A recent LinkedIn question asked for ideas regarding an assessment tool or diagnostic for evaluating the market research agencies and voice of customer suppliers.

These are the organisations that deliver customer satisfaction surveys and similar customer insight programmes.

The questioner asked for advice under the following headings:

Process – systems – experience – skills – effectiveness

I thought to myself, what a great question.  In fact it is a framework which we should address, as we are a provider of these services.

This is the classic conundrum, how can you make a decision if you don’t know what you don’t know!  So I thought it would be useful to write a few words.  If I were a buyer, knowing what I know, what would I be looking for within each category:

Process
Ensure your supplier can articulate a structure that captures all the information at the front end, to deliver your goal at the back end. We call the clients goal the End Game. The end game isn’t the research output it is the clients organisational goal i.e. increase sales by X, or reduce costs by Y.

You seek a process that must include the intelligent steps that will deliver the right customer insight.

This might seem like high level waffle, but this is the most important part of your project. If your supplier isn’t interested, doesn’t think about this, or doesn’t understand your business objectives – the project will fail at worst, at best you will have nice data, but it wont relate to your need.

Sounds simple, but it’s a challenge. Make sure your business benefit is the no.1 part of that initial discussion over coffee.

Another go/no-go discussion is your contact data. Make sure your supplier really grills you on this. It’s easy for a client to say the data is great, but then when you are live in the project, the reality of poor data means you miss milestones. The supplier should push you hard on data from the word go.

Systems
Technology means your customers can be contacted in almost any way at any touch point, to identify their moments of truth during the customer journey… Data capture is relatively easy.

Think about data security, data management, what happens at the end of the project? How is data backed up, what security is involved.

Also think about data mining, and graphical reporting, online dashboards, access at different levels within your organisation. Who needs what information. What is the time lag? Will your customer satisfaction survey be based on transactional customer activity? If yes, you will probably need real-time reporting via an online dashboard.

If you are considering investment in customer satisfaction or voice of customer, how will you use that customer insight? If a customer is unhappy, how will you react? How will you track and record your staff as they action your service recovery process? Think about integration of auto alerts, triggered by poor or wow experiences (always nice to catch staff doing wow and say Thank You). Think about CRM integration into your online reporting, then you have an audit trail, related to the customers comment.

Experience
A key consideration. But what type of experience?

I suggest you look for a supplier who can demonstrate the elements of the programme you are looking for. Perhaps they worked in alternative sectors or verticals, if they did, they will bring a wider experience. Best practice is great, as long as it’s not just from your sector, how can your supplier help you learn from others.

Follow up with previous clients, if the supplier states that have delivered a customer satisfaction programme or another activity for a brand, ask for the lead contact at that organisation and drop them an email.

Skills
Another good heading, and yes, technical skills are key. But think about the associated skills that will make or break your project. Good customer insight will affect your organisations strategy, so ensure you have a supplier who understands the DNA of business, or can quickly demonstrate an understanding for your challenge.

If you ask the right questions, you will have insight that will impact the way your organisation thinks. In which case, ensure your supplier can hold an intelligent conversation with the board.

Effectiveness
There are two elements that are front of mind when thinking of this heading.

Response rates, although you only need 400 responses for a data set to have a confidence of 95% i.e. 95% probability that it represents your audiences view.

That said, when organizations are making strategic business decisions, the board will feel more comfortable if the response rate of a customer satisfaction survey is based on a large percentage of the customer base.  In our experience, B2B research will deliver a response in excess of 40%, without incentive.  With the right techniques this can more to 80-90%.

B2C response rates relate to other influences, usually need an incentive and often have a lower response level.  However the right approach will 20%+ starting from a point of zero customer contact data.

The second element is ROI, click here for more on ROI.

I hope these thoughts have been helpful.

If we can be of assistance, please drop us a line or give us a call, always happy to have a chat, and give you our view on the best approach to your challenge.