How to Maximize the ROI for Your Service Satisfaction Measurement and Benchmarking Efforts (article 1 of 5)
by Service 800, Inc.

Now that you have a better understanding of how to properly gather and analyze service satisfaction feedback, it is important to take your skill set to the next level. This series of articles will help you gain the most return on your investment in service satisfaction measurement and benchmarking. The five-week series includes the following articles:

• Why is it Important to Study Customer Satisfaction Data Trends?
  
• How Can Hot Sheets Help Us Retain Customers and Increase Satisfaction?
  
• How Can We Boost Product Sales by Using Benchmark Data?
  
• What are the Best Ways to Use the Positive Aspects of Customer Feedback?
  
• Is it Possible to Enhance Employee Motivation and Moral by using Customer Satisfaction-based Incentives and Recognition?

Article 1 – Why is it Important to Study Customer Satisfaction Data Trends?

Customer satisfaction reports are critical for everyone in the company from upper level management to the individual technicians. In most cases, it is possible to identify trends in customer satisfaction data over time by month, quarter, year, and so on.

Identify Reoccurring Performance Issues
The most obvious benefit to studying data trends is your ability to identify reoccurring deficiencies in service performance. For instance, after studying six months of customer satisfaction data you discover that performance levels drop slightly during the first half of every month. When you pose the problem to your Help Desk supervisors, you find that the supervisors are not stressing customer satisfaction levels during the first half of the month. The big customer satisfaction push is in the second half of the month, just before management posts satisfaction numbers. Similarly, downturns in customer satisfaction during certain times of the year may indicate that your volumes increased and higher staffing levels may be appropriate.

Determine the Cause of Unexpected Dips in Customer Satisfaction
Studying data over time also helps you determine if dips in satisfaction are real or if they are simply due to sample error. For example, when studying data for the past six months, you notice a slight drop in satisfaction with hold times for the past two to three months. One month with this drop may be sampling error, but it is unlikely that a trend of two to three months is sampling error.

Eliminate the Possibility of a Sampling Error
In order to gather statistically valid data, you must obtain responses from a consistent number of people each month. A sample size that is too small might have you implementing changes that are not representative of the needs of your overall customer base. On the contrary, a sample size that is too large may be a waste of money, depending on how you use the data collected.

Verifying a consistent sample size is critical, and equally important to monitoring the actual number of responses for each data collection period. For example, if the response rate is 50 one month and 500 the next month, it is possible that your results are skewed, depending on the total number of closed service events each month. To eliminate sampling errors, look for consistency in sample size and response rate with each data collection cycle, based on the actual number of cases you closed during that period of time. This allows you to analyze trends based on similar criteria, giving you a more accurate picture of your service performance.

Investigate the Cause of the Drop in Satisfaction
Once you have eliminated the possibility of a sampling error, you need to investigate other causes for the drop in hold time satisfaction. When you talk with the Help Desk Logistics Manager, you find out that a new telephone menu is in place. You reinstate the old telephone menu and hold time satisfaction numbers return to expected levels.

Studying Data Trends by Individual Technician
Studying data trends for technicians is a bit more challenging because large volumes of data are not available. As you know, it is possible to collect customer satisfaction feedback for each technician, as long as you capture an identifying characteristic, such as technician ID, in the service event record. Still, before trending data for individual technicians, you need to consider several factors to compile statistically valid results and provide technicians with information of value.

Study Response Rates
When measuring customer satisfaction, it is imperative to study the number of responses compared to the total population. For example, a field supervisor might be pleased that 90% of customers are very satisfied or satisfied with Joe Technician’s service performance. After studying the data more closely, the supervisor learns that only 2 out of the 20 customers who worked with Joe Technician responded to the follow-up interview. Clearly, the small number of responses does not accurately represent the views of all customers serviced by Joe Technician.

Trend Data for Longer Periods
Because data collection volumes for an individual technician are lower than volumes for branches, regions, or the overall company, it is important to analyze and trend data over longer periods.

Avoid Making Decisions Based on One or Two Customer Comments
You should document and archive negative remarks, but avoid making decisions based on just a couple of customer comments. For example, one provider found that after sending the very best technician to a disgruntled customer site, the customer still graded the service poorly. After several visits, one technician discovered an internal cabling problem at the customer site was causing the server performance issue. In this case, a problem outside of the technician’s scope was causing the customer to rate the service poorly.

Provide Feedback for Areas Controllable by the Technician
Remember to design reports to include only the information that is applicable to the target audience. For instance, on individual technician reports, you might not want to display scores for the “time to reach a technician” category if your technicians do not control, nor affect hold times.

What is more, it is important to provide technicians with feedback specific to his or her individual performance, along with the aggregate scores for all technicians. This allows the technician to compare his performance to his peers.

Use Data in a Positive Way
While human nature usually leads us to negative customer comments, make a conscious effort to incorporate positive customer feedback when analyzing customer satisfaction data with the technician. This approach motivates the technician and reinforces positive behavior.

Next Week - How Can Hot Sheets Help Us Retain Customers and Increase Satisfaction?

To Contact Us — To discuss this topic, any other Benchmark Benefits article, or to provide topic suggestions, please contact Jan DeMatteo at jan@service800.com.

For More Information — For additional information about the SSPA SoftwareMetric Customer Satisfaction Benchmark, SERVICE 800, or other benchmark programs, visit www.service800.com/benchmarkprograms.asp.

About SERVICE 800
Founded in 1989, SERVICE 800 designs and administrators real-time customer satisfaction measurement programs, helping service organizations follow up with their customers within hours or days of service events. The company utilizes a distinctive follow up telephone interview process along with e-mail, web, and other survey techniques to measure customer satisfaction. With offices in Minneapolis and London, SERVICE 800 has been measuring customer satisfaction for corporations throughout the world for over a decade.