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14/12/07 Certex gets thumbs up from revolutionary customer

Customers of the one of the UK’s leading suppliers of lifting products and services have been ‘playing cards’ in an effort to evaluate the service they receive.

A selection of customers of Certex UK has participated in a revolutionary ‘game-style’ customer survey, which has not only achieved an unusually high response rate but has also revealed exceptionally high levels of customer satisfaction.

The survey – which was conducted by InfoQuest on behalf of Certex – was chosen as an innovative way of collecting customer data and generated a response rate of 68%, as opposed to the more typical 5-10% response of more conventional questionnaires.

Charles Gillespie, Sales and Marketing Director at Certex, explains why Certex opted for a different approach to data collection. “We all know that surveys relying on paper questionnaires or telephone interviews tend to be largely ignored by the intended recipients. They can also be seen as an intrusion on busy schedules and the dilemma is how to open up lines of communication and obtain vital commercial knowledge without annoying the customer and undermining the business relationship.”

To try and overcome this ‘data fatigue’ and make the process as fun and interactive as possible, a select number of Certex customers received a survey box and deck of 36 cards – each carrying a different question or statement. The customer then had to place the cards in one of the answer compartments labelled from ‘totally satisfied’ to ‘totally dissatisfied’ or ‘totally agree’ to ‘totally disagree’, and mail the box back to Infoquest.

The format was obviously appealing, with 68% of those contacted taking part. Opinions were sought on a range of subjects but overall 58% of customers were ‘totally satisfied’ with the company and its services, with particularly high scores in product quality, ease of doing business, pricing, business practices, service technicians, training courses and the responsiveness of staff.

Richard Startin, Service Manager at HTC Plant Limited in Sheffield, was one of the customers totally satisfied with the company’s performance. “The survey was a refreshing, simple and effective way of providing accurate and honest feedback. It made a very welcome change,” he said.

John Coldwell, UK Managing Director at InfoQuest, commented on how well Certex performed in the survey and noted the particularly high customer satisfaction rate. “Anything above 60% total satisfaction is rarely achieved and most successful companies aspire to a level of 45-60%. Obviously Certex is at the top of this range – with 58% customer satisfaction,” he said.

Certex has been organising a series of staff workshops to review the data, identify where improvements can be made and develop action plans to implement customer feedback.