Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: Getting customer feedback
• Part 2 of 3: Valuing Your Business
• Part 3 of 3: Improving your company's service
• Tips
• Warnings

Providing high quality service is a major challenge for almost any type of business. Service quality can be a major factor when a customer decides which company to use to meet their needs. Consumers have certain expectations about the level of satisfaction they get from the business they regularly use. Companies that are in the habit of meeting these expectations can have sustainable businesses and a loyal customer base. However, it is difficult to improve the quality of service if you do not have any information from your customers on how to improve.Thus, collecting customer feedback and using it to measure service quality should be a big part of almost any game plan.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Getting customer feedback

1. 1 Use questionnaires. Perhaps the easiest and most direct way to get customer reviews is just ask about it... One easy way to do this is with a questionnaire, a list of questions about their experience. Multiple choice questionnaires are especially useful for business because the answers to these types of questions can be easily quantified, so it is easy to draw conclusions from this data in the form of graphs, charts, and so on.
   • As a rule, questionnaires are issued at the end of customer service (for example, after dinner, or upon checking out of the hotel). You can include in the questionnaire the documents that completed the transaction, such as food invoice, store purchase receipt, and so on.
   • Keep things short and clear - almost no one likes to fill out long, detailed surveys. The simpler and more accurate your questionnaire, the more likely it is that people will complete it.
2. 2 Take follow-up action with the customer after the service has been provided. Another common way to get customer feedback is to contact them after the service has been provided. This is usually done using the contact information provided by the consumer as part of receiving the service - you may have participated in this type of feedback if you have ever received a call from a cable TV company after installing the receiver, for example. This feedback form has the advantage of giving the consumer some time to use the service before asking their opinion about it.
   • Unfortunately, one of the downsides to this type of feedback is that it can sow rudeness or intrusiveness. For example, harassing a family with such a call during their nightly dinner could negatively affect their opinion of the company. One way to lessen the impact of this somewhat is through the use of less intrusive customer communication methods such as email, social media, and other electronic means of communication. It should be noted, however, that electronic methods have produced more favorable data from different demographic groups than telephone surveys.
3. 3 Offer usability testing. The above two examples of customer testimonials involved collecting data on the quality of customer service after they have used your company's service. Usability testing, on the other hand, offers the opportunity to get feedback from customers. during their use of a product or service. Typically, during a usability test, samples of your product or service are handed out to several participants, while observers watch and take notes. Participants are usually asked to complete certain tasks or solve problems with a product or service - if they fail to complete, this could be a sign that the product or service has a design problem.
   • Usability testing can provide extremely valuable data on how to improve a product or service. For example, if you are testing your new cloud-based writing platform and you notice that most of the contributors are experiencing the issue of changing the font size, you will know that this option should be done more intuitively during final release.
   • To keep the cost of usability tests as low as possible, make the most of the resources at your disposal - run tests in your offices, during office hours, and use your own recording equipment whenever possible. Renting such items can be very expensive.
4. 4 Monitor your media presence. Today, word of mouth isn't just about people talking to each other in person - the rise of social media in the past decade has made it easier for people to discuss their likes and dislikes online. Take remarks made about your company on social media seriously - although the standards for online communication are not particularly high, it is nevertheless more likely that people will be honest online, where there is some degree of anonymity compared to face-to-face communication.
   • If your company does not yet have an account on at least one of the major social networking sites (such as Facebook, Yelp, or Twitter), start developing one right now. This is not only a way to start monitoring your social media footprint, but also to promote your business and notify your customer base about upcoming events.
   • One site in particular where you need to be present is Yelp. Because Yelp is a widely used repository of reviews and testimonials, it can have a significant business impact - in a recent study, small companies reported that a strong presence on Yelp helped them generate an additional $ 8,000 in revenue per year.
5. 5 Stimulate the feedback process. Consumers are the same people with a lot of commitments of their own, so their time and effort is very valuable. That way, you are much more likely to get feedback from them if you are not indebted. One way to do this is to simply pay them to provide detailed feedback or participate in testing. If you don't have the ability to set aside the cash, you can still incentivize your customers to give feedback if you're willing to get creative with the matter. Below are just a few sample ideas:
   • Offer discounts or preferred status to participating customers
   • Get customers to participate in a lottery or competition with prizes
   • Provide gift certificates or purchase credit
   • Give out free product samples
6. 6 Leverage analytics for online businesses. In the event that your company conducts some or all of its transactions over the Internet, you can use the power of web analytics to draw conclusions about the quality of service on your website. By tracking which pages your consumers visit, how long they view each page, and other browsing habits, you can make valuable judgments about the quality of your online service.
   • For example, let's say you run a company that allows users to pay to watch a self-repair car video created by expert mechanics. With an analytics tool that tracks the traffic of each page, you find that 90% of visitors stay on a pricing page, and only 5% go to choose one of the service options. This could be a sign that your pricing scheme is not competitive - perhaps lowering prices will help positively impact your sales level.
   • Some popular web analytics tools include Google Analytics (free), Open Web Analytics (free), Clicky (requires registration), Mint (paid), and ClickTale (paid).
7. 7 Hire qualified external contractors to collect feedback. If your company is actually having difficulty assessing the quality of its service, it is important to remember that she does not have to do this task on her own... If you simply don’t have the time or resources to effectively collect customer feedback, consider hiring a high-quality customer service firm. The best companies will take your business's unique mission into account when handling your needs for customer feedback and fully communicating any concerns.For companies with sufficient budget for outsourcing, outsourcing can be a huge time-saver and efficiency booster.
   • Note, however, that when hiring a third party to manage customer service, it can sometimes feel like your company does not consider the opinions of customers important enough because it does not deal directly with them. Due to this, when you outsource your customer service needs, extremely it is important to create an empathetic, “human” image for clients.
8. 8 Show consumers that their reviews matter. Ask yourself this question: If you were the average consumer, who would you most likely take the time to submit a detailed, well-written review of service quality: a large, faceless organization to which you mean nothing, or a company run by people who taking the time to respond to their customers' needs? The answer is obvious. If your company has a reputation for taking customer issues seriously, you will find that you get more (and better) reviews without having to make any more changes. All that is needed is to spend extra time and effort to communicate with customers who have contacted you with comments about the quality of service.
   • One easy way for small and large companies like this is to respond to customer comments and concerns on social media, where they are most visible to other consumers. You may not be able to prevent every unsatisfied customer from abandoning your company's services, but if you respond to an angry comment on a social network kindly and professionally, for example, you can make a better outcome of an unpleasant situation and even may be bring the customer back.

Part 2 of 3: Valuing Your Business

1. 1 Evaluate the quality of the point of contact with the consumer. When designing a questionnaire or other way of assessing the quality of your company's service, it is important to focus on very important metrics (as consumers are less likely to complete a long, complicated questionnaire). One of the most important details to focus on is the quality of the customer contact point. By examining the interactions between customers and your representatives, you can determine how satisfying the business communication with your customers is. In addition, this survey can help you weed out problematic employees with bad attitudes. Try asking the following kinds of questions:
   • Which employee (s) provided the service to you?
   • Did the service provider look knowledgeable?
   • Was he courteous to customers like the other staff?
   • Did it convey a sense of confidence and trust?
2. 2 Evaluate the overall sympathy of the company. If your business deals directly with consumers (as opposed to other businesses), it is very important to express the idea that your company cares about their clients. There is no single way to do this - the solution to this problem lies partly in marketing, part of branding, and (especially) part of service quality. To assess this quality in questionnaires and the like, focus on questions similar to the following:
   • Did the consumer feel that the company and / or employee (s) cared about the people with whom they worked?
   • Did the client feel that they received personalized attention?
   • Has the company managed to demonstrate a friendly, welcoming atmosphere?
3. 3 Rate the reliability of the company. High quality of service in the short term means nothing if it does not remain consistently sustainable in the long term. Consistency is an extremely important aspect of high quality service - in fact, research shows that reliability is generally considered the most important aspect of quality customer service.Reliability is a guarantee that huge multinationals like McDonald's are able to attract customers all over the world. Customers enjoy getting the same satisfying experience every time they use a company's product or service. Thus, to judge the consistency of your service, ask the following questions:
   • Did the employee or company provide the service thoroughly?
   • Did the client feel that the company or employee would be able to reliably provide the service in the future?
   • Will the client use the company's services again in the future?
   • If the client is not the first time using the services of the company, what can he say about his last experience in comparison with the previous one?
4. 4 Assess the company's ability to respond quickly. While this is most likely obvious, it is definitely worth noting that clients almost always prefer to do business with companies that are kind, polite, executive, and willing to satisfy their wishes. A responsiveness assessment can help determine whether more resources should be devoted to creating a positive experience for their clients by training their employees to be more effective, hiring new staff, and / or using different strategies for dealing with clients. Try to focus on questions similar to these:
   • How prepared and able was the employee to respond to the client's needs?
   • How quickly was the service provided?
   • Did the employee look like they were happy to offer an additional service?
5. 5 Evaluate the tangible aspects of customer service. Even the happiest, most executive, the most amiable employees cannot provide quality service if they do not have the equipment to do the job or if the actual physical environment of the company is unsatisfactory. Maintaining the physical, tangible aspects of your business is an important factor in providing high quality service. Identify gaps in your business by asking the following questions:
   • Was all equipment functioning properly?
   • Was the appearance of the product clean and satisfactory?
   • Did the employee look professional on the outside?
   • Was all communication clear and professional?

Part 3 of 3: Improving your company's service

1. 1 Provide your employees with specific service standards. Staff can be slowed down if forced to follow countless and meaningless rules, but some direction is vital in sensitive areas like customer service. Employees should be clear about what is expected of them when interacting with customers and providing services to your company. For most companies, this includes a friendly, attentive attitude, a willingness to please the client and prompt professional service. Additional requirements may vary, so it is your responsibility and your management's responsibility to clearly communicate your goals to your employees.
   • The simplest maintenance rules are often the most effective. For example, Little Caesars, a large fast food and pizza chain, has a simple goal for its employees - to provide every customer with "the perfect pizza and smile lasting 30 seconds or less." This simple directive describes the most important qualities of a company's service (quality, convenience, and speed) and makes it very clear what type of service is expected.
2. 2 Compete for employee talent. Perhaps the most important resource a company has is its people. Without qualified and motivated staff, it is almost impossible to consistently provide high quality service; having it, good service will be the norm.If you want absolutely perfect employees in your company, don't wait for them to come to you - instead, you should hunt for them and be ready to make them a convincing offer when you find them. Advertise online vacancies and print advertisements. Present your company at job fairs. Stay connected to your network of business contacts and notify them when you are looking for workers. Most importantly, be prepared to offer better compensation than your competitors.
   • One rational approach to attracting good employees (and increasing the loyalty of existing employees) is to offer your team members a “career” rather than a job. This implies reasonable, stable wages with attractive benefits and (most importantly) the ability to advance with hard work. Employees who can see the benefits of long-term employment in their current position are likely to spend extra time and effort to provide your clients with exceptional service.
3. 3 Reward your employees for good service. What is a great way to motivate your employees to deliver superior service? Make it worthwhile for them. Rewarding good service means offering workers tangible rewards for meeting or exceeding the level of service you want. Oftentimes, these awards come in the form of cash prizes, but in some cases other perks like vacation time, promotions, prizes, and so on can work well. By establishing a smart, reward-based system, the employee's primary concern is the desire to provide quality service, as this will bring him significant rewards.
   • For example, most car dealerships pay their sellers on a commission-based basis - that is, sellers take a percentage of the profits from the sale of a car. This model works well for both the seller and the dealership: the seller will naturally try to sell in a way that he can make as much money as possible, while increasing the number of cars that the car dealership sells.
4. 4 Make tracking your service a permanent part of your business plan. Measuring the service quality of your business doesn't have to be a one-time task. If you want to keep the quality of your service high as new problems grow, this should be a core, ongoing part of your business. Consider adopting some of the following strategies the next time you set your upcoming venture schedule:
   • Conduct semi-regular service quality meetings with your management staff.
   • Conduct regular employee reviews with the intention of improving service
   • Revise the work training for new staff from time to time
   • If necessary, consider allocating resources to monitor your company's online "profile" (or even hiring new employees or interns to complete this task)
5. 5 You need to make it easy for customers to complain and get responses. A company that is interested in improving the quality of service should not be afraid to face difficulties. Smart companies will try to make it easier for customers to tell what the business is doing wrong - after all, the best judge of customer service is (obviously) the customer himself. Create points to continually attract testimonials from your customers. It can be as simple as keeping comment cards near the checkout counter, or as complex as developing an online database to collect and store all customer calls - it’s up to you which one is best for your business.
   • Whatever you do to get customer reviews, do your best to respond to as many of them as possible. By doing this, you not only show your politeness - it also creates a sense of community with your customers and makes it clear to them that their opinions matter. You definitely must respond to legitimate complaints on social media and popular review sites like Yelp, as reviews on these sites could potentially be read by millions.

Tips

• Always provide questionnaires in the clients' native language whenever possible for better perception and accuracy of results.
• Customize your questions or surveys to be specific to your people, business, or service.
• By offering a reward in the form of a discount or an opportunity to win a prize, you can increase the total number of responses to the survey.
• Limit the number of questions asked to increase the likelihood of thoughtful answers.

Warnings

• Measuring quality and customer satisfaction is highly subjective. Other measures must also be implemented to determine the quality of a product or service offered.
• The margin of error may increase depending on the number of questionnaires provided to consumers but not returned.