As a BSC, the success of your business is dependent upon having a solid base of satisfied clients. Clients that are happy with your services are more likely to remain loyal and less likely to bolt to another service provider that may be trying to lure them away with small pricing discounts or other marketing ploys. How satisfied are your clients? Do you have mechanisms in place that allow you to objectively assess client satisfaction?

When used properly, client satisfaction surveys can be a valuable tool within your client relationship toolbox. Conversely, a client survey process that is poorly designed will likely provide little value. Some things to consider when designing your customer survey process....

 Client Satisfaction Survey - Design for Success

Your client survey should be designed in ways that will encourage participation. A few fundamentals to consider....

• Select the Right Audience:  Do not indiscriminately send your survey to a large audience within your client base. Instead, give some thought to selecting a target audience that would be in a position to provide objective feedback based on their actual experience with your performance.
• Allow for Anonymity:  Give survey recipients the option to respond anonymously. Many individuals feel more comfortable providing critical feedback when allowed to remain anonymous.
• Ask Pertinent Questions:  Remember that your clients are busy. Your survey will be competing with other activities within their busy schedules. Avoid use of "fluff" questions just to increase the length of your survey. An effective client survey does not have to be long. In fact, several studies have shown that shorter surveys, consisting of questions that are clear, concise, and relevant, will produce higher response rates. Ask questions that will be relevant to your clients.
• Question Format:  Avoid use of "yes" or "no" questions as they will provide no real insights. Construct your questions in a manner that will prompt the respondent to provide a more detailed response. Use of rating scales combined with providing a short "comments" section will be more likely to produce the kind of data that you need.

Frequency

Should you conduct your survey once per year? Once per quarter? There is no right answer to that question. Surveys that are too frequent will, over time, become less effective as their familiarity will diminish their impact. On the other hand, surveys that are too infrequent will deter your ability to detect, and correct, issues in a timely manner.

One approach can be to release a full client survey on an annual basis and then follow that up periodically (e.g. quarterly) with shorter versions targeted to assess the effectiveness of any corrective actions that you have taken.

Your client satisfaction survey will only be as good as your response to its results. Review all feedback in an objective and constructive manner and take appropriate corrective actions to improve your performance. Communicate your actions to your clients to let them know that their participation in your survey was well worth their time and effort.