I wanted to let you know that we are moving our customer feedback blog. We are placing it on our site so it's easier to find!
Please come visit! http://feedbackrevolutionqr.com/customerfeedback/
Thank you!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it! This is a place to share and learn about customer feedback, customer service and how to improve your customers experience. We want to move people from Comment Cards to Feedback that is of value.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Seth Godin's YET
A friend shared this with me and I really liked it!
In Seth Godin's blog he said...
"When you talk about your market or your peers, do you say, "no one is using it..." or "no one is using it yet"?
In Seth Godin's blog he said...
"When you talk about your market or your peers, do you say, "no one is using it..." or "no one is using it yet"?
Yet implies inevitability. If they're going to use it, it might make sense to get there before they do."
The concept of yet implies inevitability is so powerful.
When we share how we help our clients collect customer feedback we are at time met with the word, yet. Our customers don't have smart phones "yet". Our customers don't know what a QR code is "yet". I don't know what a QR code "yet".
"Our comment cards work just fine..."
If you are not yet ready to use technology to gather customer feedback and share real time information with you as an owner or manager... remember that yet implies inevitable. Will you be ahead of the curve or left behind?
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Comment Card - To Myself
Over the last few days I have not done a blog post.
Well the reason has been technical changes. We are moving my blog from "blogger" to our web site www.feedbackrevolutionqr.com
I couple of months ago when I started this I didn't know what Wordpress was or how I could put in on my web site.
Well those days are gone and SOON this blog will be hosted on my site.
Blogger has been great and very easy to use and appreciate Google providing this great forum.
It will be a little on an off for the next few days while we get it all setup and rolling!
But it will be nice to have a new home for my thoughts on customer service, customer feedback and all things relating to customer experience improvement and measurement.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
Well the reason has been technical changes. We are moving my blog from "blogger" to our web site www.feedbackrevolutionqr.com
I couple of months ago when I started this I didn't know what Wordpress was or how I could put in on my web site.
Well those days are gone and SOON this blog will be hosted on my site.
Blogger has been great and very easy to use and appreciate Google providing this great forum.
It will be a little on an off for the next few days while we get it all setup and rolling!
But it will be nice to have a new home for my thoughts on customer service, customer feedback and all things relating to customer experience improvement and measurement.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Customer Feedback - Thank You Economy
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| Beyond the Comment Card |
There is a great review of it in the New York Times.
The part of it that I see the most is how the internet affects feedback. Back in the day the owner knew all of the customers and they all knew him. If there was a problem or a guest wasn't happy they knew about it and fixed it.
The didn't sue comment cards or customer satisfactions surveys! They knew by walking around.
After that businesses expanded and had multiple locations. If a customer had a bad experience they went home and told their neighbors of friends at work.
Fast forward to today... customer has a bad experience and they let it rip on the internet. They post it on Yelp, the put it on their blog, they post comments all across the internet.
The challenge is the business owner may never know that this was done but soon find their business dying a little bit each day. People see the posts and soon try new places or just stop coming.
Think about it today when a person as a bad customer service experience they no longer tell 9 - 15 people they can potentially share it with thousands for years and years!
Good read and great information.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Comment Card Words
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| Comment Card Words |
So often we look at customer feedback as words in a document or spreadsheet but I think when you look at it like this you can see what was used often and get a feel for what they are thinking and feeling!
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Customer Feedback - US Airways
After my flight I shared on my blog a note to the president of US Airways. Well Saturday I got an email. Of course it was not from him it was a generic after the flight electronic "comment card" asking for my opinions.
I decide to take it for giggles!
It was beyond disappointing! None of the questions were about the flight that I had just taken. All they wanted to know was demographics and 3 pages of early boarding questions. Did I have children, do we early board, do I think early boarding makes it faster.
Once again some marketing person has hijacked customer feedback. They do this under the banner of "We care" when it really should be "we want to know" and we are too cheap to pay you for your input. What a terrible mistake this is. When people use the name "customer feedback" as a way of hiding what they really want they do real damage.
The next time I get a survey from them my first reaction will be they don't care about the terrible service on my flight they want marketing data.
In all honesty I'm not sure what else they asked... after 3 pages I stopped answering and exited the survey. Yes shorter is better!
Two other points... I replied to the email they send with a link to my previous blog post about my flights. No one has replied... yes they really are about service!
Second... They don't even pay the extra $20 the URL said Survey Monkey.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
I decide to take it for giggles!
It was beyond disappointing! None of the questions were about the flight that I had just taken. All they wanted to know was demographics and 3 pages of early boarding questions. Did I have children, do we early board, do I think early boarding makes it faster.
Once again some marketing person has hijacked customer feedback. They do this under the banner of "We care" when it really should be "we want to know" and we are too cheap to pay you for your input. What a terrible mistake this is. When people use the name "customer feedback" as a way of hiding what they really want they do real damage.
The next time I get a survey from them my first reaction will be they don't care about the terrible service on my flight they want marketing data.
In all honesty I'm not sure what else they asked... after 3 pages I stopped answering and exited the survey. Yes shorter is better!
Two other points... I replied to the email they send with a link to my previous blog post about my flights. No one has replied... yes they really are about service!
Second... They don't even pay the extra $20 the URL said Survey Monkey.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Comment Card - Extreme Pizza Boise
The other night my wife and were driving home and we were hungry. It was Friday night and getting late... not too late!
We went to two different places and they were both closed.
My wife remembered a new pizza place that had opened near where we were. As we drove up it looked open so we parked.
As we walked to the door we could see a full table of people but the other tables had their chairs up... so my wife stuck here head in and asked if they were still open.
They were closing but the owner said, sure... turn back on the oven.
This is exactly what businesses need to do if they want to make it long term.
I wish they had an easy way for us to share how we felt about our experience.
Transforming the way to share customer feedback and how organizations use it!
We went to two different places and they were both closed.My wife remembered a new pizza place that had opened near where we were. As we drove up it looked open so we parked.
As we walked to the door we could see a full table of people but the other tables had their chairs up... so my wife stuck here head in and asked if they were still open.
They were closing but the owner said, sure... turn back on the oven.
This is exactly what businesses need to do if they want to make it long term.
I wish they had an easy way for us to share how we felt about our experience.
Transforming the way to share customer feedback and how organizations use it!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Are people afraid of customer feedback?
I was talking with friends that other night and we were talking about customer feedback and how important it was. One person said that customer feedback was the only way to improve your business.
My question is this... Do most business owners really want to know what their customers think? Do they want honest real time customer feedback?
For some people that may sound very odd but think about it... If you are working long days and nights to make your business a success. You pour your heart and soul into it every day, do you want to hear negative things? Do you want to hear about mistakes and things that could be done better? Do you really want customer feedback?
Not that business owners don't want to improve and be successful. I know they do. Many love their business and will work so hard on it and in it.
The challenge is customer feedback can be painful at times.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
My question is this... Do most business owners really want to know what their customers think? Do they want honest real time customer feedback?
For some people that may sound very odd but think about it... If you are working long days and nights to make your business a success. You pour your heart and soul into it every day, do you want to hear negative things? Do you want to hear about mistakes and things that could be done better? Do you really want customer feedback?
Not that business owners don't want to improve and be successful. I know they do. Many love their business and will work so hard on it and in it.
The challenge is customer feedback can be painful at times.
Transforming the way customer feedback is shared and how organizations use it!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Free Customer Feedback
The major story across the country is the economy and jobs, jobs, jobs!
The United States economy is very shaky. The President and congress can't create jobs. Governments don't create jobs, businesses do!
I read the other day that if 1 out of 3 small business would hire one more person that US would be at full employment.
We want to do our part! We are offering our Feedback Revolution QR service for FREE.
We know that if customers get better service they spend more and come back more often. When people spend more it creates more employment opportunities.
If you want to measure your customer service and want real time customer feedback click the link and sign up!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Customer Feedback Wanted???
I was just at "The Grove" stand/cafe in the Houston airport.
I didn't have a good experience. As a matter of fact it was very disappointing!
It was disappointing enough that I went online and emailed them to tell them. As soon as I hit send I received a reply saying that they appreciated my comment and would get back to me within 48 hours.
If you really want feedback making people go online and find you is a big mistake. You will only get the people that love you or are really upset.
Than to take more than 24 hours to reply. That is a sign that the company is not customer focused.
For customer feedback to have value it needs to be real time and actionable.
Transforming the way customer share feedback and how organizations use it!
I didn't have a good experience. As a matter of fact it was very disappointing!
It was disappointing enough that I went online and emailed them to tell them. As soon as I hit send I received a reply saying that they appreciated my comment and would get back to me within 48 hours.
If you really want feedback making people go online and find you is a big mistake. You will only get the people that love you or are really upset.
Than to take more than 24 hours to reply. That is a sign that the company is not customer focused.
For customer feedback to have value it needs to be real time and actionable.
Transforming the way customer share feedback and how organizations use it!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Comment Cards Made Easy
Collecting customer feedback is essential for long term business success.
The error that people make is they think that a comment card is a good way to collect the customer feedback. The answer is it really is not a good way at all.
I checked into a hotel yesterday and they have really nice looking comment cards at the front desk and it said they wanted to know what I thought.
Do you think they really wanted to know?
They could not find my reservation and was more interested in talking with an associate about a memo that just had come out.
My comments would not have been positive and that could have been a good thing. My guess is the manager or owner would like to know what the people at the front desk did but most people are like me and they will never waste their time filling out some form. If I did would I have to turn it into the person behind the counter?
Comment cards are a very poor tool to use for customer feedback. Almost like using a hammer to drive in screws!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
The error that people make is they think that a comment card is a good way to collect the customer feedback. The answer is it really is not a good way at all.
I checked into a hotel yesterday and they have really nice looking comment cards at the front desk and it said they wanted to know what I thought.
Do you think they really wanted to know?
They could not find my reservation and was more interested in talking with an associate about a memo that just had come out.
My comments would not have been positive and that could have been a good thing. My guess is the manager or owner would like to know what the people at the front desk did but most people are like me and they will never waste their time filling out some form. If I did would I have to turn it into the person behind the counter?
Comment cards are a very poor tool to use for customer feedback. Almost like using a hammer to drive in screws!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Listen to the customer - Customer Feedback
The other morning I was watching Good Morning America. They had a person on talking about starting a business during the down economy and one of her points was to "Listen to your customers!"
She explained that you need to know who they are and what they want before you start offering products or services.
That is fine if you are a new business but as an existing business you need to listen now more than ever. A big part of listening is asking for customer feedback. You need to be proactive and encourage your customers to share with you what is working and what needs to be worked on.
In tough times people are even more critical of how they spend their money!
This means customer feedback is very important to survival.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it.
She explained that you need to know who they are and what they want before you start offering products or services.
That is fine if you are a new business but as an existing business you need to listen now more than ever. A big part of listening is asking for customer feedback. You need to be proactive and encourage your customers to share with you what is working and what needs to be worked on.
In tough times people are even more critical of how they spend their money!
This means customer feedback is very important to survival.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
US Airways customer service
Doug,
I've flown your airline from the old America West days. I remember free drinks and have been elite over 15 years.
Just want to let you know...your service is terrible. I wish you offered our feedback solution so I could share this with you directly.
I forgot how bad the service is...
Please stop repainting planes and spend the money on hiring people that care about your customers.
I'd love to personally help you transform the way your customers share feedback and how you use it. Please call, text, or email me!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Customer Satisfaction Survey is just the start
As we move forward with www.feedbackrevolutionQR.com I'm constantly reminded of the importance of customer satisfaction surveys and getting valid and actionable information.
The challenge is customer feedback is just the beginning. If you use a comment card or your provide customers a phone number to call and share their feedback is not as important as what you do with the information.
To us you need to get the feedback but the real value comes when the business adjusts to better meet or exceed it's customers needs.
It's a little like knowing you have high blood pressure and not making choices to reduce it. Yes, it's important to know but it's even more important to make the necessary changes!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
The challenge is customer feedback is just the beginning. If you use a comment card or your provide customers a phone number to call and share their feedback is not as important as what you do with the information.
To us you need to get the feedback but the real value comes when the business adjusts to better meet or exceed it's customers needs.
It's a little like knowing you have high blood pressure and not making choices to reduce it. Yes, it's important to know but it's even more important to make the necessary changes!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Customer Satisfaction Surveys Should be Brief
As I surf the web reading about customer satisfaction I'm amazed by how much frustration and anger there is about the survey itself.
Customer are very frustrated by they surveys that say they are about "customer satisfaction" when in fact they are about marketing and market research.
If you want to know about my likes and dislikes and new products I may be interested in please invite me to a focus group! Don't lie to me and say you want my customer feedback when in reality you want to know how to sell me more products.
Please be honest about customer feedback. To me the biggest mistake a business can make in the area of customer satisfaction and customer feedback is to make people mad when they take the survey.
We are fans of under 60 seconds and they are on there way!
If you need one the status bars at the top of the survey to show how much they have completed... you have to many questions.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Customer are very frustrated by they surveys that say they are about "customer satisfaction" when in fact they are about marketing and market research.
If you want to know about my likes and dislikes and new products I may be interested in please invite me to a focus group! Don't lie to me and say you want my customer feedback when in reality you want to know how to sell me more products.
Please be honest about customer feedback. To me the biggest mistake a business can make in the area of customer satisfaction and customer feedback is to make people mad when they take the survey.
We are fans of under 60 seconds and they are on there way!
If you need one the status bars at the top of the survey to show how much they have completed... you have to many questions.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Customer Satisfaction Survey - Mistake
When it comes to measuring customer satisfaction I'm shocked by how poorly most places do it. I feel like they had a meeting that said they needed to do a "Customer Satisfaction Survey" so they got a committee together to create it!
Huge mistake! Research by committee is the poster child for bad things are going to happen.
When you have a number of stake holders involved in the process you lose focus and end up with each person wanting the answer to their key question! It's a disaster.
If you have been charged with getting customer satisfaction data that is great because at some level you want to improve.
The challenge is doing it intelligently and that means no committee...
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Huge mistake! Research by committee is the poster child for bad things are going to happen.
When you have a number of stake holders involved in the process you lose focus and end up with each person wanting the answer to their key question! It's a disaster.
If you have been charged with getting customer satisfaction data that is great because at some level you want to improve.
The challenge is doing it intelligently and that means no committee...
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Friday, September 2, 2011
Customer Satisfaction Survey
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| What Customer Satisfaction Survey Was Use For This? |
I had a hard time finding my seat I was laughing so hard.
All I could think of was what questions did they ask to reach this conclusion.
This can't have anything to do with customer satisfaction.
Fortune what were you thinking? Really, Delta is one of the most admired companies in the world?
I can't even guess how they figured this.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Comment Card - Delta Part 2
If you read yesterdays post I was given a card after my Delta flight and they wanted us to take a survey. I had to do it... customer feedback is my passion!
I didn't want my bias to affect the survey so I asked someone else to take it...
Here are the key takeaways...
The comment card had a number of codes and details on it. The ranged from a serial number to the name of the airline. The person taking the survey was frustrated by the time all of that was entered. This is a huge mistake people make with customer feedback. It's critical to make it easy.
By the time they reached question 12 they said "Are you kidding me?" and stopped taking it. The question asked you to break down 100% into 9 categories based on how important it was. It was long and not it went from customer feedback to a math test.
I took over and answered 5 more questions and than just closed it! I have no idea how many more questions it had. They had wasted as much of my time as I was comfortable with.
Please learn from these customer feedback mistakes! Make it brief! Make it easy! Make it actionable!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
I didn't want my bias to affect the survey so I asked someone else to take it...
Here are the key takeaways...
The comment card had a number of codes and details on it. The ranged from a serial number to the name of the airline. The person taking the survey was frustrated by the time all of that was entered. This is a huge mistake people make with customer feedback. It's critical to make it easy.
By the time they reached question 12 they said "Are you kidding me?" and stopped taking it. The question asked you to break down 100% into 9 categories based on how important it was. It was long and not it went from customer feedback to a math test.
I took over and answered 5 more questions and than just closed it! I have no idea how many more questions it had. They had wasted as much of my time as I was comfortable with.
Please learn from these customer feedback mistakes! Make it brief! Make it easy! Make it actionable!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Comment Card - airportsurvey.com
I'm in wonderful Minneapolis MN as I enter this.
I just got off the plane and a very nice women was trying hard to hand as many people as she could a "comment card" so that we could tell them about our flight.
They want us to go online, enter 7 different items, than take the survey.
Why are they making it so hard? When the person is exiting the jet way the last thing they want to do it go online and take a survey. If I could have done it in the 5 minutes that it takes for them to open the door and connect the jet bridge maybe.
Once I'm off the plane I'm headed to my next gate or out to my car!
Customer feedback should be easy and fast!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
I just got off the plane and a very nice women was trying hard to hand as many people as she could a "comment card" so that we could tell them about our flight.
They want us to go online, enter 7 different items, than take the survey.
Why are they making it so hard? When the person is exiting the jet way the last thing they want to do it go online and take a survey. If I could have done it in the 5 minutes that it takes for them to open the door and connect the jet bridge maybe.
Once I'm off the plane I'm headed to my next gate or out to my car!
Customer feedback should be easy and fast!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Feedback Infographic
For you years we have studied statistics dealing with customer feedback, comment cards and satisfaction studies and more. Over that time we have found some interesting statistics!
So we just created an infographic that is loaded with customer feedback statistics!
Take a moment and check it out.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
So we just created an infographic that is loaded with customer feedback statistics!
Take a moment and check it out.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Customers happily take satisfaction survey!
I was just reading and found this... I couldn't have said it better myself!
"It's nice to think that most of your customers will happily take your survey; after all, the information is to benefit them, right? Unfortunately, some customers don't have the time; others will earmark it for later and forget about it; others will start it and get called away.
"It's nice to think that most of your customers will happily take your survey; after all, the information is to benefit them, right? Unfortunately, some customers don't have the time; others will earmark it for later and forget about it; others will start it and get called away.
10-15% is about the average response rate (surveys completed, out of surveys offered) that most companies get on customer-satisfaction surveys. There are a few things you can do to increase this, however."
This was from Keysurvey and they are spot on.
The higher your response the better the information. The faster and easier it is to do the more people will do it.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Customer Service
Henry For said, "A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large. "
If you want success you must provide organizations more than they expect!
Transforming the want customers share feedback and how organizations use it.
If you want success you must provide organizations more than they expect!
Transforming the want customers share feedback and how organizations use it.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
FREE ENTREE ITEM... WE VALUE YOUR OPINION!
Just came back from a quick dinner at Panda Express. In all caps with asterisks all around it they say they want my opinion. I can call and 800# or I can go online to pandaexpress.com.
It takes 2 minutes to go through the line and 15 minutes to eat it... do you think the average guest is going to go home and jump in their computer so they can tell you what they did well or could improve on? In order for them to get customer feedback they need to make it fast and easy. It needs to happen while they are eating or as soon as they finish.
In fast casual dinning customer feedback is critical but it needs to happen immediately or it will never happen.
Make customer feedback fast and easy or you won't get any feedback.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
It takes 2 minutes to go through the line and 15 minutes to eat it... do you think the average guest is going to go home and jump in their computer so they can tell you what they did well or could improve on? In order for them to get customer feedback they need to make it fast and easy. It needs to happen while they are eating or as soon as they finish.
In fast casual dinning customer feedback is critical but it needs to happen immediately or it will never happen.
Make customer feedback fast and easy or you won't get any feedback.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Satisfaction Survey and Statistics
I know that many organizations use comment cards to collect customer satisfaction data.
I've read that only 30% of people fill them out. I think that is wildly exaggerated. I can't find anyone that admits to filling them out.
Well here is some interesting statistics that I'd like you to think about...
If you use comment cards and you want to "know" what your guests are thinking...
If you are willing to have an error of 4%
You have 200 customers per day
To have 95% confidence in the results you would need to get feedback from 150 of them.
I don't know any business that is getting that level of customer feedback.
So if you are only getting a few responses it's very hard to make educated decisions based on it.
I just read this and loved it...
“If restaurant comment cards had ears, they’d be deaf”... Penelope Tsaldari
Hope this gave you somethings to think about!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
I've read that only 30% of people fill them out. I think that is wildly exaggerated. I can't find anyone that admits to filling them out.
Well here is some interesting statistics that I'd like you to think about...
If you use comment cards and you want to "know" what your guests are thinking...
If you are willing to have an error of 4%
You have 200 customers per day
To have 95% confidence in the results you would need to get feedback from 150 of them.
I don't know any business that is getting that level of customer feedback.
So if you are only getting a few responses it's very hard to make educated decisions based on it.
I just read this and loved it...
“If restaurant comment cards had ears, they’d be deaf”... Penelope Tsaldari
Hope this gave you somethings to think about!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Customer Satisfaction Survey
If you missed this article please take a minute and read it!
He really hits the nail on the head in so many ways.
We are proponents of brief surveys... usually only 5 questions. I agree one is to short. When you survey customers you have the opportunity to learn what is working and what needs to be worked on. Not sure if I like the "tracking aggravation". I understand it but think it could be backward looking information.
In the article he says, "I don't know about you, but I hate customer satisfaction surveys. We are all inundated with them thanks to email. It used to be these things came in the mail (easy to throw out) or by telephone (hang up). Now, most of them come via email. I stay in hotels 100-plus nights a year, and no matter how big or small the hotel was, they always manage to send me a survey several days later. Like you, I delete the survey unless I really had a bad experience.
I did waste 15 minutes filling out one I got from a St. Regis Hotel vendor and was madder after filling out the survey than before I started it because there was no place for me to explain the problems I experienced at the property. Plus, I had to waste 15 minutes of my time, telling a company I just paid a lot of money to how they screwed up."
He goes on to say that a 30% return rate of a satisfaction survey is good for most surveys. I think even that is very hopeful. I just don't know people that will waste productive time to take a survey. If they could do it while they waited for their receipt maybe...
As you know we are not fans of a satisfaction survey. When you ask if people are "satisfied" they have nothing at risk so the answer is a low value.
As you know we are not fans of a satisfaction survey. When you ask if people are "satisfied" they have nothing at risk so the answer is a low value.
The Customer Aggravation Index: Predicting Customer Loyalty Without Surveys | Business Finance:
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Getting the information is the first step... than you need to use it to improve!
Transforming the way people share feedback and how organizations use it!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Simple Truths of Customer Service
As I was thinking of what I wanted to share today I was reminded of "Johnny the Bagger". I have no idea when I first read this or saw the video it has been years. But as a customer service and customer feedback guru this a wonderful story.
Take the 3 minutes and watch it.
I often talk about measuring customer satisfaction and comment cards but when you have people lined up for one of your people the answer is they are doing something right.
It's important to remember the simple fact that the reason you are in business in it's most simple terms is to fill a need. Johnny filled the need for human interaction and connection.
I'm like most customers and wish more businesses would be "human".
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
How to Make the Most of Customer Feedback
I was just reading an article in Inc magazine from a couple of year back on customer feedback and I liked what they shared.
I read this quote, "Every day, companies solicit feedback from customers, yet only a few translate that feedback into meaning. An even smaller fraction of companies actually take action or close the loop with the customer, to let them know their voice was heard," says Whitney Wood..."
This is so true. From comment cards and cash register receipts organizations often ask for feedback but rarely get it and when they do what do they do with it?
Feedback needs to be real time and actionable for it to have real value!
Monday, August 22, 2011
A New Look at Comment Cards
I was just online and found this article. It's 12 years old but I don't think most companies have learned these great concepts about comment cards.
The only part I don't agree with is near the end they are seeing comment cards as these "paper" things that are handled. That is old school! It's time for organizations to use technology to gather and tabulate it all!
Great information and ideas!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Regal Cinemas Comment Card
My wife and I went to the movies this evening... so as I walked in I noticed that they had comment cards next to each theater.
After the movie I was looking at the card and here are some things that you can learn from it...
First your choice are Excellent, Acceptable and Poor. You maybe aware the people are not quick to give a perfect score. With these three choices that will naturally drive people to the middle.
Next can you tell me what and excellent restroom, lobby or usher is? In all honesty I could not tell you what would make an excellent usher? Found our row? Didn't shine the light in my eyes?
At the end they have some lines for comments and that they want to know the theater, movie and time.
To me the real kicker is on the other side!
It's a mailer they that they want you to pay postage and mail in. 70% of people will not fill these out so you are cut to 30% now when I ask them to spend money to tell me how I did it will drop even further.
What a huge waste!
Did I mention that it will not take 5-7 days for it to get to the "Customer Relations" department in Tennessee!
This will have little or no value for the guest or the theater. By the time you get this card the movie will be long gone and the 16 year old that made the popcorn will be too.
It's time to transform the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
After the movie I was looking at the card and here are some things that you can learn from it...
First your choice are Excellent, Acceptable and Poor. You maybe aware the people are not quick to give a perfect score. With these three choices that will naturally drive people to the middle.
Next can you tell me what and excellent restroom, lobby or usher is? In all honesty I could not tell you what would make an excellent usher? Found our row? Didn't shine the light in my eyes?
At the end they have some lines for comments and that they want to know the theater, movie and time.
To me the real kicker is on the other side!
It's a mailer they that they want you to pay postage and mail in. 70% of people will not fill these out so you are cut to 30% now when I ask them to spend money to tell me how I did it will drop even further.
What a huge waste!
Did I mention that it will not take 5-7 days for it to get to the "Customer Relations" department in Tennessee!
This will have little or no value for the guest or the theater. By the time you get this card the movie will be long gone and the 16 year old that made the popcorn will be too.
It's time to transform the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Cafe Reconcile serves kids hope - Great Story
I'm not sure what this has to do with customer service or customer feedback but it's a great story!
Our focus is guests and measuring their experience.
The video is about giving kids at risk hope and skills to have a better life.
This to me is transforming peoples lives! What a great story and idea. In Boise we have Life's Kitchen that is similar! Great people doing great work.
We are transforming customer feedback and how organizations use it!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Comment Card - Length Matters!
I'm going to skip the joke... it's too easy.
When it comes to feedback length is a critical factor.
A few years ago I stayed at a casino in Las Vegas and when I returned home I got a call and they said they wanted me to take a "Satisfaction Survey". As a student of customer service and customer feedback I said sure.
After 20 minutes and them asking me way too many personal questions I ended the survey.
In all honesty it was not a satisfaction survey... it was a survey that marketing department had hijacked and turned into satisfaction, demographics and buying behavior.
I'm often asked how can we get our customers to provide feedback? Make it easy to provide and make the survey brief.
A friend shared that he started taking a satisfaction survey online recently and after I while he noticed that it showed "50% Complete". As soon as he noticed that he just logged off.
If you want to know about the customers experience limit your questions to the 5-10 that matter. If you want to ask more than that organize a focus group or tell people that you are doing market research.
This is one place where shorter is better!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
When it comes to feedback length is a critical factor.
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| No more comment cards! |
After 20 minutes and them asking me way too many personal questions I ended the survey.
In all honesty it was not a satisfaction survey... it was a survey that marketing department had hijacked and turned into satisfaction, demographics and buying behavior.
I'm often asked how can we get our customers to provide feedback? Make it easy to provide and make the survey brief.
A friend shared that he started taking a satisfaction survey online recently and after I while he noticed that it showed "50% Complete". As soon as he noticed that he just logged off.
If you want to know about the customers experience limit your questions to the 5-10 that matter. If you want to ask more than that organize a focus group or tell people that you are doing market research.
This is one place where shorter is better!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Comment Card Tabulation
I just found this on a web site from a pizza place here in Boise, ID.
The Flying Pie is talking about their comment cards and how they got started. It's a cute story but here is what I'd like to focus on today...
"We currently print over 25,000 comment cards a year. We post them to the walls of our restaurants, publish the words and pictures on our web site and in our menu’zine, respond to a couple dozen each week who request a response, and pour through them weekly, looking for energy we ought to be chasing or celebrating or improving."
I don't know about you but 25,000 comment cards is a lot of cards to read and try to get valuable customer feedback from. The phrase "pour through them" to me sounds like medieval torture.
As a business owner or executive do you have time to diligently review 500 comment cards each week? If you do review them how do you quantify them and spot trends?
This is a little pizza place in Boise, ID but this is what businesses across the country and around the world struggle with. They put the cards out, they get some back... now what do they do with them? Will you take 25,000 comment cards and enter each of them into Excel or a database program so you can use the data?
Not very many people would.
Customer feedback is so important and comment cards are such a terrible way to try to get feedback.
One more reason not to use comment cards in the morning!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
The Flying Pie is talking about their comment cards and how they got started. It's a cute story but here is what I'd like to focus on today...
"We currently print over 25,000 comment cards a year. We post them to the walls of our restaurants, publish the words and pictures on our web site and in our menu’zine, respond to a couple dozen each week who request a response, and pour through them weekly, looking for energy we ought to be chasing or celebrating or improving."
I don't know about you but 25,000 comment cards is a lot of cards to read and try to get valuable customer feedback from. The phrase "pour through them" to me sounds like medieval torture.
As a business owner or executive do you have time to diligently review 500 comment cards each week? If you do review them how do you quantify them and spot trends?
This is a little pizza place in Boise, ID but this is what businesses across the country and around the world struggle with. They put the cards out, they get some back... now what do they do with them? Will you take 25,000 comment cards and enter each of them into Excel or a database program so you can use the data?
Not very many people would.
Customer feedback is so important and comment cards are such a terrible way to try to get feedback.
One more reason not to use comment cards in the morning!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Hotel Comment Cards
I could not resist this one!
I really like the idea and the execution. The challenge I have is I don't think that it's a very good tool for measuring customer satisfaction.
This is from Personality Hotels and this is what they use. They give guests an opportunity to share their "personality". They are great for the web site and maybe to post around the hotel but does it provide us actionable information? Can I share this with the team so they can improve?
From a creative perspective and connection to the company name I really like it!
I think that it's fun and could be a good tool to use with a real customer satisfaction survey.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
I really like the idea and the execution. The challenge I have is I don't think that it's a very good tool for measuring customer satisfaction.
This is from Personality Hotels and this is what they use. They give guests an opportunity to share their "personality". They are great for the web site and maybe to post around the hotel but does it provide us actionable information? Can I share this with the team so they can improve?
From a creative perspective and connection to the company name I really like it!
I think that it's fun and could be a good tool to use with a real customer satisfaction survey.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
Comment Card Mistake Number 3
In case you have not figured it out comment cards to me are a real waste of time, energy and money.
I think it's important to share that I'm a huge fan of customer feedback and of actionable information. The challenges with comment cards is the don't provide accurate feedback or actionable information.
Here is reason the that comment cards are a mistake...bias!
When comment cards are handed out bias is introduced!
If you are a server and you have a table that has had a horrible experience will you give them a comment card? If you do will you share what they have written with your boss?
I worked in bar when I was in college and you would have waitresses come back and complain about the terrible tables. I'm not sure if the table was terrible or the waitress created a terrible experience with their attitude.
Either way are they going to ask for honest feedback from that guest?
I doubt it!
I also doubt that if the guest did provide the manager would have ever seen it. Most likely it would have found it's way to the trash with the rest of the paper items on the table.
I'm not faulting the servers I'm only pointing out that bias happens.
When you use a system that makes it easy for bias to happen it will. And if I know that my feedback survey tool has bias how much value can it have? Probably not much more than talking with some customers each day. FYI - Customers lie because they don't want to hurt your feelings or get people in trouble.
So as far as I'm concerned this is the third strike against comment cards! Notice I want customer feedback and customer surveys but they need to be done right so they have value.
I'll share one more mistake tomorrow.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
I think it's important to share that I'm a huge fan of customer feedback and of actionable information. The challenges with comment cards is the don't provide accurate feedback or actionable information.
Here is reason the that comment cards are a mistake...bias!
When comment cards are handed out bias is introduced!
If you are a server and you have a table that has had a horrible experience will you give them a comment card? If you do will you share what they have written with your boss?
I worked in bar when I was in college and you would have waitresses come back and complain about the terrible tables. I'm not sure if the table was terrible or the waitress created a terrible experience with their attitude.
Either way are they going to ask for honest feedback from that guest?
I doubt it!
I also doubt that if the guest did provide the manager would have ever seen it. Most likely it would have found it's way to the trash with the rest of the paper items on the table.
I'm not faulting the servers I'm only pointing out that bias happens.
When you use a system that makes it easy for bias to happen it will. And if I know that my feedback survey tool has bias how much value can it have? Probably not much more than talking with some customers each day. FYI - Customers lie because they don't want to hurt your feelings or get people in trouble.
So as far as I'm concerned this is the third strike against comment cards! Notice I want customer feedback and customer surveys but they need to be done right so they have value.
I'll share one more mistake tomorrow.
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Comment Card Customer Satisfaction
Comment Card
Customer satisfaction and satisfaction surveys are a critical part of business success. The challenge is many companies think that by doing comment cards they will know if their customers are satisfied.
Yesterday, I shared one of the problems with comment cards is that only the lovers and haters take the satisfaction survey. If you missed it please read it.
Today I want to talk about the next mistake that organizations make when it comes to satisfaction surveys and comment cards.
Simply put they ask the wrong questions. If you ask a person the wrong question it doesn't matter what they answer.
Think of this from Alice in Wonderland...
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
If you ask the wrong questions it doesn't much matter!The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Here are a few common mistakes...
Please share your thoughts…
I'll see feedback tools that will ask people to just share their thoughts. When you do this you are wasting both your time and your customers time. How will you ever use this to improve? You will at best get random bits of data but not real information that you can use.
Then you have the Extremely Satisfied to Extremely Dissatisfied questions.
I'm sorry to tell you but measuring "satisfaction" has little or no value. One study found that it has 0 correlation to future growth. The reason is people will tell you they are "satisfied" but will never come back. The questions doesn't require the person to have a skin in the game. They have nothing at risk.
Lastly wrong questions don't allow your organization to use it as a tool to improve. It makes it at best raw data but not information that you can use.
Many people use the term "Customer Satisfaction" as a generic term for will the customer do business with me again. The problem is it should be... will my customer risk their reputation and tell their friends and family to do business with me again. You shouldn't do "satisfaction surveys" you should do risk surveys.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Commend Card
Comment cards are probably the most common tool for soliciting customer feedback. People think they are a good way to measure customer satisfaction.
The problem is it would be like saying a hammer is a good way to drive in a screw.
Comment cards give businesses the illusion that they know what their customers think and feel!
This week I'll share a few of the reasons why when it comes to customer satisfaction comment cards are a waste of time, energy and money!
Today I'm focusing on the bell curve or the "normal curve". Some of you may remember this from school when you hoped they would grade on the curve. The reality is when it comes to comment cards they fall just like this curve!
You see the little blue area on each end... those are the people that fill out comment cards. Research shows that an estimated 70% of people never fill out a comment card. The people that do fill them out are your lovers or haters! I would not want to run my business getting direction from only those two groups.
I talked to a restaurant manager the other day and he said that they will be 1000 people and get 4 comment cards. This is tragic!
They think they are measuring customer satisfaction but what they are measuring is the views of a few people on each end.
The average customer is never telling you what they think or feel! But they are telling their family and friends!
Think about it.
www.feedbackrevolutionqr.com
The problem is it would be like saying a hammer is a good way to drive in a screw.
Comment cards give businesses the illusion that they know what their customers think and feel!
This week I'll share a few of the reasons why when it comes to customer satisfaction comment cards are a waste of time, energy and money!
Today I'm focusing on the bell curve or the "normal curve". Some of you may remember this from school when you hoped they would grade on the curve. The reality is when it comes to comment cards they fall just like this curve!
You see the little blue area on each end... those are the people that fill out comment cards. Research shows that an estimated 70% of people never fill out a comment card. The people that do fill them out are your lovers or haters! I would not want to run my business getting direction from only those two groups.
I talked to a restaurant manager the other day and he said that they will be 1000 people and get 4 comment cards. This is tragic!
They think they are measuring customer satisfaction but what they are measuring is the views of a few people on each end.
The average customer is never telling you what they think or feel! But they are telling their family and friends!
Think about it.
www.feedbackrevolutionqr.com
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A few QR readers to try...
A few of my favorite QR code readers…
BeeTagg Reader
BeeTagg reads: QR Code, Data Matrix, BeeTagg Code (BeeTagg's proprietary code)
BeeTagg Reader works with most cell phones
www.beetagg.com
Download BeeTagg: www.beetagg.com/downloadreader
Download BeeTagg from your cell phone: http://get.beetagg.com
Download BeeTagg from iTunes: BeeTagg
Google Shopper
QR Code, UPC
Google Shopper works with Android only
i-nigma Reader
i-nigma reads: QR Code, Data Matrix
i-nigma.com/i-nigmahp.html
i-nigma works with most cell phones
Download i-nigma Reader: i-nigma.com/Downloadi-nigmaReader.html
Download i-nigma Reader from your cell phone: www.i-nigma.mobi
Download i-nigma Reader from iTunes: i-nigma
Neo Reader
Neo Reader reads: QR code, UPC, Code 128, Data Matrix, Aztec code, EAN
Neo Reader works with most cell phones.
The Neo Reader works almost identically to the i-nigma Reader. Start the app, touch the screen to scan, a bell sound confirms the scan and the barcode's URL appears. Pressing "Continue" takes you to a page with the scanned barcode data.
neoreader.com/pc.html
Download Neo Reader from your cell phone: get.neoreader.com/go
Download Neo Reader from iTunes: Neo Reader
KAYWA Reader
KAYWA reads: QR Code, Data Matrix
KAYWA works with Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Erickson phones
http://reader.kaywa.com
Download KAYWA: http://reader.kaywa.com/getit
Download KAWYA from your cell phone: http://reader.kaywa.com
This is in no way a complete list… just a few that I’ve used and worked well for me.
Or you can always do a simple search for either, “QR Reader” or “QR Scanner”
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
Transforming the way customers share feedback and organizations use it!
Satisfaction Survey
How will you ever know if you don’t ask…
I’ve just driven over to Bend, Oregon and want to share a few of my service experiences.
First as we entered town we drove over a bike brake pad that stuck in my tire. Went to Les Schwab and they were really great. They run to the car, fast service and big smiles. If we needed tires they would be at the top of my list. They have internet too so I could check my email while I waited. I give then a 9 almost 10!
After that I went to McDonalds to have a mango smoothie. I had not tried it and liked the way it looked on the billboard. Now you need to know that I have not been to a McDonalds in at least 3 years. I’m not a fan of their food but it looked so good. We went through the drive through…what a disaster. The service was terrible. I had a long wait to get to the window and had an even longer wait to get my smoothie. It’s a smoothie all you need to do is put it in a glass. I give them a 1. The bad news is I liked the smoothies but the service was so bad.
Last we went to Red Robin. It was late; we had some desert and a few appetizers. The service was ok and the food was ok. Would I tell people to go there, no. Would I tell people not to go there… no.
Here’s the problem none of the places did a satisfaction survey. None of them know if I will risk my reputation and tell me friends to go there. This is not about me it’s about the hundreds of other people that visited these businesses yesterday and the only way they could give feedback was to their friends and family.
Satisfaction surveys are a necessity for long term success. If a business wants to survive and grow they need to know what their think of the experiences they have. The person at McDonalds knew that I was not happy… did they do anything to make it better? NO!
Customer satisfaction is critical. Businesses need to provide the vehicle for fast, actionable feedback!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Customer Satisfaction
Doing a satisfaction survey in concept is a great idea. After all for business to grow they need to know what their customers are thinking and feeling. In order to know the business needs to survey customers. You need to ask them and generate customer feedback.
Here are a couple of problems with this simple concept.
First research out of Harvard and the London School of Economics shows that “satisfaction” has 0 correlation to future growth. The researchers found that even when customer satisfaction was high people would often switch. The reason for this is “Customer Satisfaction” is fickle. A person will say they are satisfied with a restaurant, dentist or coffee shop but they may never come back. You must measure a person’s willingness to risk their reputation and recommend.
The next challenge is how do you get people to provide meaningful customer feedback?
Comment cards are not the answer. The people that most often leave comments are the people that had a FANTASIC experience or terrible one. Studies show only about 10% - 15% of people on each end take the time to fill out the comment card.
The next issue with comment cards is tabulating the data. Who has time to enter all of the information and then do an analysis of the results?
Did I mention this is all a waste of time if you don’t ask the right questions?
Customer satisfaction is the key to long term business growth and success. But getting useful customer feedback is not as easy as you may think.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Ways to Improve Your Company's Customer Service
I was just reading an article from Businessweek with the title, "Ways to Improve Your Company's Customer Service". As I read it a couple of points jumped out at me...
First... The subhead says that businesses need to start by finding out what is not working and fix it. That is so brilliantly simple and often very challenging! Knowing what customers or guests want it not always easy! They often don't tell you. I looked at some recent research that said only 26% of guests that have a bad experience will tell you! This means almost 3/4 only tell their friends and all the people on the Internet. It is critical that businesses have a tool that they can use to get accurate guest or customer feedback, FYI - Comment Cards are not the answer!
Second... The article goes on to say, "Business owners, despite their best intentions, don't always know what it is that will most satisfy their customers. They might think it's price..." Research shows over and over that people will pay more for great service. A recent American Express Customer Service Barometer said that people would pay over 16% more for good service. The key again is knowing what the customer wants. This means getting real feedback that is actionable!
Finally... The article says that you need to find technology that allows you to find out what the guest wants. This is very important. Did you know that the methodology for comment cards was estimated to have been created in the late 1800's. Not sure that I would want to run my business that way.
If you'd like to read the entire article here is a link to it!
Businessweek Ways to Improve Your Company's Customer Service
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Welcome and Thank you!
I have almost 20 years of experience helping businesses in the restaurant, hospitality and entertainment industry improve their guest experience!
Here are few things that we know that could help you.
1 – Customer satisfaction surveys and comment cards are a waste of time, energy and money! I’ll share more about this going forward.
2 – You must measure what matters… a person’s willingness to risk their reputation.
3 – Customer feedback needs to be actionable.
I hope this gets you thinking a little. Customer feedback is critical to long term success the challenge is asking the wrong questions could have you headed in the wrong direction.
If you'd like to know more please visit www.feedbackrevolutionqr.com
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