Customer Surveys- Marketing Campaigns in Disguise

Customers are sick and tired of being phone right on dinner time, stopped in the street when they are running late, or having cards thrust in front of them as they check out of a hotel and asked to complete yet another survey.

We are well and truly over the novelty of completing surveys according to Chris Bell Managing Director of Customer Experiences a company that advises business on customer experience improvements.

Very few act on the information we provide and actually does something about the issues we have raised. The reason for this is… they had no intention of doing anything with your feedback says Bell the whole survey in many cases was really a marketing campaign in disguise.

Asking customers for feedback just to make them think you care is undermining those organisations that really do care and will, where possible act on feedback

Bell is advising business and market research companies to clean up their performance in the areas of customer and employee surveys including the use of outdated questions like “the satisfaction” question that has no relevance to customer behaviour and surveys that are far too long

“Stop continually annoying your customers by asking them to complete surveys unless you are totally committed to acting on the results”  is the message we would like to get across said Bell before customers get even more annoyed with being asked.

His message to business is that if you are genuine and really care about your customers get back to them and advise them of the action you intend to take as a result of a survey; at least you can then be held to account.

Business must start genuinely focusing on their customers and drop the marketing stunts. Customers will no longer tolerate unprofessional behaviour.  

.chris@customerexperiences.co.nz www.customerexperiences.co.nz               mb 027 2792360