Developing Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Overview/Description
 By the time most people have the chance to develop their first survey, they've seen so many that it seems like developing one will be a piece of cake. To an extent, they're right. Developing a GIGO (Garbage In/Garbage Out) survey is a no-brainer. Developing a survey that gets valid, reliable data, however, is both science and art. In this course, you'll learn to use the principles of survey design to develop a customer satisfaction survey that works. You'll explore factors that influence selection of the survey method. You'll also learn to design the survey instrument itself, including selection of question formats, sequencing of questions, and wording of the items themselves. Finally, you'll examine issues relating to selection of a sampling method and determination of sample size.

Target Audience
 Marketing executives, managers, and professionals with responsibility for customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as all employees who contribute to the customer loyalty chain

Expected Duration
3.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Determining How to Conduct the Survey

  • recognize the importance of obtaining a high response rate in customer satisfaction surveys.
  • match key survey requirements with the most appropriate survey method.
  • identify key elements of an effective mail survey cover letter.
  • analyze whether mail survey procedures used in a business scenario will be effective at optimizing customer response rates.
  • apply appropriate procedures for optimizing customer response rates to a phone survey in a business scenario.

    • Selecting and Managing Question Formats

  • recognize benefits of selecting the appropriate question formats in developing a customer satisfaction survey.
  • distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate uses of open-ended questions.
  • match types of closed-ended items with the appropriate use of each type.
  • determine in a business scenario whether customer expectations warrant increased or decreased improvement efforts based on responses to comparative survey items.
  • apply principles for sequencing questions appropriately in a customer satisfaction survey.

    • Introductions and Item Wording

  • recognize the importance of appropriate wording to ensure the reliability of a customer satisfaction survey.
  • match elements of an effective survey introduction with corresponding examples.
  • match types of loaded or confusing wording or construction with corresponding examples of each.
  • assess in a given business scenario whether examples of survey items are well-written or poorly written.

    • Sampling

  • recognize the benefit of using a statistical sampling method for selecting customers for a survey.
  • match sample types to their status of being generalizable or not.
  • assess a given business scenario to determine the best sampling method.
  • analyze a given business situation to determine what change in variables must be made to allow a change of sample size, confidence level, margin of error, or cost when planning sample size of a survey.

    • Course Number: CUST0132