Telemarketing- Customer Satisfaction Campaigns

Transcription

1 Telemarketing- Customer Satisfaction Campaigns Why undertake them? An overview Insight into Customer Satisfaction Surveys Customer Satisfaction surveys are often overlooked as a core marketing activity, particularly in tough economic conditions where marketing spend is often reduced and what budget there is has to be focused on generating new business opportunities that can be clearly measured and monitored to show a positive Return on Investment. However when one considers the cost of obtaining a new client compared to the cost of retaining an existing one then it becomes an interesting argument. This paper looks specifically at the benefits of undertaking Customer Satisfaction Surveys and why they should be conducted. What are the key benefits to undertaking a Customer Satisfaction survey? It has been proven on many occasions that the key to retaining customers is consistently providing them with a good service that at minimum meets their needs and ideally exceeds their expectations. Every company aims to do this and most believe that they do actually deliver this; however what they perceive and what their customers perceive is not always necessarily the same. Unless companies have a regular, robust and consistent approach to monitoring customer satisfaction, it can be very difficult to ensure that the customer does in reality always receive the desired level of service and therefore satisfaction from the company. Thus for companies it is very important to regularly measure levels of customer satisfaction with a company s products and services as levels of service and product quality can vary and what is perceived as exceptional at any one point in time may not be several months later. By tracking quality regularly a business can monitor trends in results

2 and identify key areas of both strength and weakness and implement plans within their businesses to review and address those areas. This satisfaction monitor can be reviewed against changes that are ongoing or planned within a company to ensure that they are effective. After all a happy client is far more likely to remain loyal to their existing supplier and indeed recommend them, than an unhappy one - and the costs of retaining a customer are far less that those associated with gaining a new one! Key Reasons for outsourcing a Customer Satisfaction Survey Many companies will undertake ongoing Customer Satisfaction surveys themselves to endeavor to monitor their customer experience; this is very much a step in the right direction and if done in such a way that the right questions are asked with the ultimate customer feeling that they can express their opinion of the product/service experienced then it will identify areas that can be enhanced thus leading to improvements. Other companies may feel that it is better to outsource this activity to specialist. Using a reputable company with significant experience in this type of work will ensure that optimum results are generated that will add value to the processes within a business. Some of the reasons that companies do decide to outsource this activity are as follows: Resource and Time Frequently within businesses there is no resource with the right experience to undertake a customer satisfaction survey and therefore either the project does not happen or alternatively happens but is not set up, managed and interpreted as proficiently as it could have been and therefore does not either have the profile within the business to drive changes through or alternatively does not tell the company anything truly meaningful. By using a company who is regularly undertaking this type of work companies can feel confident that the project will be managed on their behalf to ensure that meaningful results are generated. Knowing the right questions to ask Very often the company wishing to understand the true customer experience does not have the right level of experience to be able to fully scope out the types of questions to ask to gain the most insight into how they can not only capture said intelligence but also report it and analyse it in such a way that it can be clearly understood and form the basis of an action plan. It is always recommended that the questions asked be kept short and succinct and cover the following key areas: Overall satisfaction Likelihood of recommendation Probing question as to why Likelihood of using again Satisfaction with specific service or product Opportunity to provide additional feedback

3 Again by working with a company who regularly undertakes this type of activity, they will benefit from that company s knowledge and experience of what works. Getting to the Truth Another key influencer to gaining a true indicator of customer satisfaction is how honest a company s clients feel they can be when responding on levels of satisfaction. Many customers find it very difficult to be open and honest when directly communicating to their supplier; they wish to have a degree of anonymity and they do not wish to offend. The types of questions and the approach taken are of paramount importance to ensuring that customers feel they can be honest and that their feedback is appreciated and valued. From the company who is undertaking the satisfaction survey s perspective, whilst it is great to hear positive feedback, and good news should always be communicated as part of a company s communications strategy, it is limiting in terms of giving a good indication on how to further improve performance. It is only by really asking the right questions about the right areas of business and being open to hearing the whole truth that the full benefits from a customer satisfaction programme can be fully gained. And hence it may be better to independently manage the process of measuring levels of satisfaction. This can be conducted through an independent company who are then impersonal to feedback and feedback can be objectively handled and reported. Getting Results that you can use Obtaining enough completed questionnaires is fundamental to being able to analyse results and accurately examine the findings and draw conclusions. Too small a sample and the results are inconclusive; too large and the exercise is too costly. Via clever questioning the opportunity also exists to gather additional useful intelligence on your customers that help you to understand them better and this can indeed help to drive your company s marketing strategy. Frequency of undertaking satisfaction surveys Whilst it is important to track results and this should be conducted on a regular bias, it is also important not to over contact individuals and thus become an annoyance. Typically it is recommended that customers should be contacted no more than 6 monthly, and given the option to opt out of receiving surveys if requested. By undertaking customer satisfaction surveys on a regular basis companies can identify areas of weakness more quickly and avoid any complacency. It is also better to undertake a survey with customers whose experience in dealing with you is still fresh in their minds as their experience is still fresh in their minds and feedback is then more meaningful.

4 Methods of measuring satisfaction levels When looking to undertaking customer satisfaction surveys it is important to select the right approach in line with your products and services and most importantly your clients. It is also important to identify your customer markets e.g. ongoing existing customers who work with you on a regular basis and/or transactional customers who have used you for a specific purchase (product or service) and to ensure that the best approach is taken to evaluate these groups. Which method do you think they are most likely to complete? There are a number of preferred methods of measuring levels of satisfaction: Postal Survey this is usually recommended if you are looking to seek the views of a large number of individuals Online Survey this is probably the cheapest method of gathering views but is often poorly completed possibly because of the volume of digital communication with individuals. Telephone based Survey this offers a personal approach and typically generates a higher response rate than other methods. Face to Face Surveys this is an expensive option and usually involves a more detailed conversation around the total experience. For all of these methods, a questionnaire is usually set up with a series of questions asking about a particular element of customer experience and asking for a customer to rate that experience on a scale of e.g. 1-5 and often a probing question asked to try to understand why the customer has scored in a particular way (if appropriate). To enable easy analysis of responses, it is usually preferred to ask more quantitive questions with only a few qualitative questions. At the end of the questionnaire, there should be a set of results that provide intelligent feedback to a company and when all the results are consolidated a useful overview provided. The questions can also be analysed in a number of ways e.g. geographical, by product/service/dept etc.

5 Managing Customer expectations Every company likes to be able to sell itself based on generating the best results but it is very important to measure like with like. Telemarketing companies should aim to work with their clients to ensure that they implement the best telemarketing campaign to generate the optimum results aligning to their client s business objectives and goals to be achieved. Results are not always best measured by quantity and indeed in some cases it can be a wrong measure quality conversations with existing customers is fundamental to business success. If the information collated is of good quality then the reporting presented are genuine and can be used to really benefit your business. Telemarketing companies should focus on quality and that the key objectives are to ensure good quality completed satisfaction calls for their client. They achieve this by closely aligning the brief so that there is a clear understanding by both the client and the client s customer of the purpose of the call. Understanding the Results Analysing, reporting, and using customer satisfaction information To ensure that the company gains maximum benefit from the customer satisfaction survey it is essential that the results are reviewed, consolidated and reported in a meaningful way to the company s management team who themselves are open to receiving and acting upon the feedback. The customer satisfaction measures will ensure customer service is a primary focus for all employees while informing managers about opportunities for operational improvements. For the purpose of review and reporting companies should prepare to report both on overall customer satisfaction trends and their customer s opinions about key drivers of satisfaction and the aspects of the customer experience that most influences their overall satisfaction. Working with a partner KMB have worked across most industry sectors both private and public and are therefore very knowledgeable about the best approaches to generate the required results and the pitfalls that can be encountered. We are able to use this knowledge and experience to guide companies through the telemarketing campaign process ensuring that a tailored approach is taken to account management of individual campaigns that will both build the relationship with the company s clients and gather the required intelligence from the decision-maker on their experience with the company concerned. We never lose sight that ultimately the client is looking for a bespoke and tailored campaign that will provide a useful insight into their customer s experiences with them and should they decide that customer satisfaction surveys undertaken by telephony are the best option for them K.M.B Telemarketing will work with them to deliver the optimum campaign.

6 Prepared by KMB- About KMB With KMB being a Multi-Channel Contact Centre, , post, social media or telephony can be used to market your company, working alongside your sales and marketing strategy to achieve a genuine return on investment. With 23 years of experience to generate good quality customers for our clients, it is paramount to have well trained and enthusiastic Agents. All agents are trained and briefed prior to the commencement of a campaign. Using contact centre technology, all calls are recorded and monitored to achieve the highest quality of results. We have worked for a wide range of clients on a variety of successful marketing projects in the following sectors: Financial Services, Insurance, Education, Professional Services, Construction, Materials Handling, Manufacturing, Automotive, Fleet, Not for Profit, Training, IT, Telecoms, Environmental Services, Utilities, Leisure and Freight Forwarding. KMB is a long standing member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) aligning closely to DMA core values and KMB Managing Director Jacqui Crawley sits on the DMA Contact Centre and Telemarketing Council and the DMA North Council. Find out how we can help you with a customer satisfaction campaign by ing us at info@kmb.org.uk Visit our website at And follow us on... Visit our pages...