CSat tracking research was the topic in our recent webinar where I spoke with Karen Fuller, Director of Global Marketing Research for the Expedia Group, which includes Vrbo, about her Customer Satisfaction (CSat) program.
We talked about the value of customer insights and the importance of building a solid foundation for customer satisfaction programs. Our conversation touched on how to cultivate buy-in from leadership teams, how to build and iterate the program, and how to avoid survey fatigue.
Following are the eight key focus areas critical to any CSat program.
1. Be prepared
When beginning a program, Karen recommends establishing a stable infrastructure. Start with driver analysis early on to guide the program investment and identify where to put controls in place. Focus on purpose and target audiences before launching.
“Set your basic objectives, what you intend to learn, and identify any supporting information that you may already have available such as market research, sales data, or industry reports, and then determine what the insights will solve,” says Karen.
Set your basic objectives, what you intend to learn, and identify any supporting information that you may already have available such as market research, sales data, or industry reports, and then determine what the insights will solve.” — Karen Fuller, Director of Global Marketing Research for the Expedia Group
2. Gain cross-functional team buy-in
One point Karen stressed is the importance of gaining support across the organization, not just from the team sponsoring the work. “The CSat program should not be thought of as a marketing tool only,” she says. “Work with the strategy team, product marketing, product development, and customer service to ensure the teams embrace the CSat program not as a report card, but as a valuable tool.”
3. Design a flexible framework
The Vrbo brand spans 13 countries, a wide range of vacation property types and owners, as well as a diverse set of travelers. To manage this large territory, Karen reached out to Radius to build a stable infrastructure for the program. Radius helped transition the Vrbo brand to our Customer Service Tracking Program. We also helped her develop quarterly insight reports to allow her team to maintain focus on analyzing the data for strategic decision making.
Karen characterizes the framework as “the gift that keeps on giving” because of the continuous stream of findings and new insight she can pull.
4. Deliver more — be initiative-taking
As she built out the program, Karen remained centered on goals. While the overall goal of the organization is to drive bookings, the CSat program helps her dig deep to find insight on the how’s and why’s of customer behavior. As her brand grew, she could pull insights that informed new product development and long-term strategy.
The CSat program should not be thought of as a marketing tool only. Work with the strategy team, product marketing, product development, and customer service to ensure the teams embrace the CSat program not as a report card, but as a valuable tool.”
5. Review program objectives regularly
Taking a fresh look at the program on a regular basis is a best practice that helps identify blind spots and untapped opportunities. For example, Karen believes that the data is the only source of truth about customer demographics. Over the past few years, a key focus area for the Expedia Group has been diversity and inclusion. Because of how her CSat data is structured, Karen can quickly deliver insights on demographics and trends in the vacation rental industry to help inform program development.
The CSat program should not be thought of as a marketing tool only,” she says. “Work with the strategy team, product marketing, product development, and customer service to ensure the teams embrace the CSat program not as a report card, but as a valuable tool.”
6. Consider the information ecosystem
Currently, there is a proliferation of tools that any organization can use to get customer feedback. From widgets on websites to email and text surveys, companies are inviting customers into the feedback loop, and customers are getting fatigued. “It’s really important to understand where your tracker sits within that whole ecosystem,” says Karen.
7. Refrain from surveying the same people
In addition to being mindful of the ecosystem, it’s critical to treat your customers with care. Early on, Karen’s team developed random sampling and created rules around contact frequency. “Our primary goal was to align the program with the organization’s objectives, so the first step was to put some controls in place,” says Karen.
The program runs continuously throughout the year with very tight sample management controls in place to ensure efforts aren’t duplicated with the same contacts. These controls ensure that we have a readable response basis for decision making.
Overall, the tracker helps Vrbo avoid over surveying customers while deploying to multiple audiences of interest including property owners all the way down to travelers.
8. Promote and educate
Maintaining the CSat program is a matter of cultivation. To ensure that the organization understands the program, reach out to HR to embed CSat training as part of basic employee onboarding at the company.
To hear more of our conversation, watch the webinar recording now:
Reach out for more information on CSat programs.
