I went to Bluewater shopping centre this week where I visited the lego store (if it sounds like this was my first visit then you are very mistaken!) and on the receipt was a web link for a survey. Needless to say I logged in.
I am a big fan of lego (what’s not to like?) and shopping on a Thursday evening in early September I suppose you’re less likely to suffer bad luck with queues and what not. I answered all the questions with scores of 10 or 9 and the survey wasn’t anything to write home about, but today I received an email from Lego saying Thank you for your LEGO store feedback.
Ok, mine was a positive experience, and the email is no doubt automated (proof is in the mail-merge error in the first paragraph). However, the email still generated a positive feeling about the experience and the brand. I’m curious if I’d had a bad experience what they would have said…
Occasionally, we email a thank you message to our clients’ customers after a survey has closed (some clients also use our “customer at risk” alerts from our customer surveys to assist their customer service delivery) but more often we simply say thank you at the end of the survey itself (and trust that the client will act on the feedback).
Lego’s example has made me pause to think though – how do you say thank you to survey respondents?
Dan Wardle
It’s amazing that more companies don’t follow Lego’s example. It is so easy to build a positive customer experience yet most companies miss the obvious. You migth like to read a similar post I made in July http://tiny.cc/oRVfh
Regards, Neil
Thanks for the comment and the link Neil.
I think it’s rare that a customer survey is conducted or treated as a 2-way conversation, although it is clear to see a fair number of customers treat them as such. (It’s probably fair to say that most surveys’ results are not integrated into the organisation’s support channels, certainly not in real-time).
We also find when we manage the survey’s emailing on behalf of the Client a small percentage of customers will reply to our email in an attempt to follow up a current problem (we forward those).
It is very disheartening when we see a survey that is just a “tick-box” exercise. Like you say in your post, people stop responding (to the survey) or take their rants elsewhere.
Best wishes – Dan