B2B

 View Only
  • 1.  Confidentiality with CX Surveys

    Posted 03-03-2016 11:42 AM

     I have heard of a variety of programs that use differing levels of confidentiality with closed survey loops in CX programs.

    I'm leaning towards programs that are linked to account actions, thus not implying confidentiality. 

    A few questions:

    1) How would you recommend wording the survey invitation for CX surveys that are directly being used as a closed loop feedback as well as for broader root change implications? How would you ensure that customers understand the purpose of the survey without skewing their results?

    2) Is there research on this that anyone can point me to? I'm assuming qualtrics/medalia and others have differing  view points.

    Thank you!

    ------------------------------
    Ariel Snapp
    Client and User Experience Leader
    Willis Towers Watson
    Denver CO
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Confidentiality with CX Surveys

    Posted 03-16-2016 11:47 AM

    Ariel:

    Very good question here. I have included my point of view beneath each question. Additionally, I have a survey invite guide that I can share if you want to shoot me a PM via my email address below.

    1) How would you recommend wording the survey invitation for CX surveys that are directly being used as a closed loop feedback as well as for broader root change implications? How would you ensure that customers understand the purpose of the survey without skewing their results?

    The general rule of thumb here is that you should be as clear as possible to consumers when you are soliciting their feedback. This applies to everything from the time it will take to the purpose/usage of responses. If you are planning on closing the loop with them, I would explicitly state that in the invite as a bare minimum. It is also fairly standard to embed a question in the survey asking if the consumer is ok with being contacted based on their responses. 

    I've been building and running VoC/EE programs for the better part of a decade and the concept of skewed data associated with confidentiality is something more applicable to the EE area. Consumers have no real motivation nor reason to skew their feedback based on the perception of confidentiality. This is especially true when they must opt-in to provide feedback in the first place. The EE domain runs into this issue quite a bit as there is often fear of retribution associated with employee surveys. This area also grapples with the often misunderstood debate between confidentiality and anonymity.

    Long-winded way of saying that you should just be up front with customers about how their data will be used. This will elicit a higher response rate and more valid data.

    2) Is there research on this that anyone can point me to? I'm assuming qualtrics/medalia and others have differing  view points.

    Shoot me a PM and I can send you a survey invite guide I use. I also have a closed-loop best practices guide that I can pass along if you have interest. 

    ------------------------------
    Kyle Groff, Ph.D.
    Principal Consultant, CX
    Qualtrics
    Salt Lake City, UT
    kyleg@qualtrics.com



  • 3.  RE: Confidentiality with CX Surveys

    Posted 03-17-2016 10:43 AM

    Hello Ariel,

    I'm pretty much in sync with Kyle's comments but wanted to bring out a couple of other nuances...first please know that no matter how you word the invitation, you will skew customer responses, both in terms of influencing some customers who complete the survey as well as affecting non-response bias. This is inevitable in survey research and unless you go to tremendous (and expensive) lengths to  do follow-up studies of these biases, you will never know the size or direction of the skew.  However, not to worry; the key here is consistency over time...so long as whatever bias is introduced remains constant, the changes you detect over time will be "real" (I'm assuming here a sufficiently large number of survey responses).

    Second, in B2B I'm a big fan of "softening up the beaches" before sending out survey invitations. What this means is socializing your closed-loop feedback system with customers well before they get those email invites. Work it into your regular marketing and customer communications processes. If you have an account manager type function, arm him or her with a script to explain your system, how you use the inputs, and how it benefits customers...then give them a mission to make sure they communicate these talking points with customers by a deadline that is a least a few weeks before invitations are sent. You can do the same thing with your sales organization but it's trickier because customers will naturally be more skeptical when they hear it from a salesperson, reading a "you're-going-to-use-this-to-try-to-sell-me-more-stuff" message into it. Send an advance communication from an appropriate senior executive; if your customer base is relatively small (hundreds, not thousands), consider sending a real letter via an urgent-delivery method to make sure it breaks through.

    If you've done a good job with these advance communications, the email invitation itself can be short and sweet. Make sure the link is very early in the copy for customers who already "get it" and just want to get on with it; don't force them to read (i.e. skip over) a long preamble.

    Happy to discuss other ideas with you offline if you like. Best wishes for success!

    ------------------------------
    Brian Lunde
    Vice President and CCXP
    CMI Research
    Atlanta GA
    312-600-4898



  • 4.  RE: Confidentiality with CX Surveys

    Posted 03-18-2016 11:24 AM

    Ariel:

    I agree with all the points made above. In the transactional customer feedback programs I've designed and executed (both B2B and B2C) I've found it's rare for customers to expect anonymity, and they generally will give the same feedback either way (employee feedback is a different matter, as Kyle noted). Gaining the ability to do closed-loop is a much bigger benefit than whatever marginally more honest feedback you might get for promising anonymity.

       -Peter

    ------------------------------
    Peter Leppik
    CEO
    Vocal Laboratories Inc.
    Golden Valley MN
    952-941-6580



  • 5.  RE: Confidentiality with CX Surveys

    Posted 03-19-2016 09:10 AM

    Thank you all for your responses, immediately helpful! Particularly about how to incorporate it into the customer management and H2H process.

    ------------------------------
    Ariel Snapp
    Client and User Experience Leader
    Willis Towers Watson
    Denver CO



  • 6.  RE: Confidentiality with CX Surveys

    Posted 03-28-2016 01:24 PM

    Hi Ariel,

    In our surveys, we offer confidentiality, but at the end we have an opt-in "may we include your name with your data to help us..."  It's worked well with both our customers and our data privacy folks.  Also, please note if you're operating outside the US, different countries have very different (and often much stricter) data privacy laws than the U.S., and it's important to make sure you understand them.


    Best regards,

    Lori

    ------------------------------
    Lori Laflin, CCXP
    Global Customer Engagement Research Program Mgr
    Cargill
    Wayzata MN
    952-742-2684