Hi folks,

How do you determine customer satisfaction? A good question, and one which has been the source of much debate on this site. As a seed for discussion, we felt that it would be interesting to collaborate as a 'whole' to establish a good customer satisfaction index which might be used as a useful metric for improvement and

development. In order to give this some context, we chose the notion of a Helpdesk as our 'case study':

Any index should be defined within a context of objective; in other words, we must be clear from the start what we wish to achieve. In this case, taking a service or troubleshooting paradigm, we identified some core qualities that would provide us with yardsticks of performance.

The first and perhaps most important is Goal Achievement; this is the reason, the primary objective if you will, behind the department.

Goal Achievement: We focus on how effectively we meet the helpdesk calls; is there a residual/general trend upwards (indicative of underperformance or under-resourcing) or downwards (on-target) or is there some sort of stasis. We ask questions like: how can we improve to clear the backlog, and how do we prioritise incidents so that important incidents are dealt with promptly whilst ensuring that less important incidents do not 'age' indefinitely?

Efficiency: How is the department perceived to be operating by its customers? Do customers feel that they are being dealt with within a reasonable timeframe, and what can we do to ensure that operational procedures are both effective and efficient?

Courtesy and Respect: Do staff behave in a courteous and respectful manner to the customers, with efficiency, politeness and giving full attention? This is difficult to measure, but as David Newton-Dines will tell you, the implications of getting this wrong can have disastrous effects upon long-term customer retention, loyalty and their perception of the organisation as a whole.

Accountability/responsibility: Do we get the impression that the operators are dealing with us effectively or operating as cogs in a greater wheel, passing the buck onto further levels of support? Do we feel that they want to help us or are they just toeing the line, meeting their quota of calls? This is important as the individual may be the first point of contact and therefore carry the flag for the organisation; we need to feel that they treat our issues as importantly as we feel our issues deserve. Remember that the caller's frame of reference is limited to their problem in their context; quotas and endless redirections do not address problems.

Knowledge and Application: Do we get the feeling that the operators really know what they are talking about; have they the knowledge and the business context to help with our problems? This is crucial, as again we as customers look to the helpdesk as a source of assistance, knowledge and as a problem solving resource. In effect, they areour 'safety net' and we need to know that this 'net' can be relied upon.

Loyalty: Do our customers come back to us, or are they dissuaded by negative experiences to seek assistance and information elsewhere? Helpdesks should be able to engender a sense of ongoing support to which all problems may be directed.

That's enough of the soft measures for now; of course, metrics such as call time and so on are equally important but for now we can concentrate on the more difficult-to-quantify attributes of customer service and its perception. Anyone care to follow on with this?

John

Keep in mind that I don't know what indices or 'soft' concepts ARE.
When you lay out the story problem of wanting to determine customer satisfaction in a call center, the only point of view I can answer from is that of 'Teleconnecting.'

In 'Teleconnecting', I would ask you for the records of the people who had contacted the call center in the past 30 days. Rather than try to pick the brains of these folks on every point you mentioned (good points), the 'Teleconnecting' approach would be.

Sure-fire Introduction
Ask, "Do you have a moment for me?"

"We wanted to call to thank you for calling in to our center recently regarding (whatever the issue was). We'd like to get a feel for your satisfaction with the assistance you received at our help desk. How was your experience, did you get the answers you needed?"

The premise behind the short and sweet call, is that, in the moment of time the customer has given you, what is important to him about the experience of calling will rise to the top.

Quoting and paraphrasing his comments and concerns will gleen information ayou could never anticipate you needed to know, nor would have predicted in a survey format.

Using 'prompters' are helpful if the customer is having a tough time with what is important about his experience:

*Was the rep you spoke with professional?

*Did you have any other questions or issues you would like a response to, and if so, do you feel comfortable calling usagain.

*Is there anything else you would like to add?

To keep it scientific, we'd make a pre-determined number of attempts to reaach each customer. If there were no 'connections' made, a message might be left on the machine that would go like this:

"...We're sorry we missed you with a satisfaction call, but would likek to remind you again, that we are here for you, call us when you need us."

The information that would be gathered would blow all of your minds. It would be the kind of information that the board of directors would want to read. It would be the kind of information that your front-line people hear every day, but have no real way to transfer the information to those who make the deciswions in the company.

Try it, you'll like it.

@ Your Service,
LoriAnne Hancock\
Teleconnecting Guru

You don't want MUCH JC do you?

Whilst it's 'possible' to resond completely, is it entirely 'reasonable' to do so? Additionally, we lack the ability to post diagrams etc which would save a load of text...

Comments?

David