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When determining what customers think about our service, we automatically consider customer satisfaction surveys. And here many questions arise because it is not so easy to conduct user surveys that produce the desired result: to improve the service and, ultimately, to increase customer satisfaction.

Satisfaction surveys are a recurring query: how to conduct them, how to achieve a better response rate, how to analyze the information they yield, etc.

However, other resources are rarely used systematically for the same purpose. And the coolest thing is that they are as simple and effective as a satisfaction survey. Oh, and they do not require additional resources, technology, or specialists, i.e., they are zero-cost!

In this article I will mention three of them, without making an exhaustive list:

1. Employees in contact with customers communicate upward.
2. Identifying demanding and communicative customers.
3. Simulation of the customer role.

Let's look at what each can bring.

Customer-facing employees communicate upward

There is nothing better than employees who have daily contact with customers to get to work with them. They know what drives them angry, and how to make them go away happy. They also know the waiting time that drives them impatient, and the shortcomings of the service that they exploit in front of the customer...

However, this valuable experience is rarely used. Furthermore, by ignoring the value of the information available to these staff, their sensitivity is dulled. They are unaware that they hold the key to significant service improvements.

It is necessary to value them (you will increase their self-esteem and willingness to collaborate) and to exercise their sensitivity and capacity to analyze their own experience. How about holding frequent meetings for them to expose the problems they see in their daily contact with the customer? Nothing complex is needed. Take advantage of their experience, and make the most of it by getting that information to those who have it in their hands. This will improve the main shortcomings.

Identifying demanding and communicative customers

Many customers who respond to satisfaction surveys will not be as clear and straightforward as an excellent, demanding customer. They are those customers who are meticulous, detail-oriented, and who will not settle for a service that does not meet the highest standards

Not only that, but they communicate their dissatisfaction. Instead of putting them on the opposite side of the street, and labeling them as "difficult customers", why not take advantage of the information they give us, free of charge? They say what many other customers silently leave us.

Ignoring these customers' voices is foolish - identify them and take advantage of them!

Customer role simulation

I have developed this resource in full detail in the article "Testing service quality from the customer's pavement". The idea is to put yourself in the customer's shoes, experiencing the service in the first person.

This exercise is extremely useful and can be carried out by management, middle management, or front-line staff. Experiencing the service itself will show us many opportunities for improvement that we cannot afford to ignore.

I invite you to use these resources in your organization. If you already have a statistical measurement method, such as a survey, supplement it with this "soft" information. And if you don't have a method yet, start with these. They are simpler and more immediate. You can apply for them without much trouble or at additional costs, and the information they give you is invaluable.