The New England Business Bulletin: Study finds people complete satisfaction surveys to share positives

Originally published in the New England Business Bulletin

A recent study of over 1,400 U.S. consumers conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey finds most people complete satisfaction surveys because they have the company's best interest at heart — over half say they fill out customer satisfaction surveys to share a good experience (57 percent) or to improve the company (50 percent). More than one quarter of U.S. consumers have completed a customer satisfaction survey in the last twelve months, according to the study.

"Our research shows that companies currently managing customer satisfaction or 'Voice of the Customer' programs have a huge opportunity to cultivate and nurture key customers," says Jeff McKenna, senior consultant and director of customer satisfaction solutions at Chadwick Martin Bailey. "Overall, they are showing devotion to a company and, at the very least, companies should be thanking the customers who provide insightful comments, whether they are problems or praises."

Unlike the common perception that people respond to satisfaction surveys only because they are upset with the experience, the research finds that 81 percent respond equally for positive and negative experiences. Just 4 percent say they respond only when they have had a bad experience, whereas 13 percent say they typically do it only when they have a very positive experience.

"Looking more deeply at the results, we see some unique segments of people responding to these surveys. This indicates to me an opportunity for companies to tailor post-survey messaging and interactions if companies choose to engage these people more fully," said McKenna.

Men and women, for instance, have different motivations, according to study results.

Sixty percent of women participate in customer satisfaction surveys to share a good experience, compared to 52 percent of men. Most men (53 percent) fill them out to improve the company compared to 47 percent of women.

The biggest gender differences are around discounts, 50 percent of women participate to receive a discount compared to 40 percent of men.

The study was done as part of Chadwick Martin Bailey's self-funded CMB Consumer Pulse program. Data was collected from 1,491 adults (aged 18 and over) via a nationally representative online survey questionnaire within the United States by Chadwick Martin Bailey during the week of Jan. 20.

bizologie: Smartphones and Retail Shopping

Originally published in bizologie

A new study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies shows that smartphone owners use their phones while shopping to compare prices, find other store locations and check for discounts. The study of over 1,400 consumers shows over half of consumers are using their smartphones to enhance their shopping experience.

According to their research both genders equally use smartphones while shopping, but women look more for discounts while men look more for reviews. About 2/3 of smartphone owners under 35 use the phone while shopping, but only 1/3 of owners over 50 do. Surprisingly, not that many people are making purchases with their smartphone yet – only about 25%. And, the most common purchase transaction made via the phone is for entertainment (music, movies, TV) – followed by banking. You can download a free copy of the report by providing some basic contact information.

MediaPost Marketing Daily: Satisfaction Surveys Important Tool

Originally published by Aaran Baar in Marketing Daily

Consumers say they fill out customer satisfaction surveys not for their own good -- or even to complain about a particularly bad experience -- but because they truly believe their voices are being heard and that it's an important part of their side of the brand relationship.

According to a survey of more than 1,400 consumers by Chadwick Martin Bailey, more than one quarter of consumers have completed a survey in the past year, and more than half of them (57%) said they did it to share a good experience. Half said they did it to improve the company.

"Everyone is focusing on customer satisfaction and linking it to financial outcomes to the company," says Jeff McKenna, senior consultant and director of customer satisfaction solutions at the market research company. "Everyone understands if you have satisfied customers you're going to have better financial benefits. What they're not understanding is what this means for the customer. And what we're finding is this is an important communication for the customer."

The research, McKenna says, dispels the notion that the majority of people who respond to customer satisfaction surveys do so because they had an overwhelmingly bad experience and are "chronic complainers." In fact, the survey revealed 81% of people responded equally for positive and negative experiences. Thirteen percent said they typically fill them out only because they have very positive experiences. Only 4% said they fill them out only when they have only negative experiences.

"For companies that are afraid to open up to customer feedback for fear of getting a lot of negative comments, this should be a revelation," McKenna tells Marketing Daily. "People are saying something to be heard, and this confirms that."

Response rates (and reasons) differ along gender lines. Three-fifths of women said they participate in customer satisfaction surveys to share good experiences, while 53% of men said they filled them out to improve the company. Women are also more likely to participate in a survey to receive a discount or promotion (50% women vs. 40% men). However, McKenna notes, those promotions -- or even a sincere "thank you" -- are an important part of the customer service equation.

"As companies are doing this, it's important for them to communicate back to let people know that they're being heard," he says. "I think it's very important for companies to be responsible and responsive to these things."

CRN: Gartner: Channel Makeover Required For Cloud Success

Originally published in CRN By Andrew R Hickey

Cloud computing has created an interesting landscape for VARs and channel partners to navigate, but according to one analyst, the channel isn't ready to handle the load of cloud computing despite partners becoming more critical as cloud computing takes a stronger hold on the market.

"Two things are becoming increasingly clear to me: the channel will be critical in broader adoption of cloud computing (and private cloud), and the channel is not ready to do this. The channel needs to be rebooted," wrote Thomas Bittman, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst in a research blog looking at the channel's role in cloud computing.

Those partners that don't reboot and embrace the channel's critical role in cloud computing, Bittman cautioned will be left in the dust and midmarket companies will not fully embrace the cloud.

"Until they are [rebooted], the midmarket, in particular, will leverage cloud computing in a slipshod and hit-or-miss manner," Bittman wrote. "Likewise, channel partners who don't reboot and adjust to the new reality (that more and more IT capabilities purchased by the midmarket will be coming from the cloud, and not through hardware and software sales) won't survive for long."

Bittman's warning jibes with a Chadwick Martin Bailey survey from late last year that found channel partners aren't adequately prepared to support customer cloud computing endeavors. The survey revealed that two-thirds of enterprises felt the channel isn't ready for cloud computing. When asked about their attitude toward channel partners' ability to support their transition to cloud computing, 54 percent of respondents said the channel needs additional training and resources to be adequately prepared, while 12 percent said their channel partners are not prepared at all. Thirty-four percent of respondents said their channel partners are very well prepared to bring them into the cloud.

According to Bittman, there are three key opportunity areas for the channel to take advantage of cloud computing: assessments, transformation and broker.

Partners that tackle assessments offer basic education on what the cloud is and what it means and where organizations should focus their clod efforts. Essentially, Bittman suggested, channel partners offering assessments provide a starting point for the cloud and determine if a client should embrace private clouds, public clouds or both.

"The assessment helps put the channel partner into the decision-making process – rather than find themselves disintermediated and locked out," he wrote.

Partners can also take over the transformation for clients by helping them change, both on the business and IT sides. Successful cloud strategies require change at several levels: Processes, management, organization, skills, culture and politics. Bittman wrote that application re-design also falls into transformation.

Lastly, partners can take on a broker or aggregation role, to stay on with clients after assessments and transformations are completed.

"Most companies leveraging cloud computing will have several -- perhaps many – providers. The channel has the opportunity to aggregate those services, provide value-add integration and other services, provide insurance, deal with failures, monitor SLAs, be a single throat to choke. The white box for cloud providers. [sic] For private cloud, the channel can smooth the way to hybrid cloud computing, and remain the broker in the equation," Bittman wrote.

Bittman cautioned that the channel isn't quite prepared for the dramatic shift being created by cloud computing, but now is the time for partners to alter their course to take on the cloud.

"Is the channel ready for any of this? No way! Are the provider and vendor business relationships with the channel making this easy? No way (vendors/providers are completely unclear whether they want to own the customer relationship or not)! Will the midmarket be able to adopt cloud computing in large scale without the channel? I don’t believe so. Cloud is simply too hard, too paradigm-shifting, too 'cloudy,'" he wrote. "Time to start rebooting. Or watch the rest of the channel re-invent themselves for cloud computing and leave the rest in the dust clouds."