Customer Satisfaction Surveys – Advantages and Disadvantages

Take customer satisfaction into consideration when developing strategic business decisions. 

The most efficient way to measure customer satisfaction is to develop customer satisfaction surveys with the help of a good survey software solution. An advanced survey software solution can manage multi-mode survey research methods – produce the same survey in different formats; including online surveys, mobile surveys,  paper surveys, and more – depending on the best method to reach your target customer base. Customer satisfaction surveys are designed to give you anonymous and unambiguous insight into your customers’ thoughts and perceptions pertaining to your products, services, programs, and your organization as a whole. They can also provide valuable information leading to what needs to be changed in order to retain lasting customer relationships.

Customer satisfaction surveys are extremely advantageous to your organization. They do, however come with certain disadvantages, but those disadvantages should not discourage you from gathering valuable customer feedback.

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing regularly administered customer satisfaction surveys into your business.

Advantages of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

• Up-to-date feedback: Gather current customer feedback on various aspects of your organization. You can stay on top of customer trends through regularly scheduled online surveys or mobile surveys, and receive real-time customer feedback. It is always useful to acquire insight into how your customers are currently responding to all aspects of your business.
• Benchmark results: You can administer the same survey on a regular basis to customers to gain continued insight into your customers needs. Surveys can have the same questions, which will allow you to compare data over time and benchmark survey data across previous years to determine if any changes need to be made.
• Show that you care: Customers like to be asked for their feedback. It gives customers the perception that your company values them; is committed to keeping them as a long-term customer; and bases business decisions on their feedback.

Disadvantages of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

• Too many surveys, so little time: Your customers are flooded with a barrage of online surveys. Surveys may be simple to complete, however, some people simply don’t like to complete them. Sending surveys too often can irritate customers and lead to customer burnout. Customer burnout can result in low response rates or result in lower satisfaction scores, despite your reputation for providing excellent products or services.
• Privacy Issues: We live in a high-tech culture filled with daily doses of unwanted junk email, email solicitations, and calls. When completing an online survey or a mobile survey (or any type of survey), it is difficult for your customers to believe that they are not being tracked. Because of these insecurities of releasing private data, customers today are hesitant in giving out information that may lead to more junk email and more unwanted calls. Assure customers that information they provide in response to your customer satisfaction survey will not be used for any other purposes. Without this disclaimer, it may be difficult to receive a good response rates.