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!

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!

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.

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.

Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!

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.

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!

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!

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.

The Customer Aggravation Index: Predicting Customer Loyalty Without Surveys | Business Finance:

'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!

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.

The Simple Truths of Service

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".

Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!

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..."

How to Make the Most of Customer Feedback | Inc.com

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!

Transforming the way customers share feedback and how organizations use it!

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.

A New Look at 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!

Transforming the way customer share feedback and how organizations use it!

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!

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!

Cafe Reconcile serves kids hope - Video - Business News

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!

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.

No more comment cards!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

www.feedbackrevolutionqr.com

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

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

http://www.google.com/mobile/shopper/

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!

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!

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.

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

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