Have you ever taken a survey and the right question wasn’t asked mainly because it entailed a third party product or service? I’ve recently been asked to fill out a few and I’m seeing a big gap and opportunity for building a better survey. That area opportunity is that each company can get a customer’s feel on how other companies products are experienced. Generally, most companies create surveys on just their own products. Hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, etc. have a massive opportunity in looking more in depth at the different products that they agree to sell or use to create the best customer experience.
One grand example is the hotel industry. The hotel industry is one where most of the products are from third party vendors. In the surveys I have received after a stay, rarely is there a specific question on a product or service from a third party vendor. At best, there is a catch all question at the end. With third party vendors’ products being so intricate in a customer’s experience, the hotel industry would do better with more in depth surveys being produced. .
Restaurants are another field that can improve on their surveys. Questions on the food can include where it came from, how it was treated and how it got to the restaurant. Questions on the furniture, seating process, and payment process should also be explored. There is a multitude of vendors and food providers that are looking for feedback on their product or service.
There is also a big opportunity in terms of revenue for these companies. With having the ability to affect the nature of the consumer market as well as non-direct vendor markets. By simply charging a fee to include other companies products on their surveys, a new and large revenue stream is created. Another stream of revenue that can be enhanced is the pricing that each vendor pays in order to have access to the host company’s customer base.
This type of enhanced survey will also give insight into whether or not a product or service should be kept or ended. Third party vendors will be continuously motivated to make sure their products and services stay in front of the host company’s customer base. Including the third party survey will help do that.
