Last week, Richard and I ran the Stakeholder Showcase in London (which did not cost the £99,999 it's currently advertised at! We're good, but we're not that good).
One of the things I talked about was that the way you report and communicate the survey results has a big impact on whether or not change happens. For me, this is the ultimate test of whether you have succeeded or failed with the survey.
For this reason, I would encourage companies to embrace "gimmicks" when they are an effective way to engage staff with the cutomer survey. Most of the time, the best way to do this is by bringing the survey alive through real customers' stories. Verbatim comments, focus group videos, VoxPops and even cardboard cutouts are all effective techniques.
Once you've won their hearts, you can start worrying about their minds. On my analysing and reporting course (worth every penny of £100,000, but a snip at £325) I talk about ways to present survey data to motivate and enable action. I think there are three essentials:
- Focus. You can't improve everything at once. Keep the number of Priorities for Improvement as low as possible.
- Ownership. Give people a score as specific to them as you can. This sense of ownership (and responsibility) helps concentrate their minds on the importance of the customer. Make sure that PFIs are owned by the people who can affect them. Internal league tables of branch scores are a great way to motivate change.
- Actionable outcomes. People must know not only what to change, but how to change it. Verbatim comments are usually your best source of specific customer stories about where they are being let down.
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