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Summary
In benchmark research recently completed by Ventana Research, research participants from 30 percent of companies said their customers are completely satisfied with how they are treated by the companies’ contact centers; 61 percent described customers as somewhat satisfied, leaving just 9 percent who said their customers are dissatisfied. This finding is contrary to popular opinion as recorded in various reports, one of which found that 40 percent of customers have stopped doing business with a company because of a negative experience with its call center; in another, speaking with a call center ranked number four on a list of things that most irritate people in the U.K. about their daily lives. So there seems to be a gap between the perceptions of businesses and their customers. The challenge for companies is to measure customer satisfaction accurately so they can identify what they need to do to improve. CustomerSat is one vendor assisting in this effort. Its technology helps companies gather information and measure customer satisfaction, providing insights into what companies need to improve.

Assessment
Customers now interact with many different departments and people within a company, among them marketing, sales, field service, the contact center and even face-to-face in retail locations. They also interact through more channels; as well as the telephone, there are e-mail, the Web, interactive voice response (IVR), instant messaging (IM), mobile text messaging, kiosks and so on. And last but not least, a growing number of companies are increasing proactive, outbound interactions – which not all customers welcome. To piece together a complete picture of how customers react to so many types of interactions and circumstances requires a comprehensive approach.

CustomerSat has developed a product, CustomerSat Enterprise, that helps companies execute short customer satisfaction surveys after various types of interaction, including receiving a marketing e-mail, a sales call, a visit to the Web site, a field service engineer has completed a home visit or an IM session with a contact center agent. The software supports rapid development of surveys and tailoring them to the type of interaction; users can set the number of questions to match the type and significance of the interaction. Likewise, surveys can take different forms, such as a written questionnaire sent by postal mail, a pop-up survey on the Web, an IVR-based survey to which the customer can be directed by an agent, an outbound e-mail message or a survey on a field service engineer’s handheld device. CustomerSat Enterprise consolidates the results from all surveys a customer completes and analyzes them to produce aggregated ratings of customer satisfaction; from this, companies can learn where and why in the interaction processes customers are most or least satisfied. The analysis also highlights trends so companies can see whether their actions are having the desired effects.

The system runs in real time, so the results are available as soon as the survey is completed. It includes an alerting capability so that, for example, if a high-value customer completes a survey yielding a rating below target, the system automatically alerts a designated person to take immediate action. CustomerSat Enterprise includes a variety of report styles that include performance data about the surveys themselves (such as response rates), key customer satisfaction drivers displayed in different quadrants, net prompter score charts  that combine satisfaction scores with loyalty and other scores to yield a measure of the difference between the percentage of customers likely to recommend your product and the percentage likely not to recommend it, and account positioning charts. Each has drill-down capability so users can access detailed survey results. The reports and analysis can be used not only to drive customer satisfaction improvement initiatives but to allow users to manage accounts better and identify individuals who need training to improve the way they interact with customers.

Market Impact
Some ways that companies assess customer satisfaction are more objective than others. Surveys are the most objective because customers complete them. The challenge is getting customers to take the time to complete surveys, which can be complicated by the variety of touch points at which the customer encounters them. CustomerSat allows companies to tailor the number and types of surveys they conduct and to deliver them through a range of media and channels. This diversity of options will help companies discern customers’ preferences for survey-taking, which should improve response rates and thereby provide a more complete and objective view of customer satisfaction. The same results could be achieved by custom surveys built using general-purpose tools, but CustomerSat allows companies more flexibility, lower cost and speedier deployment across a broader range of touch points. The comprehensive reports and analysis will allow companies to make data-driven decisions based on real customer views. The alerting feature should enable companies to retain their most loyal and highly valued customers by responding immediately to their issues.

Recommendation
All of Ventana Research’s benchmarking research of customer and contact center management show that improving customer satisfaction is at the top of the agenda for most companies. To make progress, first they need objective assessments of satisfaction levels and understanding of what generates those levels. CustomerSat supports companies in all these areas. We recommend that those seeking to improve customer satisfaction consider how its product might support such initiatives.