after-service surveys to keep an eye on frequency of contact. And if someone says not to call again, make sure you don’t.

I understand wanting to be sure to catch those who just never come back or who might take to the social media airwaves to complain, but be thoughtful. Imagine how the survey service might roll out and catch these types of problems before a perfectly happy customer leaves because you are “too needy”.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Jody Pellerin
Jody Pellerin is the Director of Marketing for PhaseWare, Inc. a provider of customer service and support software. PhaseWare helps companies optimize customer service and support with powerful, affordable solutions for incident management, knowledge management, SLA management, and more. Pellerin has authored several white papers and case studies about customer service and support practices including using live chat, optimizing multichannel support, and a guide for on-premise versus on-demand software.

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