Business White Paper Building and Measuring Business Value: Customer Satisfaction Surveys April 2008
Table of Contents 3 Introduction 3 The Need for Insight 3 The Right Measurement Tool 4 Survey Dimensions 5 Genesys Survey Solution 8 Implementing a Survey 10 Conclusion 16 Genesys Professional Services
3 of 10 Introduction In his book, The Loyalty Effect, Frederick F. Reichheld states, Customer retention is the central gauge that measures how well the company is creating value for its customers. Creating value for customers builds loyalty, and loyalty in turn builds growth, profit, and more value. Companies striving to be market leaders in the competitive global economy are committing substantial resources to bolstering their customer service efforts. What s more, they recognize that the true challenge is to find a way to proactively meet their customers needs, and that having a means to measure customer satisfaction is key to ensuring success. The Need for Insight It is a known fact that acquiring new customers is approximately five times more expensive than retaining existing ones, and that loyal customers decrease acquisition costs and increase profitability. But many companies still suffer from customer churn, and few have effective programs in place to evaluate why these customers leave. To help identify customers at high risk for defection, it is absolutely critical that companies implement processes and systems to closely track and measure customer satisfaction, and to do so appropriately and meaningfully. Only with a clear and accurate sense of how to collect, analyze, and use the data can insight be gained so that companies understand how to better attract new customers, as well as retain the ones they already have. Many companies rely on outdated and unreliable methods in their attempt to measure customer satisfaction; for example, they watch sales volume, look at the monthly balance sheet, or count the frequency of complaints. While these approaches are not without value, they are clearly not a substitute for a well-designed customer satisfaction survey program. The Right Measurement Tool Customer satisfaction surveys are appropriate tools to measure and improve organizational performance, with an eye to improving profitability, because customer loyalty and satisfaction levels can be determined by analyzing the data gathered directly from the survey program. It is optimal to provide a customer survey at the time of service contact, in order to capture the most relevant information about customer needs, concerns, and wishes and to discover what contributes to feelings of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customer Satisfaction Surveys can help your organi ation Determine what ma es your customers loyal Discover customers needs and concerns nderstand your service representatives relationships with customers Identify barriers and resistance to meeting your customers needs Discover new product and service ideas Achieve a competitive edge
4 of 10 Survey Dimensions Before starting, there are many dimensions to consider: Think about the survey interaction format: Surveys can be taken in a variety of format modes; on paper, via the Web, over the phone, etc. In the contact center, the vast majority of interactions occur over the phone, so it is natural to focus on phone-based surveys. Ensure the proper survey length: A good, user-friendly survey should contain as few questions as possible. Surveys that take too long (more than couple of minutes) are usually abandoned, so it is recommended that only three to five questions should be posed, unless you have ways to reward the customers for participating in a longer survey. Identify what is being surveyed and how to measure it: It is important to request specific information, because focusing on a specific topic of interest will ensure that your results become more reliable, thus leading to better future interactions with your customer. Some topics to be considered are the quality of the company s goods or services, price points, or the quality of customer service during and after the sale. Be aware, however, that each of these is a many-faceted area. For example, customer service alone includes such things as: response time (how long did it take to answer the phone, or to resolve a customer inquiry?), accuracy (were the caller s questions answered completely?) and professionalism (did a call center agent treat the caller with respect?). Identify ranking options: A vocal/audio interaction is quite different than a written interaction. Correspondingly, the set of response options will also be different in a phone survey than in a written survey. A person s short term audio memory is challenged when more than five response options are recited, plus the question, so it is recommended that response options be designed per a numeric scale, rather than a free-form response scale. In this instance, rather than asking for responses such as: agree completely, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree, completely disagree, the question should prompt for a rating on a sliding scale. The optimal response rating scale (called a Likert Scale) should contain no more than five rankings; for example, an appropriate question could be posed thusly: On a scale of one to five, with five being best, how would you rate the quality of the customer service agent with whom you just spoke? The survey designer will need to make an assessment about handling open-ended customer feedback as well, to ensure that it is qualified and quantified. This can be supported by recording their input, or by transferring them to customer care specialists to further qualify their opinion. Reduce the lag time between the interaction and the survey: According to industry analyst, Gartner, organizations who do perform surveys don t always conduct them in a timely manner (waiting too long after service calls occur), sometimes ask the wrong questions, or do not take action on customer feedback given (Report: Implement Customer Satisfaction Management Processes to Improve Revenue, 2nd March 2006). These poor survey habits are major contributors to low satisfaction rates and they serve to discourage customers from taking future surveys.
5 of 10 Automated post-call surveys, on the other hand, give organizations near-immediate insight to customer opinions, allowing them to utilize the results to identify weaknesses in processes, people, and technology before more significant problems arise. Genesys Survey Solution Successful survey implementation requires thought and care and, more importantly, a solution that: Is succinct and able to quickly solicit feedback Surveys customers in relation to the services offered Generates actionable reports for management Is flexible to change without software reprogramming Is robust Genesys offers an innovative survey solution for integration into the contact center, which builds upon companies existing self-service technology investment. Established specifically for voice interactions, the Genesys Survey Solution is designed for use by business teams, rather than programmers. The design, testing, and publishing of surveys that blend with contact center services and skills are configurable through a Web user interface, incorporating audio for a branded caller experience. Access to caller responses is available through the same Web interface, or by using existing enterprise reporting tools. The solution allows for rapid duplication, modification, and adaptation of surveys to meet changing business requirements. The survey designer is able to include questions to capture information on why the customer called, which organizational touch points were involved, length of hold times, and other attributes of the contact, in order to develop an actionable view of the customer interaction. These features are best realized when the Genesys Survey Solution is blended with the Genesys Customer Interaction Suite. The Genesys Survey Solution is comprised of the following major components: Web-based Survey Management Application with the following capabilities: Secure log-in and user profile management Survey Editor for the design and maintenance of individual surveys Survey Manager to configure and schedule surveys for customer interaction Report views of survey responses Web services and strategy template for incorporation into Genesys Routing to determine survey availability and survey targeting Survey Design Template to enable rapid implementation
6 of 10 The following diagram represents an example of how the Genesys Survey Solution interacts with the caller and other assets of your contact center: Genesys Survey Solution Interaction Flow Contact Center Self Service Interaction Call Completion or Agent Transfer Survey Solution ffer Survey and Agree to Participate Customer Caller Agent Interaction Interaction Complete Agreed to Participate Survey Self Service Customer Service es Survey Greeting and Instructions Survey uestions 1 N Reporting Database Caller Responses and Rating Record Caller Commentary No Escalation Escalation Supervisor No End Call Genesys offers a configurable, off-the-shelf survey solution that can be used for either inbound voice interactions or outbound campaigns, while still being able to link results of a survey to a specific agent or called party.
7 of 10 Organizations can leverage the survey solution in many broad ways, but most common uses are: Post call to solicit feedback about the quality of the customer service experienced while interacting with a client care representative Stand-alone to solicit feedback about a customer s experience with a product, service, or location and offer incentives to participate in the survey. This may be an inbound or outbound use of the survey Prior to the completion of an offer to solicit opinions about future buying trends The following is an architectural diagram of Genesys Survey Solution in a typical installation:
8 of 10 Implementing a Survey The implementation of a survey is as easy as opening the Survey Editor in the Web environment, and adding questions to the Call Flow. The simplified interface further offers a template to start building your customer survey interactions in just a few steps. Once a survey is readied for customer interaction, it is published on a schedule to control the offer, track the callers, and configure repeat surveys, if they are allowed. Customers simply select their response to questions, and the Genesys Survey Solution self-manages the speech or touch tone interaction. The user may make decisions in the Call Flow based on previous input, or on data elements that flow with the call and that affect how a customer interacts. The solution offers the ability to record open-ended comments, which are reviewable via the reporting interface, and to build spoken language dependent variations. Measuring results of the survey is done via two reporting views: a Summary Report for a quick overview of how the survey results are progressing, and a Detailed Report to review the individual response ratings.
9 of 10 If a caller leaves open-ended comments, the Detailed Report view enables the user to hear the feedback through the user interface. And, if it is determined that a caller who leaves feedback expressing dissatisfaction with services is a premium customer, he or she might then be contacted and quickly transferred to a supervisor to resolve the issue.
10 of 10 Conclusion Clearly, the most valuable asset for companies to use to understand how to improve customer satisfaction is customers themselves. To reduce customer churn, the right tool should be implemented that can glean information on customers needs and trends. This information must then be gathered, tracked, measured, and reported on. The appropriate customer survey solution in the contact center should be designed in a user-friendly way so as to yield high customer participation, and rich, accurate data regarding company satisfaction drivers. What s more, when the survey participation process is proactively solicited, a noticeable customer-centric culture evolves within organizations agents provide better service in anticipation of receiving direct feedback, and customers appreciate being given the opportunity to provide it. With actionable data in hand, forward-looking companies can bolster customer retention and loyalty, leading to greater profitability and a competitive edge. Genesys Professional Services Genesys Professional Services consists of experienced architects, solution experts, and implementation consultants who work collectively to understand an organization s business goals, priorities, and time lines. Our approach mitigates the complexities and risks associated with installing and integrating new contact center solutions within an operational environment, accelerates the time to deployment, and, ultimately, reduces costs. Genesys Professional Services works with organizations to deliver solutions that meet current needs and support long-term business requirements. Genesys Worldwide Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company, is the world s leading provider of contact center and customer service management software with more than 4,000 customers in 80 countries. Genesys software directs more than 100 million interactions every day, dynamically connecting customers with the right resources self-service or assisted-service to fulfill customer requests, optimize customer care goals and efficiently use agent resources. Genesys helps organizations drive contact center efficiency, stop customer frustration and accelerate business innovation. For more information visit: www.genesyslab.com, or call +1 888 GENESYS or 1-650-466-1100. Americas Corporate Headquarters Genesys 2001 Junipero Serra Blvd. Daly City, CA 94014 USA Tel: +1 650 466 1100 Fax: +1 650 466 1260 E-mail: info@ genesyslab.com www.genesyslab.com Europe, Middle East, Africa EMEA Headquarters Genesys House Frimley Business Park Frimley Camberley Surrey GU16 7SG United Kingdom Tel: +44 1276 457000 Asia Pacific APAC Headquarters Genesys Laboratories Australasia Pty Ltd Level 17, 124 Walker Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia Tel: +61 2 9463 8500 www.genesyslab.com.au 2656v.1-04/08-US Genesys and the Genesys logo are registered trademarks of Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All other company names and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby recognized. 2008 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.