Outline the Scope of Your Survey

Define Your Scope to Stay on Target

To find the tool that will give you the best data to meet your customer feedback goals, you need to answer several questions:

• Who are your customers?  
• What do you want to improve (your website, phone interactions, etc.)? 
• What will you do with the data you collect?
• How much will it cost to collect this feedback?

Who Are Your Customers?

Customer segments are frequently broken down by groups with similar wants and needs. These can include:

• Customer demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity, location, region)
• Customer background (e.g., tech-savvy)
• Customer behavior (e.g., customers who called about a specific issue; heavy users of your services)

Identify your target customer group, then find the tool that is most likely to reach that group. For example, an online survey will only reach customers with web access, and a phone survey will be biased towards customers who have already called your agency with an issue or question. Focus groups give you more control and flexibility in targeting specific customer types, and also allow more in-depth discussions, although the sample size is small. Also consider availability of potential participants and how you will recruit them.

What Do You Want To Improve (Your Website, Phone Interactions, etc.)?

Identifying which part of the overall customer experience you hope to improve will also influence tool selection.  When collecting feedback on a specific customer service channel, such as the phone, web, or in-person visit, the best feedback is often collected through the same channel (and at the same time) as the customer interaction. Use a variety of mechanisms to collect feedback about multiple customer service channels, or about the broader customer experience, feedback can be collected through a variety of channels and mechanisms.

Find ways to deliver better service. Determine pain points, solve problems, and "wow" your customers by exceeding expectations.

What Will You Do With the Data You Collect?

Consider the data you need to reach your feedback goals. Design a survey that will yield statistically valid results on which you can establish performance benchmarks. This type of survey would likely not be covered under the five-day, fast-track PRA approval process, since it will likely be a quantitative survey.

Choose a feedback option such as a focus group to gather open-ended and contextual feedback about opinions or attributes. This will allow you to identify or explore customer preferences, find early warning signs of potential problems, or understand customer reactions to a current or new product, service, or communication material.

Consider combining different types of feedback. For example, a post-transaction survey could indicate that overall customer satisfaction is declining, and a focus group could tell you specifically what customers do not like.  If you plan to compare your performance metrics (with groups within or outside your agency) you should use a standardized survey.

Standardized surveys

• Measure your performance relative to other agencies or specific industry groups
• Usually run by an outside vendor (e.g., Foresee/ASCI, JD Powers)
• Often target a specific industry (such as the federal government) or function (such as customer service)
• Asks the same or similar questions across multiple organizations to enable direct comparisons
• Can also compare customer service performance between the public and the private sector, or even between different customer service channels within an organization
• Usually not qualitative surveys, so would not fall under the five-day, fast-track PRA approval process. Please contact your PRA officer for more details.

Custom surveys

• Gives very specific feedback about your organization
• Helps to establish relevant internal performance benchmarks and metrics
• Tailored specifically to your organization and individual feedback needs
• Results are NOT used to benchmark against other agencies or organizations
• Can be developed internally and doesn't require support from an outside vendor.

How Much Will It Cost To Collect This Feedback?

The costs can be broken down into several major categories. These costs cover the initial design (survey or focus group script creation); administration (the purchase of a survey license, or fees for a focus group facilitator); participant-related costs (such as payments for participation); and data analysis and reporting.

You can collect customer feedback on any budget. For example, consider a free or low-cost online survey tool, if you don't need the functionality of a more expensive survey application, or conduct phone-based focus groups, to avoid the travel costs associated with in-person focus groups. To learn more about the costs associated with common feedback collection methods, read about different tools on the main How to Collect Customer Feedback page.

Back to How to Collect Customer Feedback

Content Lead: Alycia Piazza
Page Reviewed/Updated: July 16, 2012