The more I try to be aware of all the methods by which to obtain the Voice of the Customer, I’m amazed at the tremendous effort companies are taking and the great lengths they’ll go to learn more about what their customers are thinking and feeling. We know that Twitter conducts Brand surveys now, for example.
Wow, that was a really long-winded sentence. Anyways.
The other, I went to Kmart to buy some soda. When I approached the cashier to pay for my item, this is what I saw:
Yup, a Net Promoter Score survey at the cash register or checkout. This represents a good effort but misses a few points:
- Kmart is measuring the Net Promoter Score, but it’s clearly not applying the Net Promoter System. There is a difference.
- By itself, the NPS really doesn’t tell you, well, anything. At least, anything useful.
So, while it’s admirable that Kmart is trying to learn about their customers, in reality they are not learning anything at all. They are just trying to obtain a score, with no intention of improving their service as a result.
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Robert Drescher says
Hi Pete
It surprises me how many organizations are using some type of survey today, yet like you said few actually use the information they get from them.
You can tell just how much they care about a survey, when you let them contact you afterward, one out of a hundred actually contacts you when you give them a poor result or make a suggestion. I fill in these surveys just to see if there is a reaction and always make comments, to date only Home Depot and a movie theatre chain has any track record of actually responding hence the one out of a hundred, as there are a couple hundred surveys I have filled out.
Jimbo says
You seem rather critical about Kmart’s approach. Obviously it would be better to know more, such as why the person rated what they did, but at least they are asking for some feedback, right? Seems to me that even a feeble attempt to get feedback is better than no attempt at all. Also, how can you be so certain that they are not using the feedback in some way? I would assume that if they went to the expense to develop this system, they are monitoring the results and using it to improve.
Pete Abilla says
Hi Jimbo,
I apologize for giving the impression of being critical – not my intention. My comment was more around the approach, but not directed at the company or its people at all. My comment was on approach and on methodology, strictly.
I think it’s a great thing what Kmart is doing. Could they be doing more in the areas of continuous listening and continuous improvement of the customer experience? I bet they’d say “yes” to that. That was my only point.
I appreciate you reading. Thank you.
Pete
ira agatsein says
At Target the Pizza Chain. Had a Unreadable URL on the reciept for a survey Told the guy to put a suggestion in the box to Use QR codes to a survey page.