Agenda

• About ScottMadden
• Customer Satisfaction Approaches
• The Power of Customer and Employee Feedback
• What to Measure
• Trends from Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• Lessons Learned

 

Approaches for Measuring Customer Satisfaction

• Transitional/ “Point of Sale” Surveys
  • Collects immediate feedback on customers’ experiences
  • Provides feedback for specific individuals
  • Enables trending and performance monitoring
• Periodic Comprehensive Surveys
  • Measures satisfaction across all service areas and dimensions
  • Provides insight on awareness and importance
  • Enables trending over time
• Focus Groups
  • Provides input to key service issues that can be used to design surveys
  • Captures in-depth information on key issues that emerge from other surveys/feedback
• Other Feedback Sources (Complaints, Escalation Logs)
  • Identifies immediate service concerns
  • Highlights potential process problems
  • Enables trending over time

 

Approaches for Measuring Customer Satisfaction (Cont’d)

Comprehensive surveys include several types, which are each important for providing a full picture of customer satisfaction.

• Periodic Comprehensive Surveys
  • Baseline Surveys
  • Customer Surveys
  • Service Delivery Employee Surveys

 

Why Measure Customer/Employee Perceptions?

Knowing your customers’ perceptions give you power to:

• Anticipate rather than react
• Improve your organization’s impact to the bottom line

 

Linking Customer Satisfaction and Employee Engagement

Dimensions for Measuring Employee Engagement 1.Perceptions on customers’ views of services

• Customers’ use of services
• Importance customers place on services
• Satisfactions with performance of services

2.Perceptions on customers’ views of service delivery

• Knowledge and attitude of staff
• Accuracy and timeliness of service
• Follow-through on commitments
• Convenience of doing business
• Willingness to help, prompt delivery
• Concern for business needs

 

What You Learn

By measuring both customer and employee perceptions of service performance and service delivery, you are able to identify perception gaps between your customers and employees. Perception gaps can be used to formulate training and communication needs in addition to prioritizing improvement areas.  

Key Issues to Consider

• Are our customers aware of our services?
• Do our customers value our services?
• Which services are considered most important?
• How do customers rate performance on the services they consider most important?
• What drives satisfaction at your company?
• Do quantitative results match anecdotal perceptions?
• How do perceptions vary across:
  • Organizations?
  • Geography?
  • Position level?
  • Length of service?
• Are there perception gaps between customers and service delivery employees?
• Are ratings consistent among like questions?

 

Key Dimensions to Consider

Solid survey goals and parameters form the foundation for a successful survey; a number of key dimensions should be considered when designing your surveys

• Include multiple dimensions of customer satisfaction
  • Awareness and Need
    • Awareness of services, options, needs, expectations, and service levels
    • Qualifications
    • Image of organization
  • Satisfaction with Interactions
    • Knowledge and attitude of staff
    • Accuracy and timeliness of service
    • Follow-through on commitments
    • Convenience of doing business
    • Willingness to help, prompt delivery
    • Concern for business needs
  • Satisfaction with Offerings
    • Use
    • Importance
    • Performance
    • Costs

• Measure what you do
  • Ask questions about specific initiatives or improvements made
  • Ask questions relating to problem areas that you want to explore
  • Ask questions regarding aspects of service or satisfaction which you can control and/or impact

 

Approach for Trend Analysis

ScottMadden has been conducting customer satisfaction surveys for our shared services clients since 1998 and has captured overall satisfaction data to provide insight on typical trends

• We analyzed multifunction, multi-year customer satisfaction scores for shared services organizations (SSOs) to understand typical patterns in customer satisfaction
• Our hypotheses of satisfaction exceeding prior service delivery and continued improvement in shared services customer satisfaction over time were correct
• Those shared services organizations that regularly measure customer satisfaction benefit from the ability to use this data to demonstrate value to its customers
• Companies that conduct baseline surveys of customer satisfaction prior to implementing shared services have the added benefit of comparing their performance to the satisfaction with the prior delivery model

Hypotheses:

1. Shared services satisfaction exceeds prior service delivery satisfaction
2. Shared services customer satisfaction improves over time

 

What We See

• Companies who have conducted baseline surveys before their SSO is implemented typically see a decline in customer satisfaction during the first year of operations
• This decline is not surprising due to customer reluctance to adopt a shared services model
• Likewise, initial operations during the first year can have some hiccups in service as all parties become accustomed to the new model
• However, our data indicate that customer satisfaction increases in the second year of operations and continues to increase in Years 3 and 4
• The average increase in Year 2 surpasses the percent decrease in Year 1
• The average increases in Years 3 and 4 trend smaller as it becomes harder for SSOs to continue to improve on customer satisfaction after the initial increase
• After the initial year of operations, data show that customer satisfaction levels are higher with shared services than with prior delivery models
• For on-going operations, the bar is raised and SSOs must work hard to maintain the higher levels of satisfaction and to find innovative ways to continue improving

 

Lessons Learned

Consider these lessons when you plan customer satisfaction surveys 1.Establish a baseline

• Capturing satisfaction levels prior to the implementation of a shared services model or addition of new services gives you important data for comparison that can help demonstrate the value of shared services

2.Define your customer groups and use samples appropriately

• Understanding the true customers of the functions and services within your SSO is important for formulating your survey design; samples should be used when appropriate to avoid over-surveying

3.Formulate good survey questions

• Constructing effective survey questions requires careful phrasing, appropriate response scales, and distinguishing between different service attributes and dimension that influence customer satisfaction

4.Pay attention to survey structure

• Considering the flow of the survey and managing the overall length of the survey is important for ensuring a good response

5.Build a communications plan to support your surveys

• Communicating with your customers and employees is essential both pre- and post-surveys and in conjunction with other methods used for capturing feedback

 

Summary

• Customer satisfaction for an internal service organization is a primary measure of results (along with cost, quality, and compliance); therefore, it deserves thoughtful attention
• Measurement of customer satisfaction is one element of a customer satisfaction program
• Lots of communication leverages the results of measurement
• Lack of communication destroys value
• Benefits are lost if measurement results do not drive successful improvement initiatives

Do:

• Take time to define objectives
• Manage it like a project
• Include representatives from all shared services
• Follow through on communications and improvement initiatives

Don’t:

• Approach it as a one-time event
• Cut corners on survey design