The Reading Room

Confidence Intervals in Survey Research

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:28:48 0000

Confidence intervals are critical to survey research but can be one of the more challenging topics to explain to non-researchers. Technically speaking, a confidence interval is defined as an “interval estimate of a population parameter.” Here is what this means in the context of customer satisfaction surveys...

Five Whys

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:52:05 0000

If you are interested in the subject of customer churn and their antecedents’ product failure or service failure, you probably heard something of the Five Why’s.

Companies have been using the Five Why’s as a tool to help them get back to the root causes of product or service failure for as long as those have been happening. It is an informal drill-down technique...

Designing a Survey

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:48:11 0000

One of the things that TeleSight believes about survey programs is that the goal is TO GET BETTER, not just GET BETTER SCORES. Designing a program that will “move the needle” on customer satisfaction takes several steps.

The Anecdote Trap

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:42:36 0000

Companies managed by anecdote have no consistent strategy. They are whipsawed by the randomness of the customer input. Anecdotes are just as likely to be true or false and there is no way to distinguish the true ones from the others. As a result, a great deal of time and effort is spent chasing claims of failures that are wrong or rare – which would show up outliers in a legitimate analysis.

Getting Buy-In on Customer Satisfaction Programs

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:37:02 0000

The real success of any customer feedback program is determined by people, from management down to every individual that can affect the elements being measured, even indirectly. To make these kinds of programs really work, it’s essential to develop an end-to-end plan around people. This step is particularly important if recognition or rewards are attached to the results.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Structured Improvement Efforts

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:54:44 0000

Many of our customers conduct Customer Satisfaction surveys as part of a formal or semi-formal Quality/Process Improvement plan. Customer Satisfaction survey data fills a need to both measure key performance indicators and refine improvement efforts by disseminating "Voice of the Customer"feedback in the customer’s own words. Both are critical to any improvement effort. Some examples of structured approaches that make full use of Customer Satisfaction survey data are Six Sigma, ISO, and TQM.

There are many others. Moreover, many of our customers utilize survey data to its fullest extent without the need for a formal organizational improvement program. In other words, this type of research is not just for Six Sigma or ISO business, it is invaluable to all types of organizations.

Why Bother With Quality Anyway?

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:40:25 0000

The University of Michigan study found that for the companies with the happiest customers, stock performance increased 75% for the period of 2000-2004 versus only 19% for the S&P 500 as a whole

Volunteer Surveys as a Customer Satisfaction Measurement

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 12:56:43 0000

The Question: Are there downsides to using feedback gathered by volunteer surveys as an indicator of customer satisfaction?

Web or Phone: Which One?

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:39:39 0000

These are popular choices for collection of customer satisfaction data, and sometimes there are questions about why they both thrive. Why hasn’t one overtaken the other?

In-House Surveys vs. Outsourcing

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:07:41 0000

Often, when calculating the cost to conduct surveys within their own company, managers do not account for a few key measurable expenses such as office space and other peripheral work necessities, telephone, reporting, survey management and, finally, the cost of poor quality. Just as important are the pitfalls to in-house surveying that don’t show up on the expense spreadsheet but which have a probable and undesirable affect on the actionability of the data being collected.