What a Good Customer Survey Needs to Deliver

What needs to be clarified first?

The target group and how we can reach it in its entirety. B2C companies with a loyalty program, for example, usually have a large amount of contact information and customer data—but by no means all of their customers have a customer card or participate in the loyalty program. If we survey only loyalty program participants, we capture just one segment of the customer base—presumably the particularly loyal customers—and miss relevant individuals who may be less satisfied. That’s why it’s important to carefully consider which approach provides the best coverage of the customer base and what limitations need to be taken into account for individual channels.

And what is different in B2B?

In B2B, defining the target group is often even more challenging. A company may have a small number of highly significant customers as well as many smaller ones. In these cases, the study needs to be designed so that strategically important customer groups are sufficiently represented in the survey.

There is also the question of whom we want to survey within a company. When dealing with corporate target groups, we always need to keep one thing in mind: We can never survey a company as a whole, only the people who work there—people who use products in their day-to-day work, make decisions, or select suppliers. Different respondents may assess the same customer relationship differently. We therefore need to consider which perspective or perspectives are important for the questions we want to answer.

And what if there is no complete customer contact database?

Then the intervista Online Panel is a very important way to reach customers. For example, we can specifically identify people who are customers of a particular company, use certain products, or are responsible for purchasing them.

What else can a panel survey offer?

It provides a broader perspective. In the intervista Online Panel, we can survey not only existing customers, but also former and potential customers. And we can compare the satisfaction of a company’s own customers with that of its competitors’ customers. This is often much more insightful than a purely internal customer survey.

Are there other ways to reach customers?

Yes. Depending on the situation, customers can be invited to participate in a survey through a website, customer portal, or newsletter, for example. A QR code placed directly at the point of interest can also be useful—for instance, on a train, in a restaurant, in a store, or at an event. The survey invitation containing the QR code can be displayed on an informational sign, poster, or screen, or provided on a flyer handed directly to customers. This is an easy, low-barrier way to participate and makes it possible to capture immediate customer experiences. However, when interpreting the results, it’s important to keep in mind that participation is self-selected: The people who participate are those who see the QR code and decide to scan it.

Customer satisfaction is often measured using the Net Promoter Score. How useful do you think the Net Promoter Score is?

It’s quick to measure, easy to compare, straightforward to communicate, and very well known. That makes it a highly attractive KPI.

At the same time, its simplicity is also a weakness: By combining promoters and detractors into the NPS, information from the original scale is lost, making the metric particularly susceptible to fluctuations in smaller samples.

And, of course, a single question cannot capture the complexity of a customer relationship. I think the NPS is useful, but I would never look at it in isolation.

What do you consider essential to include alongside the NPS?

At a minimum, an open-ended follow-up question asking for the reason behind the rating. Even this simple addition to the numerical score provides valuable insights into what particularly distinguishes a provider and where critical issues exist.

But that also raises the question of how important these individual aspects actually are. How can you determine that?

You can ask customers directly about importance, but that isn’t always the best approach. If you ask customers whether quality, service, reliability, or a low price are important, they will often say that almost everything is important.

That’s why we use methods that provide greater differentiation. With MaxDiff, for example, respondents have to choose between different aspects. This makes their priorities clearly visible.

So a customer survey goes well beyond simply measuring satisfaction scores?

Yes. We don’t just want to generate scores; we want to produce actionable insights. The more we know about the different aspects and how they relate to one another, the better we can explain why customers view a company positively or negatively—and how customer satisfaction can be increased.

Ultimately, that’s the difference between a simple KPI and an in-depth customer satisfaction study: A KPI shows where you stand. A more comprehensive analysis also identifies why you are where you are and where action can be taken.

Ultimately, what distinguishes a truly good customer survey?

The study design needs to fit the company’s individual situation and provide relevant insights into the questions it wants to answer. There is no one-size-fits-all approach: Sometimes we have access to current customer contact information; sometimes we can reach the relevant target groups more effectively through the intervista Online Panel; and sometimes we combine different approaches. There is also a wide range of options in terms of content and methodology: Depending on the research question, compact NPS and satisfaction tracking may be sufficient, or a more comprehensive analysis of the relationships between aspects of the offering, satisfaction, and loyalty may be required.

The key isn’t to produce as many metrics as possible, but to arrive at clear, reliable insights. We want to understand what makes a customer relationship strong, where it is at risk, and where a company can take concrete action.