Second To None

5 Ways to Mess Up Perfectly Good Customer Feedback

By Kerry Colligan

Perfectly good customer feedback comes in many shapes and sizes. Customer satisfaction survey instruments take many forms, most of them somewhere between adequate and exceptional. Focus groups, one-on-one interviews, social media. Even 3x5 mailers all do the trick. Yet, whichever collection mechanism you choose, there's a decent chance you (or your organization) won't capitalize on that data.

Why?

Because it's hard to close the loop on customer feedback. A recent Harvard Business Review article argues that customer feedback is most powerful when put in the hands of front line employees; revenue increases when front line employees are empowered to change the customer experience.[1]

Simple enough.

Why are so many customer feedback loops left open? There are a handful of offenders here, some more easily remedied than others.

1. Politics. Let's face it, the corporate hierarchy can be a significant barrier to information exchange. A typical customer feedback program doesn't include front line employees at all. Data moves from the customer, to the analyst, to middle and upper management. When information is shared down the ladder, it's usually hyper-summarized and attached to new SOPs.
2. Structural Deficiencies. Corporations tend to organize around functional tasks (accounting, marketing, operations). Employees at all levels often perceive their job to be bounded by functional departments. While this is beginning to change (notably in the creation of C-level customer experience roles), corporations should look to the customer experience to help define work teams that have the experience and authority to effect change.
3. Short-term Outlook. Goal-setting 101 says that it isn't a goal if it can't be measured and achieved by a certain date. Scratch improving customer experience. Kidding. But recognize that changing the customer experience is a process. Moving the customer experience needle takes time and persistence. Get feedback. Make changes. Repeat.
4. One-sided Data. Perhaps the most common offender, many companies collect only direct customer feedback. Customers rarely recall their experiences with the level of clarity or detail needed to effect operational change. Those new SOPs should be based on reality, not the customer's perception of it.
5. Managerial incentives. We've seen individual managers go to extraordinary lengths to challenge data that doesn't conform when incentives are tied to direct customer feedback. Customer feedback presents a great opportunity to learn about and improve your business. Data that doesn't conform may be the best place to start looking.

You get the idea. The HBR article argues that front line associates need to be empowered to change the customer experience. That's a cultural shift, and a huge hurdle for some organizations. Rather than overwhelm your program and undermine your career, pick one of the items in the above list. You could:

• Share blinded reports down the ladder.
• Create a multi-department committee to address one aspect of the experience, eg. speed of service at check-out.
• Measure customer experience success through surrogate measures like market share, share of wallet, or repeat visits.
• Use operational benchmark data, competitive/industry data, or mystery shopping to round out your data set.
• Leave room for data analysis when creating incentives. Raw scores can be misleading if taken out of context.

[1] Markey, Rob, Fred Reichheld, and Andreas Dullweber. "Closing the Customer Feedback Loop." Harvard Business Review. 87.12 (2009): 43-47. Print.

Customer Satisfaction, Mystery Shopping