How do you measure/monitor customer satisfaction?

We have tried survey forms and online surveys. It's difficult to get folks to participate. Now we're doing telephone surveys, in hopes of getting a greater response rate. That is a frustrating and time consuming process. Often, the responses from customers are less than helpful. For example, when we ask customers to cite opportunities for improvement, we just get some suggestions for lower prices and little other actionable responses; for example, "I can't think of anything, you guys are doing great!"

We ask for a rating on a scale of 1-10 to rate us for quality, service and delivery. Then we ask the customer what they think we do well and what we can improve. Finally, we ask the customer to rate us overall as a supplier on a scale of 1-10.

I want to get into some other methodology for measuring/monitoring customer satisfaction, something outside the box. Any ideas/experience from my colleagues would be appreciated.

 

I'd suggest that (1) is also a good consideration the OP's case. If you're not getting any useful or actionable data from the general population of customers, perhaps consider targeting specific cases.
For example:
- Someone cancelling an account? Good opportunity to gather info as to why...
- Someone is a repeat and regular customer? Good opportunity to gauge their exposure to competition, and why they continually choose you over the competition...

Gee, I sure hope the book this suggestion was from wasn't written by a scientist. This seems like a sure-fire way to inject bias into your results...
Don't get me wrong, I'm totally for building customer relationships...but if your data is being gathered from customers that are psychologically primed towards a positive perception, then its value will be questionable...

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All in all, its about the actionable data, and the resources you have available - no point wasting resources gathering useless data.
It could be that it's just not worth the time and resource investment for the value that you get out of it.
Depending on the industry, the complaint-handling process alone may generate more than enough actionable feedback, and metrics like sales rates, return rates, or sales vs. complaints, can be adequate to gauge customer satisfaction...

 

We gave up on relying on surveys - although we still send them out.

We base our customer satisfaction on the level of customer complaints.

Less customer complaints = happier customers

 

I use a technique similar to what Jennifer quoted - but I do not use a dollar, instead I rely on the same 'obligation factor' in a positive way. Like today, I send a note to a supplier to recently provided us with product or parts, thanking them for the quality of the job(assuming there are no issues!). Too often, suppliers come to fear getting a note from the QM, as it usually means a problem. I try to negate that by sending some encouragement occasionally, and to show that we do appreciate a job well done, not just take it for granted. In tracking this I find I almost always get survey responses back from these companies, while those that hear mostly negative things from us are the ones who ignore them as 'just another problem'.

 

FWIW - Also we use SurveyMonkey It's free - it makes the survey process SO much easier for customers. The easier it is - the more likely they will fill it out

 

We have used survey monkey. Yes you get more feedback because it is easy to fill out (as long as it is not too long). It is also easier to send it to more than one person in the same company.

 

So here is the thing. Nobody at our customers has total "knowledge" of what we provide. The scheduling/expediting people look at our delivery performance. The quality people look at rejects and such. The engineers look at our ability to react to their revision changes. The purchasing people, well price rules. We want to see them generally in alignment.

 

It's the same survey. But I know who I am sending it to and can track who sends it back. Because we work closely with our customer representatives, for all intents and purposes I can guess what they will say. Bottom line, I am looking for a snapshot or a feel on what my customers think, not a perfect statistical analysis.

 

When I worked at a F500 technology company we had a very elaborate customer survey process. I would go as far as claiming it was ahead of its time and a world class example of excellence in this area. The program had all the bells and whistles....external consultant, on-line software, metrics up the rear, customer logins, etc,e tc. It was truly integrated throughout the culture and provided value. After about 10-15 years the program was reduced to a very simple approach. Key customers were identified and every month someone (neutral internal party) called up the contacts and asked 1 simple question..."how are we doing? and Why?" Their repose then drove a deeper dive if needed. We still did the long survey, but this seemed to be much more effective at driving change since it provided more frequent feedback to the organization.

 

We quit doing surveys for this years ago...it was found to be a waste of time

..and we we got one from our suppliers it was passed down the line to someone who had no one left to pass it to ... and sometimes it was done; most times it was not.

 

Sorry to read this. But why did you consider it a waste of time?

 

We considered it a waste of time for two reason...
1. We would send out 50//get back 2 or 3. If our customers didn't think they were important, why should we?
2. As I said above, when e got them, we didn't place any importance on them.

 

We use to send out 200 surveys get back 14. Customer don't think they are useful listen to your customer. Look at new orders. Look at new customer. Look at repete orders
to measure customer satisfaction. Listen to what they are telling sales. Listen to your customers what they are telling you.