Author: Brendan Cullen

Recently, while travelling, I came across a customer satisfaction comment card for a hotel.  These cards were being left in guests’ rooms.  Besides questions about guests’ experiences, there were also some profiling questions.  One of these questions asked guests their age.  Such questions can be very useful.  For example, if a hotel is surprised that the satisfaction level among its younger guests is far higher than among retirees, then there is some underlying issue that they can aim to uncover.

However, in this example, the lowest selectable age group was 25-34.  What about the under-25s?  What about their opinions?  Were they simply forgotten?  Or was there an assumption that all guests would be over 25?  When designing your questionnaires or online surveys, be careful that you ask the right questions!

There has been a lot of talk recently about how it’s no longer enough to satisfy customers.  We’re told that we need to “delight” them.  If you are running an online survey to assess customer satisfaction you may well be looking to know how to delight your customers.  But be careful – you might be better off first finding out whether you’ve irritated them, whether you’ve let them down, whether you’ve ignored them.  Providing a smooth, hassle-free interaction in a responsive manner may be all they’re looking for from you.  And if you mess up on any of those you risk them telling others.  So yes – reach for the stars – but do so from a firm foundation!  Make sure your survey design doesn’t neglect the basics!