Filed under: Business Trends, Case Study, Conferences, Events, Running a better business, Survey Feedback, Surveys, Technology, Tradeshows | Tags: conference attendee Feedback, customer experience, do-it-yourself, Email Marketing, Event Feedback, ipad surveys, iPhone surveys, mobile surveys, real-time survey reporting
We recently partnered with the Fast Casual Executive Summit 2012 team to provide our mobile surveys to attendees at this week’s conference held in San Diego, which was a great learning experience for both teams! We’re not only providers of mobile feedback surveys to conferences but also are attendees of many conferences and tradeshows ourselves. We’re taking our unique perspective and turning it into best practices that can help you make the most of your event to improve your feedback program, and ultimately the likeliness of your attendees joining you again for your next event.
Going back a few years, the 2008 recession has had a significant negative impact across our economy, leading all business owners to examine how effectively their money is being spent. The meetings and conventions industry has certainly felt this impact; Architectural Record reports that both the number of conventions and convention attendance has declined in the last decade.
Though the industry is beginning to show signs of recovery, many meeting planners have had to remain on their toes amid budget cuts. In a 2010 survey of meeting planners by the Professional Convention Management Association, 26% of planners expected their budgets to be cut in the year ahead. Of that number, 80% stated the budget cuts were due to “general economic conditions,” and they expected to book fewer meetings, due to the cost of food and beverage, transportation, and lodging.
Under these conditions, it is more important than ever for meeting planners to stretch their dollars and ensure limited funds are spent as efficiently as possible. However, meeting planners must also avoid a decline in quality despite cost cutting measures. To maintain this balance, planners should pay very close attention to guest satisfaction, using attendee feedback to streamline operations and eliminate unnecessary expenditures while keeping satisfaction high.
Customer feedback cards are one example of inefficient spending: response rates are low, and they are very time-consuming to process and analyze. Instead, meeting planners would be wise to take advantage of On The Spot System’s mobile, real-time survey system to gather feedback from event attendees. Attendees can complete the user-friendly survey on their own mobile phones, sending valuable feedback to meeting planners on every aspect of the conference including facilities, staff, registration process, speakers, individual sessions, materials, location, dining options, and more. Instant alerts notify meeting planners of any negative feedback so they can react quickly to resolve the problem if possible.
Survey results are collected and displayed using On The Spot System’s customizable reporting tools. Meeting planners can easily view and analyze statistics from one or multiple events, allowing them to identify strengths and weaknesses and to pinpoint specific areas for improvement for future events. By using On The Spot Systems and obtaining a wealth of quality feedback from attendees, meeting planners are able to organize quality conferences and events despite shrinking budgets.
Nevertheless, technology can only make it quicker and easier to collect feedback- not fool proof. It’s important to remember that even with a mobile feedback system you have to promote the surveys to your audience to reach your goal response rate. It’s as easy as reminding people to do the surveys at the end of each session. When you stress the importance of feedback, you’ll leave the impression with your audience that their feedback is valuable and will be taken seriously. When they know it’s worth their time, you’d be surprised how willing your audience will be to take out their smartphones to fill out your mobile surveys!
Want to try one of our demo survey for a conference, event or meeting?
Go to this URL on your smartphone or tablet: sots.mobi/confdemo
Or Scan this QR Code with your QR Scanner:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: better business, customer experience, customer service surveys, email list building, Email Marketing, mobile restaurant surveys, mobile surveys, net promoter score, social media
This topic is as hot as it gets! We’re combining a business benchmark best practice with a social media twist to give you an unbeatable combination: get customer satisfaction insight, grow an email marketing list, and promote your social media sites!
Why all of the fuss over the Net Promoter Score? The Net Promoter Score, or NPS®, is based on the fundamental perspective that every company’s customers can be divided into three categories: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. By asking one simple question – How likely is it that you would recommend [your company] to a friend or colleague? – you can track these groups and get a clear measure of your company’s performance through your customers’ eyes.
Customers respond on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorized as follows:
- Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth.
- Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
- Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
Now, let’s tie it all together in your survey.
Ask everyone to join an email marketing list- you’ll collect the names of people who want to receive special offers, get updates and keep in touch with you. Many satisfied customers are willing to opt-in and give you their email address. Next, ask the NPS question: “How likely are you to recommend us to friends, family, or colleagues?” The detractors (Less than 6 on the scale) are thanked for their feedback and the survey ends. Passives and Promoters are next shown the Social Media screen so they have the opportunity to engage with you on social media, and even post while their good experience is fresh in their mind.
Here’s why this works:
Promoters: They’re proud to be your customer, and can’t wait to share it with the world! Provide the links to your social media sites so they can “like” you, and write an awesome post about their experience.
Passives: They’re satisfied with your business, but won’t go out of their way to promote you. They may not be enthusiastic enough to post, but if you make it convenient for them by providing the links at the end of the survey they’ll be willing to give you a “like” or a “follow” when invited. They’re vulnerable to your competition though, so be sure to give them great incentives to visit again through your social media posts & promotions.
Detractors: They gave you their feedback on a bad experience, and you’ll do your best to ensure that your operations are improved in the future. They had a chance to voice their opinion in the survey and aren’t as motivated to share the dissatisfaction on their social media networks. Even if they don’t return, you have the insight to fix the problem immediately, and the comfort in knowing you gave them a venue to give their feedback that keeps them away from “yelping” about it later.
What have you accomplished?
Many people, presumably happy customers, will sign up for the email club- but not everyone- some people don’t like getting email offers. Those who answer on the NPS scale that they would highly recommend your company are now given the opportunity to also follow your social media efforts. Some of the people that didn’t want to receive emails from you are happy to hear from you via social media. Ultimately, you’ve received critical feedback from the detractors and let them get their negative experience off their chest in the survey- and you’ve given multiple options for your happy customers to engage with you further. It’s a recipe for success that will energize your operations and marketing efforts, and help keep you top-of-mind with your happy customers. Remember, it’s never too late to turn those “passives” into “promoters”!
We’ve set up at survey so you can see how it works!
On your smartphone or tablet, go to this URL in your web browser to take the survey:sots.mobi/socialdemo
Or Scan this QR Code with your QR Scanner: 
Filed under: Case Study, Clients, Email Marketing, News, Restaurants, Running a better business, Survey Feedback, Surveys, Technology, Uncategorized | Tags: affordable technology, better business, customer satisfaction, drive sales, guest satisfaction, ideas into action, loyalty programs, measurement and analytics, mobile data collection, mobile surveys, real time data, ROI, top ways
Recently we stumbled upon a great info graphic about the “10 Ways to Increase Sales in 2012” and we had the most unsurprising reaction- Oh, that’s so simple and interesting! Of course, that’s what info graphics are supposed to be- simple, straight-to-the-point, and interesting. While this top ten list certainly sparks interest, we wanted to contribute our thoughts on how to put these sales drivers into high gear this year! Using our clients as inspiration, and our Survey On The Spot tool as the platform, we’ve identified some ideas that any business could benefit from integrating into day-to-day operations and big-picture strategy.
#1 Use Analytics and Metrics
Analytics and metrics have never been more important to businesses as retailers continue to try to gather usable insights from their business efforts. However, it can be a challenge for “brick and mortar” businesses to follow along in implementing analytics and tracking tactics that are relevant to gauging their success in attracting and retaining customers. There is a way to use software, however, to get the same level of analytics in the place where you need it most – at the point of sale. This realization is what prompted us to consider mobile technology as a way to provide brick-and-mortar locations with a level of analytics and metrics to fuel their business decisions that hasn’t been readily available. We’ve created a way that consumers can share their voice with you about their experience with your business in real-time. Customers can provide feedback on the service they received, the training session they just attended or the new food dish they just tried…all before they leave their seat. This data is then automatically converted to metrics that can be tracked over time.
#9 Manage Your Reputation
“Unhappy customers are more likely to leave negative reviews online and complain to their networks both online and offline. Be sure to respond to unhappy customers and try to fix the issue so more customers will be satisfied.” We wish we had written those wise words ourselves! At the heart of successfully managing one’s reputation is finding a way to get the customer’s opinion before anyone else- including the customer next to them or their entire social network. Make sure you come up in conversation in a positive way by ensuring you have a process in place to deal with feedback immediately rather than doing “damage” control after the fact. We know how important this can be- if you provide top quality service 99% of the time, don’t let the 1% slip through the cracks. It’s not easy, but it’s never been easier. We have clients who use mobile guest satisfaction surveys- if a customer provides negative feedback an alert is sent to management to notify them of the issue. Management can then try to resolve the problem before the customer leaves. The feedback can also be used to drive positive change- the quality of service achieved affects the employee’s performance evaluations and eventually their yearly bonus or promotion.
#6 Build Relationships with Customers
When we take our business hats off at the end of the day, and go back to being consumers, it’s easier to remember how much simple “good business” practices can positively influence our decisions to be a ‘regular’ or just a drifting one-time consumer. Customers respond positively when companies personally engage them and understand what they want. Customers will be more likely to choose your business over another if you are receptive to their needs. When customer relationships are a priority, businesses can achieve 43% more sales per employee and 260% more revenue. These results aren’t surprising, but just having the facts doesn’t always give you a way to get from a to b. When it comes to engagement, asking for feedback is central. Opening a conversation with customers to give you their feedback allows them to have a “say in the matter”. You can also ask for their feedback while offering an incentive, like signing up for your email club to receive special offers, or something special on their birthday.
#5 Invest in Mobile Tactics
Mobile tactics aren’t limited to building your own smartphone app or mobile ordering platform. Mobile tactics can be used to enable you to more effectively run and build your business on a day-to-day basis. You can invest in collecting mobile feedback, letting customers join your loyalty rewards program on their phones, etc. Mobile technology can also be used to monitor and manage regular business procedures like opening and closing checklists, food safety and sanitation audits or to gather employee engagement and training feedback.
#3 Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs encourage repeat business by rewarding sales with discounts, freebies, and other incentives. The average US household is enrolled in 18 loyalty programs and customers who are part of a loyalty program will spend more. The first step to having a loyalty reward program is being able to get the right email addresses to send rewards to. For restaurants especially, it can be hard to get the word out about your rewards program on your own. Many of our customers use surveys like ours to get feedback, and at the end of the survey, collect email addresses from customers who’d like to opt-in to receive loyalty club rewards, be entered in sweepstakes promotions, or receive special offers on their birthday. For example, one of our clients used a QR code on the packaging of a new product once it hit shelves to get feedback on the product from customers, and once they completed the survey, they were entered into a sweepstakes to win $250 in store gift cards.
Sales growth is directly linked to the quality of the product and service you provide your client. In today’s economic environment, this is even truer than ever before. Using mobile technology can help you better monitor, manage and build your business by insuring that you have your pulse on your customer’s experience and creating opportunities to build a stronger relationship. Solutions, like ours, can be affordable and can save you time, money, paper, and lost customers. Many of our clients use our service for as little as $2/day. So, what’s stopping you from driving your sales this year?
Filed under: Clients, News, Restaurants, Running a better business, Survey Feedback, Surveys, Technology | Tags: better business, customer service surveys, economy, entrepreneurship, interchange zero, low costs, new businesses, start-up
For those of you unfamiliar, interchange zero (IZ) is a term supporters use when talking about eliminating the interchange costs associated with the use of credit cards. Interchange fees are those pesky percentages card companies charge merchants when they accept credit card transactions. The belief among many like Seth Priebatsch, creator of The LevelUp, is that by reducing or removing those fees, ‘Friction’ that money can better be used to build commerce and drive revenue to benefit all parties involved. I realize one sentence doesn’t do it justice, but redirecting $50 bllion of current non-value-added expenses toward driving consumer and enterprise value is an extremely powerful idea – especially in light of the current state of the economy.
A logical and possibly larger extension of this idea is the opportunity around what I call Obligation Zero (OZ), the ‘Friction’ that results from contract terms. This topic came up as we recently launched our start-up, On The Spot Systems. One of the first things we needed to figure out (after identifying that we had an excellent concept) was a go-to-market strategy. When we thought about what type of company we wanted to be, we instantly defaulted to our vision of the kinds of companies with which WE would want to do business (One of the simple pleasures of starting your own business!) We immediately concluded that “No Contracts Required” was a good place to start. My business partner and I firmly believe that if we aren’t delivering the promise we made to you as our client, we don’t deserve to keep your business. Period. More importantly, we found that this approach keeps us always pushing forward, always looking for the next unique tool or innovation, always looking out for our clients’ best interest. Essentially, it keeps us hungry.
I speak from experience: When a client isn’t obligated to continue to pay us because of a guaranteed contract, we ensure that we are ultra competitive. We continually press innovation into our clients’ hands, continue to improve the efficiency of our business to deliver lower cost solutions while maintaining or growing our margins. We believe that ultimately we will capture a larger share of the market as a result of this approach to doing business and that we will maintain a reputation for ensuring our clients always get the best we can deliver.
The flip side of OZ is the impact of obligating your clients to pay for unrealized value. What is the cost to business and the economy of this approach? The net result is negative economic value as businesses are forced to accept sub-optimal performance and products or services they no longer want or need. My guess is that this could result in billions of dollars of sub-optimal performance across the business landscape. Consider this industry example: Based on a recent GSM/Wireless Intelligence study, global revenues for mobile service will reach $1.1 trillion (with a ‘T’) this year. If 1% of that revenue came from customers that had better service options available – but couldn’t switch carriers – and if by switching they could save on average 10%, it represents $1.1 Billion dollars of economic impact… For that single category of business alone! Think about all of the contract obligations, personal and business, in existence, and do the math. It represents a colossal number…and doesn’t include any of the non-cash benefits, like better, faster service.
This played out in the real world recently. After successfully piloting our Survey On The Spot product, one of our hospitality clients decided to move forward with a system-wide rollout. They encountered one major problem: Their current supplier refused to let them out of their contract, essentially forcing the client to continue using what they perceived to be a sub-optimal product for the remainder of the contract (about a year). Rather than looking in the mirror at what they had failed to deliver – they just fell back onto the contract. The client called us, exasperated, so we put our money where our mouths are… We offered the client our product at no cost for the first year, thereby demonstrating our commitment to our clients (and a healthy belief in our Survey On The Spot product) by walking-the-walk. It’s still too early to tell how this story will end, but we are committed to this OZ approach to business, and people are taking notice.
We recognize that eliminating all contracts is easier said than done, but we do believe that reducing the situations in which contracts only serve to arbitrarily lock in a revenue stream is good for business. This is at the heart of the opportunity and impact. If companies are motivated to be as efficient as possible to benefit their clients, how much capital would flow into the economy to fuel growth? A lot. If contract-obligating companies always tried to find a way to innovate to improve the efficiency of their clients, what would be the lift in economic productivity?
It’s hard to know, but “Obligation Zero“ is a good place to start.
Filed under: Running a better business, Surveys, Technology | Tags: customer experience, Surveys, Technology
One of Survey On The Spot’s many user-friendly and customizable reporting tools is the Trend Report. Created for businesses with multiple locations to track, this tool provides a bird’s eye view of your business’s survey results over a period of time. You can see the performance of your business as a whole as well as results unique to every location, with an average score for each plus score breakdowns for individual categories, and can track your performance by observing how your decisions affect your score over time.
The Trend Report is particularly useful at benchmarking a location against the performance of your chain as a whole. You can measure the scores of your service speed/performance, food/beverage quality, as well as tracking the “no problem experienced” and “overall satisfaction” score.
Using the Trend Report allows you to easily identify any problem locations from a high level as they compare to your other locations during a period of time. Once you’ve identified a problem location, you can dig a little deeper through the survey results to find out exactly what they are doing wrong. You can look at the problem location’s individual survey responses for specific examples of what customers did not like in order to identify problems that need to be fixed. Further, you can look to other locations as examples for what needs to be improved.
Identifying the high-performing locations on the Trend Report and examining their individual survey responses can help you find specific examples of what customers liked. You can then use these examples to make improvements to the problem location, and track the performance of your management decisions, to ultimately help you increase customer satisfaction.
What use is a customer survey if it is too difficult to organize and report the data for accurate analysis? Survey On The Spot features streamlined reporting tools that allow you to view your survey data in a simple and user-friendly format, giving you the control to customize the report displays so they are most useful to your unique needs. You also have the option of viewing data online or exported to Excel or PDF files, allowing for further data analysis.
The Company Score Report allows business owners to identify areas of improvement and pinpoint particular locations that are bringing the ratings down. If your customer satisfaction scores are lagging in a certain area and you find yourself asking, “is the entire business underperforming in this area, or is it just one location that needs to pick up the slack?,” check the individual scores; the report displays averages for each location so you can see how they compare.
Our reporting feature allows businesses with multiple locations to track guest satisfaction performance at each location. Survey data for each location can be viewed individually, comparatively, or in total. With this tool, business owners have a detailed view of their business’s guest satisfaction success, as they are able to analyze the overall results as well as the performance of each separate location. This scorecard style report not only can users see in which particular areas they excel or fall behind overall, but they can pinpoint which individual locations stand out in the rankings, thereby easily identifying areas for improvement.
For example, imagine a chain of restaurants has an overall positive customer satisfaction score in speed of service. Upon further examination of the data by comparing the individual results of each location in Survey On The Spot’s Company Score Report, however, the business owner sees that Location #2 is doing exceptionally well in this area while Location #5 is lagging far behind. With this knowledge, the business owner can now take the appropriate steps to improve customer satisfaction by asking, what is Location #2 doing to streamline service and increase speed that Location #5 is not? Through analysis of individual survey responses at each location, the business owner can pinpoint particular things customers liked and did not like and can identify specific ways to maximize efficiency at Location #5.
The above scenario can be applied to all aspects of customer satisfaction at restaurants, including food quality, environment, quality of service, cleanliness, success of specific menu items, and more. By paying close attention to each of these important aspects of your restaurant, tracking success in each area at all locations, and comparing data across locations, you can make focused improvements with the big picture in mind, ultimately increasing customer satisfaction and the overall success of your business.
NexDine, a company that provides cafeteria and dining services for businesses, schools, colleges and more, has proven its commitment to superior service and hospitality by implementing the Survey On The Spot customer survey system. Survey On The Spot will help NexDine determine what they can do to continually improve business operations, ensuring the highest level of service and satisfaction for both NexDine’s clients and their dining customers.
Customers are asked to fill out the surveys either on handheld devices such as iPads provided by NexDine or on their own smartphones using the web browser or scanning a QR code. The survey is designed to be simple and user-friendly, and it asks customers various questions about their NexDine dining experience including quality and speed of service, quality of food, facility cleanliness, and more. Customers are given the opportunity to share their opinions by both ranking different items and providing detailed feedback.
Responses are instantly submitted to the Survey On The Spot system, where NexDine can use the convenient reporting features to keep track of real-time results. Any issue requiring immediate attention trigger instant service alerts sent to a manager who can quickly react to solve it immediately. Survey On The Spot also includes customizable score reports that can display data over any given period of time, allowing the user to easily pinpoint areas in need of improvement. NexDine can use this feature to monitor reports and track customer satisfaction trends in certain areas. For example, if customer service scores identify a specific opportunity, NexDine can quickly take note and improve employee training accordingly, thereby maintaining their commitment to the highest level of service.
The Company Score Report, a new Survey On The Spot reporting feature, is particularly helpful for NexDine to stay on top of their performance. This feature allows companies with multiple locations to track customer satisfaction scores at each location. NexDine can use this tool to monitor survey results and compare ratings for each of their clients. If one location is outperforming in a particular area, NexDine can compare them to other client locations and determine what they are doing differently in order to raise the bar across the system.
At both Survey On The Spot and NexDine, customer satisfaction is the bottom line. Survey On The Spot’s user-friendly surveys and useful reporting tools will help NexDine continually learn and respond to customers’ dining needs and expectations. Through this partnership, NexDine can reach their goal of providing exceptional service and hospitality.
