Issue # 1: Are Surveys No Longer Relevant?

By Bob Kobek, President of Mobius Vendor Partners

I have a new title/function – ‘Debunker in Chief.’

After viewing, then reading, several posts on social media sites about how ‘surveys’ are no longer relevant, I wondered, is my business headed toward obsolescence? Am I doomed? I was even more curious about what my clients and others will use to measure the experience of their customers in the future.

I see these comments most often in the health care space. What I’ve also come to learn as my business has entered the healthcare market, is this sector seems fraught with siloed departments struggling to use survey data in an enterprise fashion. 

And, of course, there are those who believe there are better ways of capturing feedback. More on that later.

The “doubters” of using surveys to capture customer sentiment point to several reasons for their prediction of the demise. Among them are: 

• Low response rates
• Survey fatigue
• Bad survey questions and design
• Response bias
• Bad methodologies 
• Ineffective or outdated deployment options

Over the course of this series, I will attempt to debunk these myths and prove that well-designed, enterprise feedback surveys have a more important role to play than ever, especially in the increasingly patient-centric healthcare sector.

Here are some additional questions I’ll tackle:

• What is the difference between survey and feedback?
• What are the alternatives to measuring experience and what are the limitations of those alternatives?
• What are the challenges and opportunities for capturing feedback over various platforms including online, telephone, mail, IVR?
• How important is survey design? Can you do it in-house or do you need a professional? 

FIRST UP: RESPONSE RATES

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