Satisfaction Research Mantra: Don’t Measure Performance In A Vacuum

Organizations of all types conduct surveys in which they ask their customers, their employees or the general public how well they’re doing. We believe that the value of such surveys is limited unless they also address at least one of the following three topics:

[1] Importance.

Knowing how you’re performing on an attribute (quality, service, etc.) is more useful if you know how important that attribute is. If your performance is highest on the least important attribute(s), then priorities – and possibly resources – may need to be shifted.

[2] Expectations.

Another way of providing context for performance data is to find out how well your audience expects you to perform. “Good” performance for a budget brand may actually reflect greater relative customer satisfaction than “very good” performance for a luxury brand.

[3] Comparisons.

An alternative to measuring expectations is to ask how competitors perform on the same attributes. Something which appears to be a strength based on your own performance may in fact be a relative weakness if the competition is doing even better.

There are many ways to capture actionable information on these topics, and the best approach depends upon the circumstances. At Gold Research, we understand that survey research is easy to do, but hard to do well.

Interested in learning more? Call us at 1-800-549-7170 or email me [email protected] for a free 30-minute consultation on this topic. We have extensive experience in customer and employee satisfaction research, and we would love to talk with you about it!