Business to Business Customer Satisfaction Surveys

In the early days of CRM this became translated from “responsive” to “reactive”.

Successful larger businesses recognise that they need to be pro-active in finding [listening to] the views, concerns, needs and levels of satisfaction from their customers.

Paper-based surveys, such as those left in hotel bedrooms, tend to have a low response rate and are usually completed by customers who have a grievance.

Telephone-based interviews are often influenced by the Cassandra phenomenon. Face-to-face interviews are expensive and can be led by the interviewer.

CRM is based on the premise that, by having a better understanding of the customers’ needs and desires we can keep them longer and sell more to them.

InfoQuest performed a statistical analysis of Customer Satisfaction data encompassing the findings of over 20,000 customer surveys conducted in 40 countries by InfoQuest.

The conclusions of the study were:

- A Totally Satisfied Customer contributes 2.6 times as much revenue to a company as a Somewhat Satisfied Customer.

- A Totally Satisfied Customer contributes 14 times as much revenue as a Somewhat Dissatisfied Customer.

- A Totally Dissatisfied Customer decreases revenue at a rate equal to 1.8 times what a Totally Satisfied Customer contributes to a business.

Consider the following situations…

A large, international hotel chain wanted to attract more business travellers. They decided to conduct a customer satisfaction survey to find out what they needed to improve their services for this type of guest. A written survey was placed in each room and guests were asked to fill it out. However, when the survey period was complete, the hotel found that the only people who had filled in the surveys were children and their grandparents!

Next: Business to Business Customer Satisfaction Surveys - Part 2>