The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Why Express Feedback is Special
Wednesday - September 14, 2005 12:14 PM in
Peter and I had one of our usual constructive conversations as I was composing the press release announcing Express Feedback that you see on our web site. The basic problem is that we are so excited about what the service delivers that it is hard not to "sell" the product rather than simply announce it. He commented that my original drafts were better suited to a blog than a press release, and he's right. I was just too stubborn to agree right away.
As objectively as I can present it, Express Feedback deserves the hyperbole.
Not many differentiate between a follow up survey and one conducted at the end of a customer call. But there are a couple of important differences and shortcomings. Because the end-of-call survey is immediate and takes place on the same phone call, positives are the ability to ask questions before caller brain fade becomes a factor, and somewhat better participation numbers. But with the end-of-call methodology, the disgruntled caller--the very ones you need to hear from the most--hang up before taking the survey. A follow up survey takes place at some point after the caller hangs up, and has problems with getting feedback before callers forget details plus a difficulty in getting a representative sample since customers with more extreme opinions are more likely to join in.
Thus an end-of-call study tends toward a bias of callers with positive impressions, and a follow up survey can be biased by a disproportionate number of callers with issues.
A major wish of call center managers has been the need to find out what happened to cause callers to they feel as they do. The answer is to compare what the caller reports to the actual phone call recording. Only some very large call centers have technology with the ability to do this, yet the process is so cumbersome, personnel intensive and costly to administer that we know of no contact center actually matching up feedback surveys with call recordings.
Express Feedback makes it a piece of cake. The speed benefit and higher participation of the end-of-call survey is retained, and by using a second follow up call the sample bias of missing the disgruntled callers (or having proportionately too many) is avoided.
The technical details are complex, but the gist is that some percent of calls are redirected to the VocaLabs server and the caller hears a recording asking if they wish to take a post call survey. If they say yes, they are asked to confirm what phone number they wish to be called back on. VocaLabs sends the call back, but also hangs on to make a recording. If the caller declines, the recording connection is released.
We then use VocaLabs' professional survey administrators to call the customer back within minutes and ask the survey questions.
The feedback and the recording are collated into VocaLabs reports that are provided on line and in nearly real time.
So, should you hear me say or read a sales document that promotes Express Feedback as better, faster, more accurate and cost effective than any alternative, there is factual evidence that supports the rhetoric.
Posted by Rick Rappe
Not many differentiate between a follow up survey and one conducted at the end of a customer call. But there are a couple of important differences and shortcomings. Because the end-of-call survey is immediate and takes place on the same phone call, positives are the ability to ask questions before caller brain fade becomes a factor, and somewhat better participation numbers. But with the end-of-call methodology, the disgruntled caller--the very ones you need to hear from the most--hang up before taking the survey. A follow up survey takes place at some point after the caller hangs up, and has problems with getting feedback before callers forget details plus a difficulty in getting a representative sample since customers with more extreme opinions are more likely to join in.
Thus an end-of-call study tends toward a bias of callers with positive impressions, and a follow up survey can be biased by a disproportionate number of callers with issues.
A major wish of call center managers has been the need to find out what happened to cause callers to they feel as they do. The answer is to compare what the caller reports to the actual phone call recording. Only some very large call centers have technology with the ability to do this, yet the process is so cumbersome, personnel intensive and costly to administer that we know of no contact center actually matching up feedback surveys with call recordings.
Express Feedback makes it a piece of cake. The speed benefit and higher participation of the end-of-call survey is retained, and by using a second follow up call the sample bias of missing the disgruntled callers (or having proportionately too many) is avoided.
The technical details are complex, but the gist is that some percent of calls are redirected to the VocaLabs server and the caller hears a recording asking if they wish to take a post call survey. If they say yes, they are asked to confirm what phone number they wish to be called back on. VocaLabs sends the call back, but also hangs on to make a recording. If the caller declines, the recording connection is released.
We then use VocaLabs' professional survey administrators to call the customer back within minutes and ask the survey questions.
The feedback and the recording are collated into VocaLabs reports that are provided on line and in nearly real time.
So, should you hear me say or read a sales document that promotes Express Feedback as better, faster, more accurate and cost effective than any alternative, there is factual evidence that supports the rhetoric.
Posted by Rick Rappe
Posted at 12:14 PM by | | | |