Developing a Client Satisfaction Questionnaire

Developing the list of attributes for inclusion in a client satisfaction questionnaire is a key aspect of measuring customer satisfaction. The list needs to cover the "key" issues that can potentially be related to overall satisfaction and perhaps customer loyalty. Also, the wording used to describe the attributes must be easy for the "average" customer to understand and interpret as intended.

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Customer Service Questions

While there are many possible avenues to explore as part of a client satisfaction questionnaire, a customer service evaluation is often an important component. In measuring customer service, it is a good idea to start off by asking a general question regarding overall satisfaction with the services provided and whether the service has exceeded, met, or fallen short of expectations. Given the nature of the audience and the number of questions that can be asked, it can also be highly beneficial to include follow-up questions asking for details concerning the satisfaction rating and, if it falls short, the specifics of the customer service evaluation. This helps a vendor in identifying concerns that might not be included as response options with the customer service questions.

It is important to select the best survey methodology when designing client satisfaction surveys. In many cases, the selection is dictated by the available records list, budgetary considerations, or likely response rates for a given methodology. In other cases, there might be several options or combination of options available to a vendor. All things being equal, using online customer surveys can afford distinct advantages when it comes to the use of skip logic and open-ended questions, as well as offering a lower cost alternative.

As mentioned above, when measuring customer satisfaction with the services provided, questionnaires can be designed to use closed-ended customer service questions followed by open-ended questions asking for further details. Online surveys and telephone surveys each offer the advantage of being able to structure the client satisfaction questionnaire so that skip logic triggers a follow-up open-ended question if the response is positive ("Why did the customer service exceed your expectations?”), and a different open-ended question if the response is negative ("Why were you dissatisfied with the customer service?").

A further advantage of an online customer survey is that it allows the respondent to take his/her time to provide a thoughtful comment (this advantage is also available with mail surveys).

This overall approach (skip logic followed by open-ended comment questions) can be applied to all different kinds of attributes including product quality, delivery time, sales process, pricing, etc. Examining and then "coding" the verbatim responses into common categories can help understand major themes in customer perceptions.

Effective Use of Closed-Ended Client Satisfaction Survey Questions

Although open-ended questions allow respondents to provide greater details regarding areas of concern, it is unlikely that respondents will mention all important issues "top of mind" on their own. Therefore, well-designed client satisfaction surveys should also include a comprehensive list of relevant attributes that may impact customer perceptions and satisfaction. This list can by developed by a careful step-by-step examination of the businesses processes used by the vendor in its difference channels of operations.

Collecting descriptive information about customers (such as demographics, specific service requests, channels, usage patterns, and/or other relevant behaviors) can make it possible to examine the study results separately by sub-groups of interest. This information can be gathered by directly asking for it on the client satisfaction questionnaire or, if already known, by merging the information with the survey results.

For example, in a credit union or bank customer survey, there could be a common group of questions among all sub-groups, with a set of distinct questions for business versus individual accounts, mortgage lending clients versus general banking clients, and clients that use web banking versus those that do not. A key advantage of an online customer survey (and to some extent a telephone survey) is that known sub-group information can be pre-populated into the client satisfaction survey questions so that respondents view question content attributable to their experiences (for example: "What is your evaluation of the customer service you received on [pre-populated date] concerning your [pre-populated service request category] questions?"

When measuring customer service or other attributes, it is possible that particular sub-groups of customers are significantly more (or less) likely to be satisfied (or loyal) than others. Or, some perceived strengths (or weaknesses) may be more common among some sub-groups than others. In this case, a vendor may want to devote special attention to improving satisfaction among particular sub-groups.