Where do you start when measuring customer satisfaction?

All too often, or rather almost always, a customer satisfaction survey starts with an internal project group that will decide how the survey should be conducted. This involves thinking about a script of questions to ask customers when measuring customer satisfaction. And so questionnaires are submitted to customers, preferably via the cheapest possible channel (mail or online).

Measuring customer satisfaction, and therefore customer satisfaction, obviously starts with the customer, from the outside in. We are convinced that the factors that determine customer satisfaction should come from the customers themselves and not from within the organisation. It goes far beyond a questionnaire with standard questions. The first step in really measuring customer satisfaction is a preliminary survey in which you gain insight into the factors that determine satisfaction. So you start talking to your customers, maybe even your former customers. Measuring customer satisfaction started with the preliminary survey. Questions you ask in the preliminary survey are questions like:

• Why did you ever become a customer with us?
• What need do we meet?
• Have you ever considered taking your services elsewhere, and if so why did you or did you not do so at the time?
• What are your main reasons for being/staying a customer with us?

Preliminary investigation

The preliminary research is much more about perception and finding out drivers. Perhaps the survey shows, for example, that price is not at all as decisive for satisfaction as thought. So why ask about that in a satisfaction survey? It is also important to ask questions that focus on your customer's actual behaviour. This is the difference between questions ''why did you become a customer with us?'' and questions ''Would you take up this new service in the future?''. The first question focuses on what the customer actually does, while the second question focuses on a future possibility.

Knowing what the customer actually wants and why is much more valuable than relying on what they ''might do'' in the future. Indeed, people tend to always answer future-oriented questions positively in order to accommodate the person asking the question. Not helpful if it turns out afterwards that you have developed a service based on socially desirable answers instead of your customer's actual needs. Therefore, start with a baseline measurement: what is current customer satisfaction? Research your customer's current satisfaction, resolve dissatisfaction as quickly as possible and distinguish yourself from the competition by doing the things you do well even better.

Inside-out  -> Outside-in

Measuring customer satisfaction  as far as we are concerned, is first and foremost engaging with your customers and really looking at your own services through their eyes. Not determining for yourself the factors that determine that customer experience. Not asking questions about topics that are not important to your customers. We therefore prefer to talk about a customer feedback survey. Such a survey should be an ongoing one that sets up a continuous customer feedback loop. After all, your customer's wishes change over time. An ongoing customer feedback loop therefore helps you proactively adapt your service to the changing customer needs.