Case Study – Internal customer survey

Situation

A large and fast-growing company operating a broad portfolio of businesses across five countries. Historically, its various administrative and technical support areas had undertaken separate annual surveys to gauge internal customer satisfaction. These surveys were typically manual, administratively time consuming, received low response rates and provided limited reporting and analysis. In addition, there was increased customer respondent fatigue from completing multiple surveys with similar or the same questions.

Challenges

The project presented a range of challenges including:

  • Consolidate various surveys into one survey while maintaining relevance to the varied support areas
  • Transition process from a manual to electronic survey process
  • Significantly improve response rates
  • Provide comprehensive overall and sub unit analysis of the survey results

Solution

All surveys were merged into a single survey, with customers only seeing the questions relevant to the support area they interact with. The importance staff placed on each area in the conduct of their role was also measured for the first time. Merging the surveys decreased survey fatigue and also reduced administration significantly as the company did not need to manage the logistics of 15+ surveys and the complicated process of identifying respondents for each survey and then managing distribution and return.

Surveys were emailed directly to selected customers with a web link and unique password to allow surveys to be completed online. Survey completion rates were monitored electronically with regular friendly reminders sent to customers who had yet to complete the survey. The use of this electronic process led to significant improvement in completion rates compared to the historical manual methods.

The survey also included a section to find out customer perceptions of the value of the survey, the ease of use and their expectations of their client from providing feedback.

On review and analysis of the results, targeted Stakeholder interviews were conducted to further explore the identified strengths and opportunities emerging from the survey. The interview results were then incorporated into the final report and recommendations.

Outcome

The electronic survey process significantly improved internal company efficiencies by increasing participation rates while also reducing staff time spent on surveys by decreasing the number of surveys while still being able to target the surveys to the relevant areas. The electronic process also allowed the results of the surveys to be in the hands of management within 2 days of the completion of the survey period. This allowed implementation of target programs and changes in a timely manner.