Why Customer Intercepts?
We’re all hungry for information about what our customers’ service expectations are, and how they perceive the service they actually received. Identifying and closing gaps between these expectations and perceptions is one key to a successful long-term relationship.
Many businesses and organizations have a need to collect this data at the point of sale to allow them to capture their customers’ experiences while it’s still fresh in their minds. Memories are perishable, and customer intercepts (exit interviews) are a valuable tool for collecting the rich texture of a recent experience. A key benefit is measuring the gaps between expectations of service and the perceived experience of service before time and distance intervenes.
This short video shows how one TrendSource client utilized customer intercepts to help answer their research question and the return on investment of that approach.
Through the increased capabilities of mobile technology, TrendSource delivers even more power to the point of the experience through customer intercepts. By harnessing the power of mobile platforms to draw Trusted Insight from the interview, TrendSource is able to improve accuracy, precisely identify where data was collected, allow integration of media, and support intelligent questioning. Plus, it’s eco-friendly.
Field Agents that work for TrendSource and specialize in performing customer intercepts also find it easier than paper.
“Using a tablet to conduct surveys is easy and the customers are much more engaged. Using a tablet leads to an air of professionalism over the previous method of writing down responses on a paper survey form. It’s also nice to have the surveys input on-site and not have to take a couple hours at night inputting the data from paper forms that are just thrown away.” - Independent Field Agent, Martha from GA
Improves accuracy: Each respondent answer is able to branch based on previous responses. This allows for conditional questions which reduces the likelihood of conflicting information being reported.
Pins data to a specific location: The point of interview is geo-located to precisely record where the interview took place and data was collected.
Flexibility: The use of tablets provides the flexibility of being able to collect perceptions of media (images, video and audio) anywhere consumers are found.
Intelligent questioning: Future questions can be defined by prior answers. Have you ever needed to ask different questions based on what you find out about the person being interviewed? Moving past paper allows you to intelligently map questions as you learn more about the customer. Ordering bias (bias introduced by the fact that response options to a question are ordered in a certain way) is also addressed through automated randomization of response options. You won’t see customers all choosing the top three options with this added feature.
Go Green: Mobile Intercepts mean no more printed forms that will just be discarded once data is entered.
The QUEST for consumer data has been around for nearly a century; however, the technology used to gather it continues to evolve. New tools and techniques deliver better accuracy, flexibility, and insight into the consumer experience. Regardless of the type of business, all companies have one thing in common: each strives for nimbleness and a competitive edge.