CSI SURVEY RETURNS

[JERRYC]

I'm looking for ways to increase my customer survey returns--is anyone doing anything special to encourage customers to return surveys?--My scores are a little low and after reviewing monthly reports i've found that my percentage of returns are lower than market and national.I'm a medium size gm and mitsubishi dealership-any help would be appreciated..thanks Jerry

[Lisa Turner]

Hello, Jerry.

I'm writing on behalf of 6gear, Inc., a leader in email marketing for the automotive industry. CSI response rates just happens to be one of our strengths--we've gotten some amazing return rates sending media-rich surveys via email.

Think of the feedback requests you've gotten in the past. Are you more likely to 1)write down answers to a survey, lick an envelope, and find a mailbox, 2)answer a list of questions in the middle of dinner, or 3)click at will on a short, colorful survey that requires fewer than five minutes of your time and which you can complete whenever you'd like?

Of course, my bias is clear. Enough evidence is in, though, to show that email is emerging as the most effective, interesting, and hassle-free means of surveying customers.

6gear's clients have also addressed the issue of raising customer survey returns. Here's a quote from Barry DeVincenzi, Service Manager of San Francisco Honda:

"6gear's Service Follow-up Survey has worked like a champ at San Francisco Honda. The customer response rate has put us 16.5 points above the district average and 13.2 points above the national average.

We're also 13.3 points above last year's customer response rate for the same month.

The beauty of the system is that our service staff knows when a customer has a problem, and can resolve it well in advance of the survey sent from American Honda."

Good luck raising your returns, Jerry. It just so happens that the right resources are, quite literally, at your fingertips!

Best,

Lisa

Lisa Turner
Manager eMarketing
6gear, Inc.
p. 415.865.2438
lisa@6gear.com
http://www.6gear.com

[mark vandersteeg]

spiff the sales and service advisors on returned %. give them a per response payout over a certain bogey. have them ask their best customers to send in surveys. (alot of higher scoring customers would just throw their surveys away thinking "if i have a problem, i would have told them." whereas the dissatisfied are sure to send the survey in.)

[partsguy]

Are you really that committed to CSI? If so, great! What we have done at our Acura store is to give the customer a handout at cash out entitled "How Are We Doing?", explaining that we want to know how satisfied we are, and that if they receive a survey, please return it. We also mention a contest that we have where we draw out a returned survey each month and give that client the choice of $100 off their next service or a complimentary full detail service valued at $129. This has added at least 10% to our response rate, and as we all know, usually only unhappy clients return surveys. We have a higher response rate than national and zone average, and are currently #5 in CSI in the US with Acura. If you would like to see a copy of what we use, email me your fax #.

Bruce (partseller@aol.com)

[robc]

Hey! Friendly moderator just popping to remind everyone of our stance for advertising on the boards. I allowed Lisa to do her post because I thought it had a direct bearing on the question being asked. As always, I kind of make those decisions on a case-by-case basis using my own twisted logic.

Just don't be surprised if you're a sevrice provider and make a post that you find it deleted. We now return to our regularly scheduled forum ...



------------------
** Rob, Editor WD&S **
Help is only a message post away!
robc@dealersedge.com

[wbkski]

Email is only one part of the equation to higher CSI scores. The other is a well- thoughtout plan using outside resources that are at your disposal. In keeping with the rules of the forum, I'd be happy to suggest such company which we use and have tremendous results. The key is customer contact and a clear message...on a timely basis. You can reach me for info at www.wbkenterprises.com

[RickW]

At a Chevrolet store I worked at, the Service Manager offered a coupon for a free LOF to anyone who showed the completed survey to the cashier. Nobody in the dealership read the survey, but they did offer to mail it if it was placed in a sealed envelope. The last numbers I saw was an approximate 25% increase in returns.

[partsguy]

RickW- Be careful, as GM frowns on this type of "inticement" to increase returns-filled out or not. As a matter of fact, our GM rep wouldn't even let us use the form that we use at our Acura store (see above).

[annek100@aol.com]

We have hired a person who calls all sales and service customers within a week of sale or service. This person asks 4 or 5 basic questions, based on where our SSI/CSI needs improvement. All calls are logged and a problem report is generated if necessary to Dept. Manager. All customers are asked to return their surveys at this time also.
We also spiff sales and service personnel for surveys above a certain score with emphasis on the low areas of our SSI/CSI scores being perfect.
We also have a new car clinic every month to which every new car owner is invited. Service personnel go over appt procedures, rental cars etc. and welcome any questions. they also set off an airbag. Dinner is al-a-carte and all customers who attend receive a certificate for a free oil change. The meeting ends with a SSI/CSI explaination and the importance of each customer returning their survey.
forms available upon request.

[tejaslyn]

Picture your Service Writers in charge of your CSI Team. It works!
Here is a quick breakdown on the Team. We have two Service Writers. They are the team leaders. We took all of the other departments including Sales and split them up between the two Service Writers team.
From the time that a unit is in F&I the team is activated. If it is not a done deal the team begins courting the prospect. Once it is a done deal then the customer is introduced to their Team Leader for Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed The customer is educated on how important it is to the Team to receive all of the survey forms back so that we can maintain our Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed program. They understand that it is with their help that we can make it work.
If someone comes in for parts and service they are assigned onto a team as well. At first this seemed overwhelming but we have an outside consultant walking us through it.
The teams communicate using a contact manager. Any of them should work, even Outlook or you can make up your own a spreadsheet.