{"id":394,"date":"2022-06-10T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T15:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=394"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:25","slug":"running-an-unbiased-customer-survey-with-actionable-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/running-an-unbiased-customer-survey-with-actionable-results\/","title":{"rendered":"Running an Unbiased Customer Survey with Actionable Results"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Besides the instructions, the questionnaire and the \u201csubmit\u201d button, every customer satisfaction survey goes out with a little bit of hope inside it. <\/p>\n

One of the hopes is that enough customers will fill out the survey to make the results statistically valid.<\/p>\n

There is also the hope that you\u2019ll get the kind of feedback you can act upon to provide the customer experience you deliver.<\/p>\n

For most brands, though, there\u2019s also a more secret hope: that the feedback you get from your customers will be positive, or at least not excessively negative. <\/p>\n

Customer satisfaction<\/a> surveys have long been a core part of what are often called Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs. As the term implies, it\u2019s all about the brand reaching out and capturing the opinions, emotions and ideas from the people who purchase its products and services. <\/p>\n

In a way, VoC surveys can be thought of as a form of active listening to your customers. That means you should be prepared to hear them out whether the sentiment shows a strong relationship, or one that is in serious jeopardy of ending badly.<\/p>\n

The only risk with this kind of research is that the survey questionnaire is designed in such a way that you don\u2019t get the real story. <\/p>\n

Depending on what you ask, it can be relatively easy to ensure customers focus on the sunnier aspects of their experience \u2013 or at least avoid where the experience somehow went wrong. <\/p>\n

Brands don\u2019t always do this intentionally. Most marketing strategies are focused on using a positive, uplifting tone of voice. That can creep into surveys to the point where questions aren\u2019t worded in an objective way. <\/p>\n

Use the following process (or adapt it based on the needs of your particular business) to develop customer surveys that are as unbiased as possible. In doing so you\u2019ll also gather data that leads to more tangible business results. <\/p>\n

1. Design for ease of use: Short, simple and with some variety<\/b><\/h2>\n

The bias may not always come from the way a brand words a question, but in that the survey isn\u2019t well structured or too complex. <\/p>\n

As anyone who\u2019s been asked to fill out a customer survey knows, the shorter and simpler the questions, the better. If you have to stop and figure out what you\u2019re ally being asked, you\u2019re less likely to provide the most complete answer. <\/p>\n

The same principles apply in how answers are captured. If all you give customers is text boxes to fill out, they may share more details than are relevant, or simply not share enough. If you only use multiple choice answers, you may not be giving them the scope to share insights that don\u2019t neatly fit into an A, B, or C. <\/p>\n

Offer a variety of response types that best suit the nature the question you\u2019re asking, always putting yourself in the role of respondent. Is it really a \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d question, or something less absolute and more nuanced? <\/p>\n

2. Rewrite anything loaded, leading or double-barrelled<\/b><\/h2>\n

Would you say this is the best blog post you\u2019ve read all week, or the best blog post you\u2019ve read in your entire life? <\/p>\n

The leading nature of this question probably jumps out at you immediately. Of course the answer will be biased, because the question was written to maximize the likelihood of a rave response! When we\u2019re asking questions about products we market and sell, though, we can be blind to leading questions. <\/p>\n

The same goes for loaded questions, which embed an assumption about the person answering. For instance, a survey question like \u201cWhy do you always recommend our products to friends and family\u201d is getting ahead of itself. First, you should ask about how often or willing they are to recommend your products. <\/p>\n

Double-barrelled questions are another common pitfall in customer surveys. Make sure that in your efforts to keep the survey short and simple that you don\u2019t cram too much in.<\/p>\n

Imagine someone who sees a question like, \u201cHow satisfied are you with our product selection and customer support?\u201d These are two very different areas, to make them separate questions. <\/p>\n

3. Test like the world\u2019s leading survey skeptic<\/b><\/h2>\n

Bias has a way of making us doubt the person asking for feedback. We wonder if the person (or brand) just wants us to tell them what they want to hear. Although this is not what you want when your survey goes out in the field, it can be a surprisingly helpful attitude when you\u2019re testing it beforehand.<\/p>\n

Find some people on your team, or a trusted partner or supplier, to put your questionnaire through its paces. Divide them into two groups. One should complete the survey like a real-world customer. The other should approach it more skeptically, almost like they were playing a game of \u201cspot the bias.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another trick to use in testing is to pretend you were intentionally putting bias in. Go through your survey and imagine how you\u2019d reword it to make some questions leading, loaded, confusing or double-barrelled. If it would take a drastic re-write, you may have a solid questionnaire for your research. <\/p>\n

Finally, remember the ultimate intentions of customer satisfaction surveys. The first is usually to get comprehensive feedback<\/a> on how well you\u2019re delivering on your brand promise. The second is to get ideas for improvement.<\/p>\n

When you test your survey, are you simply getting reactions, or data that will inspire action? Hopefully your research will give you some helpful numbers, but what really matters is what those numbers mean for your strategic plan to change your customer experience for the better. <\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surveys are all about capturing the unbiased opinions, emotions and ideas from the people who matter most, your customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sf_justforyou_enable_alt":true,"optimizely_content_id":"","post_meta_title":"","ai_synopsis":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"sf_topic":[5],"sf_content_type":[],"coauthors":[2],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sf_topic-customer-relationships"],"yoast_head":"\nRunning an Unbiased Customer Survey with Actionable Results - Salesforce<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Surveys are all about capturing the unbiased opinions, emotions and ideas from the people who matter most, your customers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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