It takes careful planning and consideration to get accurate and useful customer feedback. You need to make sure you capture actionable feedback in a tracking database. You also need to commit staff to aggregate and analyze the feedback from multiple sources within the corporation. And finally, you must to allocate the time to take action on the analysis. Response Design can help you overcome these common hurdles and help you ensure your customer survey is viable.

Here are few tips:

1. First and foremost, write a survey plan before launching a customer survey!
2. Watch male/female bias in questions
3. Balance male/female response rates
4. Be sure to specify customer segment criteria. For example, in a retail environment: Participant spends more than $X per year
5. Watch response rates if multiple segments are being surveyed at once to ensure statistical validity
6. Put customers in zip code array and pick every nth name to ensure geographic coverage
7. Determine how many customers you will need to sample (2 times, 5 times, or 10 times the number of completed surveys) to get the desired number of returns.
8. Be sure to pilot all new surveys prior to full implementation. For example, in one survey a company asked, "Describe the customer service traits of a company that you admire." Many customers answered this question as if the "admired company" was the company sending the survey. Needless to say, these answers would definitely skew the data.

Browse through our articles and products listed below and print this page for planning purposes.

Planning a Customer Survey Program Product Code: 10158
The Customer Survey Plan Product Code: 10159
Principles of Writing a Customer Survey Product Code: 10160
Sample of a Customer Telephone Survey (Transportation) Product Code: 10161
Sample of a Customer Telephone Survey (Utility) Product Code: 10162
Sample of a Customer Mail Survey Product Code: 10163
A Sample Customer Survey Report Product Code: 10164
Complaint Management and Service Recovery Process Checklist Product Code: 10014
Quality Monitoring - The Form Product Code: 10012
Quality Monitoring - The Nuance List Product Code: 10009
Implementing a Quality Monitoring Process - The Checklist Product Code: 10004
Quality Monitoring Suite Product Code: 10070