Ways that Survey Data Can Be Used to Make Big Improvements

[caption id="attachment_781" align="alignright" width="300"]

Survey Data Can Lead to Big Improvements[/caption]Survey data is one of the easiest forms of data to obtain to rate overall customer experience and satisfaction so you can make beneficial changes to your business. Whether your business is brick and mortar, online, or both, you can gear your customer surveys to ensure that you gain the data you need to improve product or service quality, improve customer service, maintain market share through competitive offerings, and improve the overall level of the customer experience.However, surveys should not end with the customers. Successful businesses will engage their employees to determine additional improvements that can be made through changes of product or services offerings and the streamlining of processes to improve the business.On the customer end, surveys need to be easy to complete and provide the information that businesses should focus on. For example, if you know your business is struggling to gain market share in a specific region, focus on asking customers what the business can do to improve. Let them tell you if it is a pricing issue, a need for increased customer service, a poor location which is either difficult to get to, or a website that is difficult to navigate.With this knowledge you can begin to make the necessary changes to increase business whether it is adjusting prices to be more competitive regionally, additional training to improve customer service, moving a brick and mortar location for customer convenience and accessibility, or redeveloping a website so it is easier to navigate.Savvy business owners survey employees as well to gain ideas that will improve the business. Employees that traditionally would not have an impact on product or service selection, customer service, or processes can have valuable ideas to improve the business but their ideas often go unheard.Your employees are customers too and they can inform you about how likely they would be to purchase the product or service being marketed, if they feel customer service is adequate or if changes should be made to improve the customer service experience, and if there is a process that is limiting the overall customer experience like difficult returns or inadequate warranties. If your own employees have a need for your product or service but are going elsewhere to buy it, you should listen to their ideas.Customer and employee survey data can provide you with the information you need to make the big changes necessary to improve your business.