How to Maximize the ROI for Your Service Satisfaction Measurement and Benchmarking Efforts (article 2 of 5)
by Service 800, Inc.

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 2 – How Can Hot Sheets Help Us Retain Customers and Increase Satisfaction?

While the measurement of customer satisfaction offers service providers numerous benefits, one of the hidden advantages of measuring through SERVICE 800 is automatic generation of ‘customer hot sheets’.

Customer hot sheets help service providers immediately identify unresolved customers issues, as well as unsatisfied customers. Because SERVICE 800 conducts follow up interviews within hours or days of the service event, they help service providers avoid potentially damaging customer satisfaction issues. Here’s how it works…

When an interviewer comes across a customer who unsatisfied with one or more characteristics of the service provided – for example, technician knowledge – the interviewer immediately generates and sends a customer hot sheet to a designated contact at the service provider location. Most service providers have an automatic escalation process in place that provides for prompt customer follow up and problem resolution within 24 to 48 hours.

An interviewer also generates a hot sheet if he comes upon a customer whose original issue is not completely resolved.

Below are some comments from actual SSPA SoftwareMetric Benchmark participants regarding the benefits of customer hot sheets.

“Customer hot sheets are indispensable to Lawson. I can’t stress how much of an impact hot sheets have on our satisfaction levels. If a customer indicates dissatisfaction with our support, SERVICE 800 alerts us right away and we quickly address the situation,” stated Jeff Quast, quality programs manager at Lawson Software. “The hot sheets are the single most powerful tool we have to find out what our customers truly want from a support perspective. They allow us to identify root causes of issues.”

“An essential advantage of gathering customer feedback shortly after the service event is our ability to divert potential customer issues before they intensify. When a SERVICE 800 interviewer encounters a customer who is not satisfied with the service received, a hot sheet automatically alerts us so that we can reopen the case and tackle the issue immediately. This invaluable service helps us address customer concerns in a time-sensitive manner,“ said Jeri MacBride, manager of quality assurance, customer service center at Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services.

“The implementation of targeted training and more practical hiring practices were the first benefits realized from participation in the SSPA SoftwareMetric Benchmark, but the use of customer hot sheets also positively impacts customer satisfaction,” noted Vicki Carlson, director of call center services at Gelco. “Customer hot sheets automatically alert us when a customer is not satisfied with the service received, allowing us to take direct and decisive action to resolve the problem as quickly as possible and retain the customer.”

“The real-time customer hot sheets provided by SERVICE 800 are extremely valuable in helping us avert potentially damaging situations with our customers. If a SERVICE 800 interviewer comes across an unsatisfied customer, we are alerted within hours. And, because SERVICE 800 is conducting interviews shortly after the event, the hot sheets allow us to address the customer’s concerns before they worsen. To complement that effort, we have an automated hot sheet case escalation process that requires the support team manager to respond to customer hot sheets within 24 hours,” commented Brent Ahlmann, customer advocate at Mercury Interactive.

Next Week - How Can We Boost Product Sales by Using Benchmark Data?

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.