Getting Specific Survey Answers

We’ve discussed at length the importance of asking the right questions in your survey. Your data is only as valuable as the questions you ask, and if you ask the wrong questions, you either get incorrect data or answers that are simply not very valuable to your company. That is why it is important that you decide how valuable the answers to a survey question truly are before you run the survey.

The most common example is with regards to specifics. Far too often, companies focus on very broad questions, probably because they are under the impression that all they need is to “get a feel” on the customer.

But if you want to take action, you need to know specifics. Consider the following question: “How satisfied are you with our customer service?” This may sound like a fairly decent question – one that will show you if there are problems with how customers view your customer service.

But it is likely not specific enough to warrant any actionable answers. What aspect of customer service? Is it the customer service desk itself, the way the customers interact with the company, or the phone line customers call when they have a question? Customer service is very broad, and so while you may learn that your customers like/dislike your customer service, you don’t know where or what they dislike about it to make any actionable changes.

On the other hand: Did you find the customer help line to be useful? How quickly did you move through the customer service line? How satisfied are you with how the help desk responded to your questions? Notice how those are far more specific questions.

If your customers mark some questions negatively (or positively), you learn far more than if you only ask a broad question. You can find exactly what you need to target to improve your company and make sure that you are learning specific details about their problems and preferences. When you’re designing your survey, ask yourself if you’re asking the right questions, and make sure you’re checking to see that the questions you choose are going to generate the right answers for you.

Questions need to be as specific as possible, so that if you notice a problem, you are able to take action immediately and find a way to improve. That is the only way to make sure your survey is providing you with the value you need.