In the most recent small business newsletter from Wells Fargo they included a very concise and interesting article on the responsibilities of a CEO. As part of the responsibility of increasing sales and customer service, the authors alluded to the use of a simple customer satisfaction rating system:
Instead of complicated and arbitrary numerical customer surveys (one person’s “3” is another person’s “4”), they would ask their customers if they were 1) Delighted, 2) Satisfied or 3) Not Satisfied. This made the customer data much more real. The next question was usually “why?” This opened up a customer dialogue, which frequently led to significant improvement in customer delight and revenue. A unanimous conclusion from this approach was that there was much greater economic value turning a “satisfied” customer into a “delighted” customer than trying to convert a “not satisfied” customer into “satisfied.”
In my eyes, customer satisfaction is one important ingredient in the our goal of securing customer loyalty. Peter and I have often discussed the value and timing involved with a customer satisfaction follow-up. In the business of custom software, we work quite closely with the client and refine both the objectives and the details of the project consistently. We usually know if we hit a home run, a double or struck out. Still, we are very tough on ourselves and often find when we feel stress or disappointed in the deliverable, the client was quite satisfied. We have begun working on a very simple customer survey to send to the client or project managers once the project has been completed. When we get some feedback, I’ll write a follow up to see how it worked.
The Email:
Hi [client / project manager],
Thank you for the opportunity to work with you on the [name] project. We wonder if you might be willing to take a moment and provide us with some feedback.
Overall, when you review the experience you had working with Shane & Peter, Inc., were you:
- Delighted
- Satisfied
- Not Satisfied
Why?
On our next project together, how could we improve our services?
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Shane & Peter
The only remaining question is were you Delighted, Satisfied, or Not Satisfied with this article and why?