I don’t claim to be an expert on customer surveys but I work daily to understand the behavior of customers with regards to a product, buying, or service experience.  Quality in the call center industry is now synonymous to Customer Experience.

Years ago, we capture customer’s opinions by just listening to the calls or reading web chat  or email interactions.  We collect the data, score the agent’s performance and based on the results, we conclude what customers want, need, why they’re happy or not.  NOW - the evolution of customer satisfaction surveys have flourished.

Since this is an opinion and outsourcing has grown, there are some factors that make it very subjective.  This has made it difficult to study and determine what makes people satisfied.  Here is a list to look out for:

• Cultural differences
  Personalities within a given environment (religion, politics, laws, etc.)

• Verbal and written gaps
  Different languages, grammar, pronunciation, and varied meaning to a similar word and how it is being used in a normal conversation.

• Emotional attachments
  Moods, personalities, and feelings at that particular moment.  When someone is upset, more words are used and the line to determine whether it is the truth or not is thin.

As we take call after call, email or chat one after another daily, we learn that studying subjective information can be futile to
determine satisfaction thus improving the product or service.  But, there is a way to make it “quantitative”  and more objective.  By making the survey more specific and avoid room for general comments, this can be done.

It is definitely a QUEST.   This is what makes it interesting and fulfilling when we’ve managed to explain why and know what to do next to make someone happy and satisfied.