Reconsider Survey Response Follow-up

There are circumstances in which we do best by keeping our distance from our customers. Sometimes it’s for only a short time. When a mother and her adult daughter are shopping together, stay visibly available, but give the pair time to settle into your store before asking what you can help them find. When kids in financially strapped families are shopping with their parents, step back to allow them privacy when they’re finalizing purchase decisions on the sales floor and, if you detect hesitation, even at the checkout counter.
     Researchers at McGill University, University of Nevada-Reno, and University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley provide an example of a longer-term withdrawal and one that applies post-purchase: When administering a customer satisfaction survey, recognize that if you offer to follow up with the respondent, they’re likely to tone down any expressions of dissatisfaction. You won’t get the range and intensity of critiques useful to you in staying ahead of risks to your organization’s profitability.
     The researchers attribute this stifling to people’s desire to avoid disappointing the marketer, since a marketer’s goal is to have satisfied customers. Experience shows how customers will often shade their face-to-face reports. Even if a person doesn’t enjoy their dessert as much as they thought they would or appreciate the shocking hairstyle upon looking in the mirror, that person hesitates expressing dissatisfaction right then. Instead, when asked, “Do you like it,” the customer will talk about some concrete feature they did enjoy. “The presentation of the dessert on the plate was good.” “With this hairdo, my eyes are set off more.” The concrete language might serve as a signal that the shopper is less than fully satisfied.
     We do want to follow up on complaints, and to do it promptly. The exception to the main study finding was with extreme dissatisfaction. People didn’t hold back in writing about this on surveys. Unless you respond, you risk not only losing the customer, but also brewing a sense of betrayal which can lead a former customer to actively sabotage the organization.
     The researchers found that adding to the questionnaire statements showing an openness to such criticism removed the response bias and so allowed for the questionnaire to state there would be a follow-up interview. This text read, “We strive to get accurate feedback, and value both negative and positive comments from our customers. Please tell us how you really feel.”

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