Providing high quality service is a major concern for almost any business. The quality of the service can be an important factor when the customer decides which company to turn to for their needs. Customers have some expectations about the level of satisfaction they get from the companies they favor. Companies that have a habit of meeting these expectations can do good business and have a good customer base. However, it is difficult to improve the quality of service if customers do not suggest how to improve it. So collecting customer feedback and using it to evaluate service quality should be an important part of any business strategy.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Get Customer Feedback
Step 1. Use surveys
Perhaps the simplest and most direct way to get feedback from your customers is to simply ask for it. An easy way to do this is a survey - a list of questions about their experience. Surveys with multiple choice questions are particularly useful for companies because they can easily quantify answers to these types of questions, so it is easy to draw conclusions from the data in the form of graphs, scatter plots, etc.
- Surveys are usually given at the end of the customer experience (e.g. after dinner or when they check out at the hotel). You could attach a survey to the documentation that closes the transaction, such as the bill at the end of the dinner, the receipt of a purchase, etc.
- Keep it simple - hardly anyone likes to fill out long, detailed surveys. The simpler the survey, the more likely it is that it will be filled out.
Step 2. Get back to customers after the service
Another common way to get feedback from customers is to contact them after the service is completed. This is usually done using the contact details provided by the customer when they received the service - you may have, for example, received a call from the company that installed your phone after the job was completed. This type of feedback has the advantage of giving customers time to use the service before asking them for an opinion.
Unfortunately, a downside to this type of feedback is that it can be viewed as rude or annoying behavior. For example, if a family is contacted over dinner, this can negatively affect their opinion of the company. One way to counterbalance this effect is to use less intrusive ways to contact customers, such as email, social media and other electronic means of communication. Note, however, that electronic media has been found to favor data from different demographic groups over telephone surveys
Step 3. Offer usability tests
The two feedback examples cited above both include collecting quality of service data after the customer has used it. Usability tests, on the other hand, have the ability to have customer feedback while using the product or service. Typically, in a usability test, some participants are given examples of products or services while observers watch or take notes. Participants are usually asked to complete specific tasks or problems with a product or service - if they can't, this can indicate that the product or service is having design problems.
- Usability testing can provide valuable data on how to improve a product or service. For example, if you experience the quality of a new cloud-based writing platform and notice that most attendees have a hard time changing the font size, you will know that this option should become more intuitive in the final version.
- To keep the costs of usability texts low, make the best use of available resources - conduct the test in your offices, during business hours and, if possible, use your own equipment. Renting it could be very expensive.
Step 4. Monitor your social media presence
Today, "word of mouth" doesn't just refer to conversations in person - the increase in the use of social media over the past decade has made it easier to discuss one's opinions online. Take the comments made on social media about your company seriously - even if the standards of online communication are not particularly high, people are much more likely to be more honest online, having some degree of anonymity than when you are face. to face.
- If your business doesn't already have an account on at least one of the major social media sites (Facebook, Yelp, or Twitter), create one immediately. This is not only a way to start tracking your social media “tracks”, but also to promote your company and communicate upcoming events to your customers.
- One particular site you should be on is Yelp. As Yelp is a widely used source of reviews and testimonials, it can have a big impact on the business - in a recent study, small businesses found that a strong presence on Yelp helped them earn an extra € 8,000 in annual revenue.
Step 5. Try to incentivize the feedback process
Customers are human beings with a lot of personal commitments, so their time and effort is worth it. So you are much more likely to get feedback from customers if you make it convenient for them. One way to do this is to simply pay customers for detailed feedback or take tests. If you don't have the money to invest in this, you can still incentivize customers to give you feedback if you can be creative. Here are some simple ideas:
- Offer discounts to customers who accept
- Enter customers who enter a draw or contest to win a prize
- Give gift vouchers
- Give some goods
Step 6. Use the data for online business
If your business does all or some of its operations online, you can use the power of web analytics to draw conclusions about the quality of service on your website. By tracking which pages customers visit, how long they browse each page and other browsing habits, you can draw important conclusions about the quality of your online service.
- For example, let's say you run a company that charges users to watch DIY car repair videos made by experienced mechanics. Using analytical tools that make you monitor traffic on each page will make you discover that 90% of visitors arrive at the cost information page, but only 5% arrive at the service options page. This could indicate that your rates are not competitive - perhaps lowering your prices could increase your sales.
- Popular web analytics tools are: Google Analytics (free), Open Web Analytics (free), Clicky (requires registration), Mint (paid) and ClickTale (paid).
Step 7. Ask for external advice on customer needs resulting from the feedback
If your company is really trying to evaluate the quality of its service, it is important to remember that it "does not have to manage this task alone". If you don't have the time or resources to collect customer feedback, try listing the services of a high-quality customer service company. The best companies will take charge of your mission and manage the needs of your customers, keeping you informed of every problem. For companies with margins in their external consultancy budget, this solution can save a lot of time and promote efficiency.
However, note that using an external resource to manage customer services can make customer opinion seem unimportant because it is not dealt with directly by you. For this reason, when you have third parties manage customer service, it is very important to present an empathic and human image to customers
Step 8. Show customers that their feedback is important
Ask yourself, if you were an average consumer, who would you most likely send a detailed quality service review to: a faceless mass organization that doesn't care, or a company run by people who use their time to respond to needs of their customers? The answer is obvious. If your business has a reputation for taking customer issues seriously, you'll find you'll get better feedback without having to make any further changes. All it takes is to take the extra time and make an effort to reach customers who comment on the quality of the service.
An easy way to do this for small and medium-sized businesses is to respond to customer comments and issues on social media, where they are most visible to other customers. You may not be able to prevent some customer from being dissatisfied with your business, but if you politely and professionally respond to an angry social media review, for example, you could turn a bad situation upside down and possibly even get the customer back
Part 2 of 3: Evaluating Your Company
Step 1. Evaluate the quality of the customer touchpoint
When planning a survey or other method of assessing the quality of your company's services, it's important to focus on the most important metrics (as customers are less likely to complete the longer and more elaborate surveys). One of the most important details to focus on is the quality of the customer contact point. By examining the interaction between customers and representatives, you can determine if your company's interactions with customers are satisfactory. In addition, this type of questioning can help "eliminate" problematic collaborators with negative attitudes. Try asking some of the following questions:
- Which employee provided the service?
- Did the employee who provided the service seem competent?
- Was he as kind to the customers as the rest of the staff?
- Did it give you a sense of confidence and security?
Step 2. Measure the empathy of the company as a whole
If your business deals directly with consumers, it's important to communicate the idea that the business cares about its customers. There is no one way to do it - the solution to this problem is partly marketing, partly personalization and above all quality of service. To rate this quality in surveys, focus on questions such as:
- Did the consumer perceive that the company and / or his collaborator cared about the people they worked with?
- Did the client feel like he was receiving individual attention?
- Has the company created a friendly and welcoming atmosphere?
Step 3. Evaluate the trustworthiness of the company
High quality of service in the short term doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained over the long term. Consistency is an extremely important aspect of a high quality service - in fact, research has shown that trustworthiness is generally considered by customers to be the most important aspect of good service. Reliability is why multinationals like McDonalds are able to attract customers everywhere. Customers like to have the same satisfying result every time they use a product or service from that company. So to judge the consistency of your service, ask questions such as the following:
- Did the employee or company accurately provide the service?
- Does the customer believe that the company or employee would be able to continue providing the service in the future?
- Would the customer use the company's services again in the future?
- If this is not the first time the client has used the services of this company, how would they compare their recent experience with past ones?
Step 4. Assess the company's responsiveness
While perhaps it goes without saying, it must be said that almost all customers prefer to interact with companies that are kind, courteous, quick and willing to please them. Evaluating responsiveness can help you determine whether to devote more resources to create a positive customer experience by training employees to be more effective, hiring more staff, and / or using different strategies to manage customers. Try to focus on questions like:
- How able and willing was the collaborator to respond to the customer's needs?
- How fast was the service delivered?
- Did the co-worker seem happy to give an additional service?
Step 5. Evaluate the tangible aspects of the customer experience
Even the happiest, fastest and most tolerant of collaborators cannot provide a high quality service if they do not have the tools to do their job or if the surrounding environment is unsatisfactory. Keeping the physical and tangible aspects of your business in order is an important aspect of providing a high quality service. Highlight gaps in your company's operations by asking questions such as:
- Was the instrumentation working properly?
- Was the appearance of the product or company clean and satisfying?
- Was the employee's appearance professional?
- Were all communications clear and professional?
Part 3 of 3: Improving Your Company's Services
Step 1. Establish well-defined service standards for employees
Employees' work can be hindered if they have to follow endless worthless rules, but some kind of direction is needed for sensitive areas like customer service. Employees should know exactly what is expected of them when interacting with customers and providing company services. For most businesses, this includes friendly and helpful behavior, a willingness to please the customer, and prompt, professional service. Further requirements may vary, it is up to you and company management to clearly communicate your goals to employees.
Often the simplest rules for services are the most effective ones. For example, Little Caesars, a large American fast food pizza chain, has the simple goal of providing each customer with "a perfect pizza and a smile in 30 seconds or less." This simple directive underlines the most important qualities of the company's services (quality, courtesy and speed) makes it very clear what kind of service is expected
Step 2. Go out of your way to have talented employees
Perhaps a company's most important resource are its employees. Without skilled and motivated collaborators, it is almost impossible to provide a good quality service; with them good service is the norm. If you want to have the best employees for your business, don't wait for them to come looking for you - look for them and make convincing offers once you find them. Advertise open positions online and post ads. Represent your company at job fairs. Keep in touch with the network of contacts and notify them when you need to hire. Above all, be prepared to offer better compensation than the competition.
A good policy for attracting good employees (and improving the loyalty of existing ones) is to offer your staff members a "career" rather than a job. This means a reasonable and consistent salary level with competitive benefits and (most importantly) the possibility of promotions if you work hard. Employees who see benefits in a long-term job are more willing to invest the extra time and effort to give customers exceptional service
Step 3. Offer co-workers incentives for good service
What is a great way to get excellent quality of service from employees? Making it affordable. Encouraging good service means offering tangible rewards to employees for having met or exceeded the desired level of service. Often these rewards are in the form of cash, but in some cases they are benefits such as extra holidays, bonuses, and so on. With an intelligent rewards system, it is in the employee's best interest to provide good service, as this will bring rewards.
For example, most car dealers pay their sellers for incentives, meaning the seller takes a percentage of the profits from the sale of a car. This model works well for both sellers and licensees: sellers will work better to sell and to be able to earn as much money as possible by increasing the number of cars the licensee can sell
Step 4. Make measuring your service an important part of your business plan
Measuring your company's quality of service shouldn't be a one-on-one task. If you want to keep the quality of service high as new problems arise, it should be a fundamental part of your company's operations. Consider adopting some of the following strategies next time you set up business planning:
- Hold fairly regular quality-of-service meetings with your co-workers
- Ask contributors for reviews to improve the service
- From time to time review the training plan for new employees
- If necessary, consider whether to devote resources to monitoring the company's online "profile" (or hire new staff or interns to do so)
Step 5. Make it easy for customers to complain and get answers
Companies that want to improve the quality of their service cannot fear criticism. Smart companies make it easy for customers to have their say about something wrong - after all, the best judge of customer service is (obviously) the customer. Constantly solicit customer feedback. This can be as simple as eg.keeping comment cards by the checkout or as complicated as developing an online database to organize and record all customer service inquiries - it's up to you what is reasonable for your business.
Whatever you do to get customer feedback, make an effort to respond as much as possible. Not only is doing this courteous - it also creates a sense of community with customers and makes it clear that their opinion matters. You will definitely need to respond to reasonable complaints on social media and popular review sites like Yep, because the reviews on these sites can potentially be read by millions of people
Advice
- Provide surveys in the customer's native language where possible to increase understanding and get more accurate results.
- Customize questions based on your co-workers, company or service.
- Offering a reward in the form of a discount or the chance to win a prize can increase the total number of survey responses.
- Limit the number of questions to increase the chance of accurate answers.
Warnings
- Evaluating quality and customer satisfaction is extremely subjective. Other measures should also be put in place to determine the quality of the product or service offered.
- The margin of error can increase depending on the number of surveys that are given to customers but are not returned.
