A carefully developed comment card allows your customers to give honest and valuable feedback that can provide information critical to your business. Knowing early what problems are occurring will allow you to react in a timely manner, reducing the damage and keeping your customers from going elsewhere. While you will receive some criticism, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the positive feedback, too.
There are three primary considerations when developing your card or survey.
1. What is the purpose of a customer comment card/survey?
Begin by making a list of questions that are short, to the point, and can be answered by rating on a scale with clearly stated values. If you use a scale of 1 to 5, is 1 high or low? Include a blank area where customers can add their own comments. They may mention things you haven’t even considered.
Customers return comment cards, typically, at a rate of about 1%. However, there is much we can do to improve the return rate. Make a form that is simple to understand and easy to fill out. This will result in higher return frequency and more accurate results. Comment cards should take no longer than five minutes to complete.
2. How will the cards be distributed?
Your planned distribution method will determine the size and form of the comment card. Will they be stacked on the checkout counter, inserted in a restaurant billfold, placed on the customers’ car seat? Perhaps you’ll have an online form and you will send a link to it in an email. The size of the card will also determine the number of questions you can ask. Don’t shrink the type so you can squeeze in more questions. The questions must be large enough to be easy to read.
3. How will the collected information be compiled?
Before distributing the cards, determine who will be responsible for compiling the data. Customers expect you to address their concerns. For that reason, ask if they would like to be contacted regarding their comments.
Simply reading the results as they come in is a poor way to track results. The biggest benefit can come from seeing an analysis of the answers.
Can we help?
Comment cards are an important part of tracking what your customers are thinking and feeling. We use an online customer satisfaction survey for our own clients. Each time we complete a web development project, we ask our clients to fill out a short survey that asks their level of satisfaction with our process. It’s been useful and important to us. If you’d like help creating a customer comment card for you business, email us at [email protected] or call (518) 392-0846. Alternatively, check out our Graphic Design page to learn more about our services.