Administering your surveys: which channel is best?

The way you communicate with your customers following an interaction is decisive. Today, there are many ways to contact them.

At SatisFactory, we have a wide range of channels available: Email, SMS (Link or conversational), Tablet, QR code/Flashcode/Shortlink, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Website links, Phone calls.

To make sure you choose the most appropriate channel, you need to ask yourself a number of questions. What are my objectives? What is my target market (BtoB, BtoC)? How do I usually communicate with my customers? What information do I have about my customers (e-mail address, telephone number, etc.)?

Here we look at the most interesting options, depending on your objectives.

For a high return rate / To reach a quota: telephone calls

If you want a high return rate or a minimum number of respondents, it's best to use the following channels: Email, IVR, telephone calls or conversational SMS. These collection methods enable you to follow up with the contact. They also make it possible to set up over-solicitation rules to avoid any deterioration in the return rate. More specifically, telephone surveys enable us to reach segments of the population that would be difficult to reach via other channels.

For a lower cost: email

In terms of implementation, the cost may vary slightly between the different channels. The use of tablets requires an initial investment (rental or purchase). However, the cost per respondent is close to zero. Set-up costs for other channels (excluding IVR) are relatively low.

The real difference lies in the cost of sending surveys. While an email costs around €2 per 1,000 sendings (i.e. €0.002 / sending), sending an SMS costs €0.05 (i.e. 25 times more expensive). Telephone surveys generally cost between €5 and €10 per respondent. From a cost point of view, email is far more interesting.

For anonymous/non-customers: the tablet

If you don't have the information on the people you want to interview, you can use QR codes, on-site links or tablets. Placed at your point of sale (tablets) or on your sales documents (QR codes), these tools enable you to collect spontaneous opinions from your customers and prospects.

Even so, don't forget that responses are a priori anonymous. This makes the administration of your Feedback Management program a little more complex. In order to deal with dissatisfied customers/prospects, you'll need to ask for their contact details in the body of the questionnaire.

In our experience, this complexity is generally offset by the high volume generated. After all, you're targeting your entire customer population, not just the inserts.

Conclusion

The channel you choose depends on the customer experience you offer, your resources, the time you have available and the way you usually communicate with your customers.

In the majority of Feedback Management programs we set up, email - because of its cost - is often favored.

It can also be interesting to use several contact channels: a main channel such as email, backed up by phone calls or text messages where useful.