Business to Business Customer Satisfaction Surveys (Part 3)

Survey questions should be categorized into three types:

Overall Satisfaction question – “How satisfied are you overall with XYZ Company?”

Key Attributes – satisfaction with key areas of business, e.g. Sales, Marketing, Operations, etc.

Drill Down – satisfaction with issues that are unique to each attribute, and upon which action may be taken to directly remedy that Key Attribute’s issues.

The Overall Satisfaction question is placed at the end of the survey so that its answer will be affected by a more in depth thinking, allowing respondents to have first considered answers to other questions.

Question Design

A survey, if constructed properly, will yield a wealth of information. The following design elements should be taken into account:

First, the survey must be kept to a reasonable length. Over 60 questions in a written survey will become tiring. Anything over 8-12 questions begins taxing the patience of participants in a phone survey.

Second, the questions should utilize simple sentences with short words.

Third, questions should ask for an opinion on only one topic at a time. For example, the question, “how satisfied are you with our products and services?” cannot be effectively answered because a respondent may have conflicting opinions on products versus services.

Fourth, superlatives such as “excellent” or “very” should not be used in questions. Such words tend to lead a respondent toward an opinion.

Fifth, “feel good” questions yield subjective answers on which little specific action can be taken. For example, the question “how do you feel about XYZ company’s industry position?” produces responses that are of no practical value in terms of improving an operation.

Next: Business to Business Customer Satisfaction Surveys - Part 4>