Satisfaction Research Cycles

Even companies that have never engaged in customer satisfaction research understand that the idea behind it is useful. By researching customer needs, your company learns what your business can do to improve purchases, attract more customers, retain customers, etc. But what many new companies fail to realize is that customer satisfaction is not a question and answer process. Rather, it's a cyclical process that requires the ability to believe your company always has more to learn.

Customer satisfaction starts by creating a plan. What are you going to research, how are you going to research it, and what you plan to do with the conclusions. From there you perform the research, paying careful attention to best practices.

Then you follow that up by analyzing the data. Finally you implement the changes.

But after you have made the changes, your next step is to start over again. You need to make a plan as to what you measure next, including: The effects of the plan you implemented. How the plan you implemented can be even better.

What else you are missing that you can address. Whether or not anything has changed between now and then that creates a new need. Even though you have completed your original research, you still need to continue onward, addressing more needs and finding more ways to create and maintain customer satisfaction.

You need to consistently be challenging your company and looking for ways to analyze, research, and address needs further. Only then can you continue to improve your business.

For companies ready to engage in research, this means two things. First, it means the understanding that your job as a researcher is never done. You need to be ready and willing to believe there is always more out there, and the only thing that limits your ability to find it/reach it is your willingness to continue your research.

Second, you need to prepare your company for the way that the research will affect it. This includes planning costs and considerations, such as using an affordable survey research software platform and using a trained expert to run your surveys, and it includes making sure the company knows that changes are eminent. Only when you and your company are ready and willing to take on these research projects can you truly say you're ready to commit to customer satisfaction.