Customer Satisfaction Survey Process | Market Research 101

One of the most common associations with market research is a customer satisfaction survey. In essence, customer satisfaction surveys are market research. They ask how satisfied are customers are with a product or service and why? This basic form of asking questions to measure levels of customer satisfaction is used by organizations across the globe at some level or another.

A survey link and code at the bottom of your Dunkin' Donuts receipt.

A follow-up email from your cable provider after a recent customer survey call.

The list goes on...

Customer satisfaction surveys or CSAT surveys can be range from a few questions to many questions. Some businesses want the high-level CSAT score while others will dive deep into CSAT for a variety of categories. This could include satisfaction with shipping time, cost, customer service, etc. No matter what you are covering in your customer satisfaction survey, the best market research firms follow a step-by-step process.

The 5-step process for customer satisfaction surveys used by our market research firm starts with a proposal and moves to kickoff, set up and design, fieldwork, and analysis with reporting.

For more details on the customer satisfaction survey process read below.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Process | Market Research 101

Thinking about a customer satisfaction survey for your business? Here is the exclusive 5-step process followed by Drive Research.


Step 1: Proposal

All customer satisfaction surveys start with a proposal. A proposal highlights the key objectives of the market research. It lays out the process, expectations, and deliverables. The proposal covers the timeline for the market research and ultimately the cost of the customer satisfaction research.

The cost of your customer satisfaction survey is dependent on a number of factors. These include the methodology you choose, length of survey (number of questions), and the number of customers you will be inviting to participate (number of invites or survey completes). Other minor factors impact cost such as level of reporting (basic or in-depth).

Regardless of the customer satisfaction survey firm you choose, all should develop a proposal to answer these key questions for your organization.


Step 2: Kickoff

Once you choose your customer satisfaction survey firm, they will host a kickoff meeting. This could be conducted by phone, video call, or in-person. The kickoff call reviews the process and officially launches the project. The market research firm prepares an agenda to cover potential survey questions. The CSAT company will recommend best practice questions as well as listen to your organization's feedback to guide next steps.


Step 3: Set up and Design

This is a crucial step in the customer satisfaction survey process. Here the market research firm designs the survey script. The company takes the feedback from the kickoff and your objectives to design a customer satisfaction survey. This survey may include just a few short and simple questions or could go into great detail on the customer experience (CX).


Step 4: Fieldwork

Now that the survey is finalized for the mail, phone, or online, a soft-launch should be utilized to test the process. This ensures everything is working correctly for the full-launch. This is easier to do with a phone or online survey than a mail survey (due to printing and timeframes).

Once the test drive is complete, the full fieldwork begins. Cutting edge market research firms provide clients with 24-7 access to the data so results can be checked up to the second. Length of fieldwork ranges depending on methodology (online is short, phone and mail are longer).


Step 5: Analysis and Reporting

Once fieldwork is complete, analysis can begin. Mailed customer satisfaction surveys will require some level of data entry. Customer satisfaction survey analysis should breakdown results by demographics such as age, location, length of time being a customer, gender, and other common segments.

The report includes an executive summary of themes, recommendations, question-by-question results, and often an infographic. The report may also include customer personas. Interested in learning more about customer personas? Read more.


Contact Drive Research

This summarizes the customer satisfaction survey process at Drive Research. Are you a company interested in receiving a customer satisfaction survey proposal? Contact our market research firm at 315-303-2040 or email us at [email protected].

Customer Satisfaction