Throughout my career I have been blessed with opportunities to join organizations that are in need of a fresh set of eyes to evaluate their processes and are poised to make a leap to a higher level of productivity and service. When presented with such an opportunity, I typically start with uncovering and mining data that allows me to set benchmarks for how the team is currently performing. Customer service satisfaction rates is one such metric that I try to wrap my arms around as quickly as possible.
I have learned on more than one occasion that satisfaction questions have never been asked. Anecdotal evidence may be available that points to a team delivering on their service promises but very little hard information is available. I have developed, over time, a basic satisfaction survey that helps me to understand current service levels and set benchmarks, around which future goals can set. You can view the survey that I use in one of three formats:
- Customer Service Satisfaction Survey (.docx)
- Customer Service Satisfaction Survey (.pdf)
- Customer Service Satisfaction Survey (SurveyMonkey)
I have added, depending on whether or not I am using my survey to poll internal- or external-customer, a Net Promoter question to my survey but the above-mentioned samples do not include this. (I have found that using a Net Promoter question for internal-customers–those that have very little choice when it comes to using your service or not–is not as valuable as using a Net Promoter question for external-customers).
As with any survey, you need to use the information produced as only one data point in your decision-making process. You also need to understand the dangers associated with being driven to perfection.