November 4, 2014
Will customer satisfaction monitors inspire or irritate staffs?
Through a special arrangement, what follows is a summary of an article from Retail Paradox, RSR Research’s weekly analysis on emerging issues facing retailers, presented here for discussion.
Coming off a painful customer experience at New York’s JFK Airport even for airport standards, the people checking passports, scanning luggage on the conveyor belt at Heathrow Airport were bizarrely friendly. I thought maybe I’d entered The Twilight Zone.
That’s when I noticed the "Happy or Not" customer satisfaction tool. I recognized it immediately from last year’s NRF Show. Four simple buttons, ranging from happy face to misery face, which people simply tap to indicate their level of satisfaction with the experience they’ve just had on their way past. I’ve seen it a few times in retail stores on the way out the door, but I had no idea it would find its way into airport security lines. And that’s when I noticed something else: the people working that security line were most definitely paying attention to it.
On my way home, I stopped in Heathrow once more. This time it was part of the plan, and I was super observant from the moment I walked in to see if my first experience had been an anomaly. It hadn’t. Even though my bag was pulled aside for extra scanning, the gentlemen who performed the search couldn’t have been more pleasant about it. As I exited and clicked the happy face on the survey tool, I turned around to see if he noticed. He did.
I could have subtitled this blog post "A Tale of Two Cities: New York vs. London." But it’s not. This isn’t a case in which the attitudes and helpfulness of New York airport workers can be compared to those of London’s. Left unmonitored, I’d imagine they would have been nearly identical. But because Heathrow’s workforce is monitored, and in such an immediate and noticeable way — with simple metrics to gauge their performance — this traveler had a much better experience in one place than he did in another. And as retailers currently struggle with all of the ways they need to improve the quality and helpfulness of their in-store workforce, I can’t help but think there’s a lesson in here that transcends geography — and industry.
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Should “Happy or Not”-type customer service monitors be pervasive at retail? Do you see them as potentially more positive or negative as a motivational tool?
Poll
I was at Heathrow last week and saw this again. I noted it as a smart device with potential a few years ago.
This time, I saw a young boy repeatedly pushing the red (rotten) button over and over with no one stopping him.
The devil is always in the details.
It’s human nature. We behave better (differently) when we know we’re being monitored. Maybe Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiments back in the 1890s with salivating dogs has something to do with the relationship between the employees and the “Happy or Not” device? Or it’s as simple as being recognized for doing the right thing. Whatever the reasoning, when I saw this at NRF last year I thought it was the best device I saw. I love technology but we often overlook the obvious. In the end, the simplest is more often than not the best! Every retailer should have a version of this implemented!
On the surface, a low-level survey tool like this sounds great. If customers skew to the happy side, then the store and associates think they are doing their jobs well. However, if it goes the other way, likely the management looks down on the employees.
The problem is that such a survey tool is so ambiguous that it doesn’t provide much useful data. In Steve’s case, it may have influenced the security person to be more pleasant or not, who knows? And we don’t know if in an attempt to please travelers, the worker was lax in his job. Particularly when a one-question survey skews negatively, management is left to make broad guesses and assumptions as to why.
Lastly, stores that really do please customers, go the extra mile and care about feedback usually already have a sense about what they are doing, far beyond a one question survey, and therefore don’t need a vague indicator to support their customer knowledge.
Why not? Misery is optional, but so is happiness.
Customer satisfaction and “shopper happiness” is vital for brick-and-mortar retailers to compete successfully with the ever-improving shopper-assisted experience most e-commerce sites now offer.
However a simple four-choice option (smiley faces) may create more questions about service environments than answers. If customer IDs could be used in tandem with a simple four-choice selection for the customer, then follow-ups and more detail about the experience could be derived at a later time so that service issues could be examined in detail and dealt with at the store associate level.
Give employees the chance to be helpful and they will respond in a positive manner. So why not do it for a period of time? If you do something over and over it will become a habit. Good customer service is an excellent habit and tool.
I think it has potential in retail but with one caveat. Make sure the associates being monitored have been given adequate training as to what constitutes good service, and the specific behaviors that make it so.
Leaving the interpretation of “good customer service” to each associate will not only provide an inconsistent experience for customers, it will be frustrating to those associates that think they’re doing a good job but fail.
Yes! Employees should know if customers are happy, and management should reward employees when customers say yes.
I definitely see them as a positive tool—although a bit “surface.” But reading Steve’s story about how it apparently affected service at Heathrow definitely means it’s worth a chance. Those of us who travel often will grasp at any straws to receive better service, particularly at the airport and on the plane. Maybe they should have one of those units ready to go as we are exiting the plane. In regular retail, I am not sure it would have the same effect unless it was placed strategically nearby specific employees. It would have to be very obvious who the comments were directed to.
I’ll make this simple: No. If your staff or management can’t be relied on to know how your stores are working without gimmicks like this, then they aren’t managing well.
This takes Net Promoter Score to a different level. I think it is great!
Transparent feedback can be a nice thing, but it’s a great thing if employees feel empowered to deliver on the service promise. At an airport, success probably means quick and accurate screening, delivered with courtesy. In a retail store it may mean finding the desired item, a competitive price or not too much or too little customer service help.
The happy-sad face scale delivers a summary judgement, but it’s not analytical. Retail staff may find it frustrating to be monitored and judged for outcomes they cannot control. On balance I’d say the monitors may be promising, but a lot will depend on on how they are deployed.
At the most basic level—employees will respect and you can expect what you inspect. If people know (as has been suggested above) what constitutes “good” performance, and that they are being judged on that, it seems intuitive that they will strive to provide it.
I see it as a simple but good thing. I would not give it more weight than it deserves, but I would not ignore the feedback either. If it leads to more questions or interpretation, that is a good thing. It helps clarify standards, expectations and perceptions.
Like many tools, this can be helpful if it is one of just many tools being used. The saw is great for cutting wood, but sure doesn’t help when putting two pieces of wood together. Sort of like mystery shop. Great data point, but it is only one snapshot of what is taking place in a store.
I love the Happy or Not monitors. Placed at the proper position the customer will provide a rating and the employees will know they are being rated. The studies the Happy or Not company provides prove that the ratings go up when the employees know they are being rated. That’s good for everyone.
If it improves the attitude of the workers at Heathrow, it has to be good. I avoid Heathrow at all costs because I have found the people who work there the most rude in any airport in the world. Sometimes it has seemed that they go out of their way to make your experience miserable.
This is an extremely low-cost way to potentially improve the customer experience. At the very least it gives the shopper a painless way to register their satisfaction with the experience and it allows the retailer to have broad gauge of the current experience satisfaction level. Have the shopper scan their loyalty card with their mobile phone, reward them for the feedback and then you have something. This type of immediate feedback device is well worth some experimentation by the retail community.
I love this gadget! Yes, it should be in every retail establishment as long as something is done about the bad button pushes and someone is monitoring it.
I think it has the ability to throw out the outliers and provide some analytics.
And that’s my 2 cents!
As Ken said, “The problem is that such a survey tool is so ambiguous that it doesn’t provide much useful data.” We have found that using emoticons, while perhaps seemingly intuitive on the surface, really didn’t yield much deep or useful information on the “why” behind the rating. So while customer feedback is a vital tool, a one question survey approach like this usually results in many assumptions…and we all know how that can turn out!
I LOVE this! I’m putting one in my house for my wife to use with me to keep me in line. Best idea yet. Simple. Effective. Enforceable by management. Make a clear response path known to staff, and you’re all good to go!
Simple but effective. Employees need feedback, and feedback should be immediate. Feedback should be simple to understand and use. This simple tool does it all.
Low tech—all you have to do is change the sign to measure what you want to measure.
Yes. I love it. The mere existence of it improves customer service as employees are very aware. As long as it is part of bigger analytics and not the only measurement tool, and as long as questions of validity are addressed (an angry customer hitting it 20 times on the way out), then I believe it will help achieve the desired goals.
More Discussions
How Timely Is the Planned Lowe’s Website Renovation Focusing on Personalization?
Is Lowe’s being timely with its website reno, and is it right to be placed as…Should Costco Be Opening Members-Only Gas Stations?
Is this the right move for the warehouse club?As Boomers ‘Age Out of Peak Purchasing,’ How Can National Brands Retain Interest With Gen Z?
According to a recent First Insight study titled “Is Gen Z Still Choosing Your Brand,” while…
I was at Heathrow last week and saw this again. I noted it as a smart device with potential a few years ago.
This time, I saw a young boy repeatedly pushing the red (rotten) button over and over with no one stopping him.
The devil is always in the details.
It’s human nature. We behave better (differently) when we know we’re being monitored. Maybe Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiments back in the 1890s with salivating dogs has something to do with the relationship between the employees and the “Happy or Not” device? Or it’s as simple as being recognized for doing the right thing. Whatever the reasoning, when I saw this at NRF last year I thought it was the best device I saw. I love technology but we often overlook the obvious. In the end, the simplest is more often than not the best! Every retailer should have a version of this implemented!
On the surface, a low-level survey tool like this sounds great. If customers skew to the happy side, then the store and associates think they are doing their jobs well. However, if it goes the other way, likely the management looks down on the employees.
The problem is that such a survey tool is so ambiguous that it doesn’t provide much useful data. In Steve’s case, it may have influenced the security person to be more pleasant or not, who knows? And we don’t know if in an attempt to please travelers, the worker was lax in his job. Particularly when a one-question survey skews negatively, management is left to make broad guesses and assumptions as to why.
Lastly, stores that really do please customers, go the extra mile and care about feedback usually already have a sense about what they are doing, far beyond a one question survey, and therefore don’t need a vague indicator to support their customer knowledge.
Why not? Misery is optional, but so is happiness.
Customer satisfaction and “shopper happiness” is vital for brick-and-mortar retailers to compete successfully with the ever-improving shopper-assisted experience most e-commerce sites now offer.
However a simple four-choice option (smiley faces) may create more questions about service environments than answers. If customer IDs could be used in tandem with a simple four-choice selection for the customer, then follow-ups and more detail about the experience could be derived at a later time so that service issues could be examined in detail and dealt with at the store associate level.
Give employees the chance to be helpful and they will respond in a positive manner. So why not do it for a period of time? If you do something over and over it will become a habit. Good customer service is an excellent habit and tool.
I think it has potential in retail but with one caveat. Make sure the associates being monitored have been given adequate training as to what constitutes good service, and the specific behaviors that make it so.
Leaving the interpretation of “good customer service” to each associate will not only provide an inconsistent experience for customers, it will be frustrating to those associates that think they’re doing a good job but fail.
Yes! Employees should know if customers are happy, and management should reward employees when customers say yes.
I definitely see them as a positive tool—although a bit “surface.” But reading Steve’s story about how it apparently affected service at Heathrow definitely means it’s worth a chance. Those of us who travel often will grasp at any straws to receive better service, particularly at the airport and on the plane. Maybe they should have one of those units ready to go as we are exiting the plane. In regular retail, I am not sure it would have the same effect unless it was placed strategically nearby specific employees. It would have to be very obvious who the comments were directed to.
I’ll make this simple: No. If your staff or management can’t be relied on to know how your stores are working without gimmicks like this, then they aren’t managing well.
This takes Net Promoter Score to a different level. I think it is great!
Transparent feedback can be a nice thing, but it’s a great thing if employees feel empowered to deliver on the service promise. At an airport, success probably means quick and accurate screening, delivered with courtesy. In a retail store it may mean finding the desired item, a competitive price or not too much or too little customer service help.
The happy-sad face scale delivers a summary judgement, but it’s not analytical. Retail staff may find it frustrating to be monitored and judged for outcomes they cannot control. On balance I’d say the monitors may be promising, but a lot will depend on on how they are deployed.
At the most basic level—employees will respect and you can expect what you inspect. If people know (as has been suggested above) what constitutes “good” performance, and that they are being judged on that, it seems intuitive that they will strive to provide it.
I see it as a simple but good thing. I would not give it more weight than it deserves, but I would not ignore the feedback either. If it leads to more questions or interpretation, that is a good thing. It helps clarify standards, expectations and perceptions.
Like many tools, this can be helpful if it is one of just many tools being used. The saw is great for cutting wood, but sure doesn’t help when putting two pieces of wood together. Sort of like mystery shop. Great data point, but it is only one snapshot of what is taking place in a store.
I love the Happy or Not monitors. Placed at the proper position the customer will provide a rating and the employees will know they are being rated. The studies the Happy or Not company provides prove that the ratings go up when the employees know they are being rated. That’s good for everyone.
If it improves the attitude of the workers at Heathrow, it has to be good. I avoid Heathrow at all costs because I have found the people who work there the most rude in any airport in the world. Sometimes it has seemed that they go out of their way to make your experience miserable.
This is an extremely low-cost way to potentially improve the customer experience. At the very least it gives the shopper a painless way to register their satisfaction with the experience and it allows the retailer to have broad gauge of the current experience satisfaction level. Have the shopper scan their loyalty card with their mobile phone, reward them for the feedback and then you have something. This type of immediate feedback device is well worth some experimentation by the retail community.
I love this gadget! Yes, it should be in every retail establishment as long as something is done about the bad button pushes and someone is monitoring it.
I think it has the ability to throw out the outliers and provide some analytics.
And that’s my 2 cents!
As Ken said, “The problem is that such a survey tool is so ambiguous that it doesn’t provide much useful data.” We have found that using emoticons, while perhaps seemingly intuitive on the surface, really didn’t yield much deep or useful information on the “why” behind the rating. So while customer feedback is a vital tool, a one question survey approach like this usually results in many assumptions…and we all know how that can turn out!
I LOVE this! I’m putting one in my house for my wife to use with me to keep me in line. Best idea yet. Simple. Effective. Enforceable by management. Make a clear response path known to staff, and you’re all good to go!
Simple but effective. Employees need feedback, and feedback should be immediate. Feedback should be simple to understand and use. This simple tool does it all.
Low tech—all you have to do is change the sign to measure what you want to measure.
Yes. I love it. The mere existence of it improves customer service as employees are very aware. As long as it is part of bigger analytics and not the only measurement tool, and as long as questions of validity are addressed (an angry customer hitting it 20 times on the way out), then I believe it will help achieve the desired goals.