Customer Satisfaction in Industry

Heavy-Duty Feedback

We were retained by one of the world’s largest manufacturers of construction and materials processing equipment. Their brands are instantly recognizable, known for superior performance, durability, and innovative features. The company routinely gathers feedback from customers and dealers across the globe through survey research executed at the local country level. However, the company was experiencing a problem with their customer satisfaction program (which included Net Promoter Score measures, or NPS). They were unable to extract the kind of actionable insights into their customers that they had hoped. The company turned to Surveys & Forecasts, LLC to help them understand why they were not getting the kind of granular insights into their business that they truly needed.

We were given complete access to the company’s historical tracking program data. This included respondent level information in the form of SPSS files, data dictionary information, questionnaires, and field instructions. We spoke at length with our internal research colleagues to better frame the scope of our assignment. Our work then involved the analysis of thousands of open-ended comments to determine whether the types of questions that were being asked were of the correct type/level, were focused, and could, in fact, be tied to a specific business action or process. Our experience has shown that when (1) attributes are crafted properly, (2) are relatively narrow in scope, and (3) tied to a specific business process or action, their utility increases dramatically. Of note, many companies tend to focus on product-oriented characteristics, sometimes overlooking the lengthy and sometimes complicated personal selling process involved in large ticket items.

Our analysis proved to be extremely productive. We were able to identify alternative and more precisely worded attributes and characteristics that were more readily understandable by customers. In addition, we are able to identify new dimensions that had been overlooked when the customer satisfaction tracking program was first initiated. Following several waves of data collection, the company reported significant insights into issues affecting their customers in specific regions of the globe, and in specific product lines. Our analysis of their data revealed opportunities to improve communication with customers, make improvements in the pre-and post-sales experience, and identify specific action steps that could be taken to continually improve the overall sales process.

This is but one of many examples of how Surveys & Forecasts, LLC works with clients to help them understand their customers — often using data already at their disposal. Are you getting the most out of your customer satisfaction or tracking program? If not, call us to discuss an exploratory analysis of your program.

Chances are, there are improvements lurking in your data. Let S&F help you truly uncover the insights that are waiting for you.