This article originally appeared in the April 2022 issue of Security Business magazine. When sharing, don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter.
One of PSA’s corporate initiatives last year was to launch a customer success program, and as part of it, we introduced a “voice of customer” program.
Under the helm of our new leadership, it was time for PSA to track how its measures up for our members and owners both from an overall relationship perspective, as well as in day-to-day transactions. PSA set out to track a Net Promoter Score (NPS) as well as creating an expanded phone survey. We now send regular e-mails to measure our overall relationship with integrators using the NPS question of, “How likely on a scale of 0 to 10 are you to recommend PSA?”
We also have transactional surveys that we link to in our signature lines that track how a specific interaction was with PSA, and our executive team makes monthly phone calls to owners and members to check in as well.
We have learned a few key takeaways through this process that I’d like to share with anyone looking to start their own voice of customer program:
1. Use a variety of different mediums to capture feedback.
Email is one of our most useful ways to communicate with customers, but the fact of the matter is, we all get a lot of email. A survey can be one of the easier emails for a person to ignore, but this does not mean you should not use this method. We have been surprised by the high response rate we get to including the link in the signature line of our emails. We also send a dedicated e-blast about once a month for surveys. Likewise, we use spontaneous as well as prescheduled phone calls to conduct surveys. There are many other ways you share surveys; in fact, I worked at an organization that even included mailed paper surveys. As long as you use more than one medium, you will see the most success.
2. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Sure, there is fancy software you can pay for to automate your surveys, but it can come with a high price tag that you may not able or willing to pay at this point. Likewise, there are several schools of thought on what questions to ask, how frequently to ask them, etc. Don’t get overwhelmed and let it discourage you from starting though – we all must start somewhere, and any conversation you have with a customer is going to give you tremendous insight to your business. We are currently using Microsoft Forms to run our surveys and manually tabulating results and compiling responses. Our future roadmap is to find a budget-friendly software.
3. Act quickly on the insights.
Sometimes your company may get a bad score or hear a difficult piece of feedback. Step in swiftly to remediate the problem for the customer. Share the feedback with the appropriate leaders on your team and make sure to learn from mistakes or clear up misconceptions. There is no need to ask for feedback if you don’t plan on making changes based on the information provided. Occasionally, we learn hard truths or see trends we didn’t realize were occurring. It is important to discuss these with your team and make it a learning opportunity.
4. Celebrate your team’s successes.
PSA has been thrilled with the feedback we are receiving so far. We have even created core values awards to celebrate individuals who are going above and beyond for our members and owners. These surveys are helping us recognize our stellar performers. Whether you offer bonuses, promotions, swag or just a pat on the back, make sure you are sharing the good news you receive with your team and let them know how much they matter to the success of the organization.
Candice Aragon is the VP of Marketing and Events for PSA Security Network. Request more info about PSA at www.securityinfowatch.com/10214742.
