Stay unbiased. It’s hard to be objective when you think your customer service is outstanding. Take a step back from what you think you know and let your shoppers do the talking. Avoid embellishing your questions with superlatives, such as, “What do you think of our friendly customer service representatives?” This is a leading question, and isn’t likely to provide accurate results. Instead, ask a focused question about an aspect of your customer service, such as, “How quickly did the customer service representatives at our company help you?”
Avoid the hypothetical. It’s hard for most people to accurately determine what they may or may not do in a hypothetical situation. Don’t fabricate customer service “what if” situations that may not have happened to the respondent. Focus on situations that accurately portray real-world customer service issues. Use a Likert Scale rating question to ask customers to rate their experiences.
Use painless questions. If your participants have to read questions several times in order to understand them, or if they’re repeatedly asked to write essay-like responses, you’ll end up with a lot of abandoned questionnaires. Write questions that are easily scanned and answered without having to think too much or take a lot of time. A question like, “How responsive is our company?” is much easier to read and answer than, “If you have used our website, phone system, or email help system in the past, did our customer service representative get back to you in a timely manner?”
Don’t ask unnecessary questions. You’re probably eager to collect as much information as you can from each survey, but avoid the temptation. Customer service surveys that veer off course and ask seemingly unrelated questions can distract or confuse the respondent, and in some cases may even evoke suspicion.
Try using a “how.” You could ask questions like, “Is our company professional?” with a “yes” or “no” option. But there’s a subtle spectrum of positive and negative responses. To get even richer data, try asking a “how” question, such as, “How professional is our company?” with available responses like, “extremely professional,” “moderately professional,” and “not at all professional.” This gives you a better idea of where your customer service needs are.
