Do you know what is going on?

While it’s not uncommon for an organization to email a survey to a customer after a store visit; it is uncommon for an organization to not understand their own current protocols.

Covid has changed retail operations, both temporarily and permanently. And even though it is wonderful that a business wants feedback from customers regarding their visit, the surveys that it sends out must reflect current operating procedures. 

If a customer receives a survey asking questions regarding procedures that are not, or are no longer, applicable, it shows to the customer that the corporate office is out of touch with reality at the store level. How could a corporate office not know that the retail operations have changed? Aren’t they the ones, presumably, who set the new protocols in place?

Surveys can be a great tool, but they can backfire if not used well. Demonstrating to your customers that your corporate office has no idea what is going on doesn’t show them that you will be able to use any information that they give them. Why should they spend their time filling out your questionnaire if you are so overwhelmed that you either don’t care or can’t care what they have to say?

If you change one thing, you’ve changed everything. Walk the customer journey. Recognize what else changes when you make one change. Your customers notice. So should you.