How Can Customer Satisfaction Surveys Improve Franchise Management & Operation?

Today’s post runs down the real-money value that customer satisfaction surveys offer franchise owners looking to improve their franchise management operations and more.

Whether you’re looking to boost profits, enhance your customer service, or tighten up franchise management operations, satisfaction surveys are the answer, and FranchiseSoft makes it easy to research, design, disseminate, and dissect these powerful business tools.

Read on to learn why customer satisfaction is so critical for a business, how surveys can improve it, and where to book a free Survey Module walkthrough with the FranchiseSoft team.

The Real-money Value Of Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a leading indicator of a customer’s intent to return for purchases and services, according to a new study by the National Business Research Institute.

But that’s not all:

• Customer satisfaction is directly correlated to increased franchise profits. Satisfied customers directly impact your franchise profitability through their willingness to remain customers for longer periods, purchase more during that time, and pay slightly higher prices for what they perceive to be superior products. NBRII research found that 60% of customers are willing to pay more for a better customer service experience or product.
• Customer satisfaction reduces the amount your franchise spends per sale. Converting skeptical or unsatisfied customers from leads to sales can be a high-effort, high-expense ordeal. In fact, NBRII research indicates that it costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it does to retain an existing one!Unsatisfied customers tend to be much less responsive to brand’s messages, which raises advertising costs through the roof. They may also require additional “convincing” and reassurance in the form of flashy packaging, positive online reviews, and recommendations from friends or family before spending their hard-earned money. Finally, even after the purchase is made, unsatisfied customers tend to be rather “high maintenance,” demanding the time and attention of your sales representatives and support staff long after their purchase.On the other hand, satisfied customers tend to be “lower-maintenance customers,” meaning they require fewer resources to serve and decrease the cost associated with the sale. They also tend to require less “reassurance” and respond much more favorably to brand messages that appear in advertising, which makes all your marketing more cost-effective.
• Customer satisfaction makes for better advertising, cross-selling, and up-selling. NBRII research shows us that the average happy customer will tell between 5 and 6 people about their positive experience with your business. Thus, in addition to their increased ad responsiveness relative to unsatisfied customers, satisfied customers also act as some of your best “front-line” marketers, helping to create a “buzz” about your franchise products and services, which will help increase your customer base.Additionally, since customer satisfaction increases “Intent to Return,” it makes cross-selling and up-selling practices much more effective.
• Customer satisfaction is linked to lower employee turnover rates. The NBRII has identified a strong link between customer satisfaction and employee turnover rates. The explanation is twofold. First, employees tend to experience greater stress levels in jobs that routinely put them in contact with dissatisfied customers. This leads to higher turnover as employees start to look for less stressful careers. The second reason has to do with company image, and this affects even those employees who do not directly interact with unsatisfied customers. Put simply, nobody wants to work for a company that consistently lets its customers down.

Upping customer satisfaction with FranchiseSoft surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys are powerful tools that allow franchise owners to:

• Increase sale of franchise products and services
• Enhance franchise management operation
• Improve the efficacy of marketing campaigns
• Identify competitive strengths and weaknesses
• Improve the customer experience
• Assess customer interest in new products or services
• Identify opportunities and consumer trends to inform long-term business planning and development
• Save money on advertising
• Lower employee turnover rates
• Increase customer loyalty
• Reduce the amount of money spent per successful conversion
• Identify problem areas to improve business processes, delivery/ordering, product manufacturing, service delivery, and so on

And yet, while most businesses recognize the value of customer satisfaction surveys, few understand how to properly design and implement them.

Indeed, few even know what a “quality” customer satisfaction survey looks like. According to the National Business Research Institute, quality customer satisfaction surveys typically include the following:

• Scaled questions, which means each question gives the respondent a range of values (e.g. a scale of 1-10) to indicate their level of satisfaction/agreement.
• Appropriate number of questions. Aim for 15-30 questions, as this strikes a nice balance between harvesting detailed research and keeping survey completion times reasonable. Longer surveys see massive spikes in abandonment rates and generally reflect poor planning on the author’s part.
• Specificity. Simply asking your customers whether or not they were “satisfied” won’t cut it. While this might serve as a good starting point to gauge customer satisfaction levels at a glance, most questions should hone in on a specific condition, process, product, or serving offerings.
• Attractive and easy-to-use design. Your customer satisfaction surveys should look great and be easy to use on any mobile device.

Based off these guidelines, you can create your own, but that’s a time and labor-intensive process with no guarantees. Unless you’re an expert in market research and data synthesis, with some software design skills to boot, you’re in for a long and frustrating ordeal.

Alternatively, you may wish to buy some of the customer satisfaction survey software on the market. Buying stock survey software avoids all the headaches of survey design and device compatibility, but it doesn’t give you the kind of franchise-specific insights you need to really get your money’s worth.

Fortunately, there’s another way to effortlessly create custom surveys that will up your profits, keep customers happy, and improve your franchise management operations. And best of all, you can explore it today for free!

Create Winning Customer Satisfaction Surveys With Franchisesoft

FranchiseSoft’s Survey Module is one of the best tools for franchise owners looking to improve franchise management operations. It’s beginner-friendly, franchise-centric, and totally mobile-friendly, which means you can design or complete surveys on any device without issue.

Not a data expert? No problem. FranchiseSoft auto-generates monthly breakdowns with key performance indicators laid out in user-friendly reports, and our Survey Module gives you the ability to gather valuable feedback from all kinds of stakeholders–customers, vendors, prospects, and even fellow franchisees–right from the franchise development CRM dashboard.

With a few clicks, you can instantly send your surveys to existing contracts within the FranchiseSoft system, or publish them directly to your website and social media assets to capture valuable metrics from audiences on these platforms.

And that’s not all–not even close. If you’re ready to learn more, call 888-302-3676 or visit the FranchiseSoft Website and fill out our quick and easy contact form. One of our representatives will get back to you within 24 hours.