If you design a feedback form based strictly on what you think is important to customers, you might misinterpret their feedback to mean they're satisfied when they're not. In the process, you might fail to find out what is important.

I came to appreciate this potential for misinterpretation firsthand. While visiting a client, I stayed at a hotel where all the items on the feedback form earned my highest ratings. Check-in was swift, the room was in tip-top shape, the restaurant was delightful, and so on. Was I a satisfied customer? Absolutely. Until, that is, I heard the chilling sound of someone trying to open the door to my room.

When I went to look out the peephole, I discovered that it was over my head. Way over my head. Granted, I'm something less than the tallest person in the world; still, lots of people who tower over me also wouldn't have been at eye level with it either.

As a frequent traveler, I sometimes forget which room I'm in and absentmindedly try to open the door to the wrong room. Probably the person outside my door was similarly confused, but I wanted to see for myself. And I didn't want the person to know that inside the room was a woman traveling alone, and a short one at that.

I thought, I'll just pull over a chair, stand on it, and look through the peephole. But the smallest piece of furniture was a gargantuan arm chair, one of those soft, plush, roomy arm chairs perfect for curling up in after a long day, but of limited use as a stepstool.

Fortunately, after several tries, the person outside my room left. But I was now something less than a totally satisfied customer. Yet, nowhere on the feedback form was I asked to rate my satisfaction with the location of the peephole. No surprise there. But there was also no space on the form in which I could express my concern.

It's not that I expected an immediate "fix." (Fantasy: I complain to the Front Desk, and moments later, Mr. Fix-It from Maintenance races to my room with a peephole drill and asks me where on the door I'd like my personalized peephole!) But giving guests space on the form to describe complaints makes it more likely you'll learn about those complaints. And if several of us have the same problem, you'll know about it.

Not that all complaints are easily resolved. For example, should there be a Tall Person Peephole and Short Person Peephole? Should it be a sliding peephole? (A peep slit???) Or maybe a new cell phone feature enabling me to see who's out there, without the person knowing I'm looking?

In retrospect, I suppose I could have been more creative in elevating myself to peephole level. I could have turned over the wastebasket, dumped out its contents, taken it to the door, and stood on it. When I mentioned this experience during a customer service presentation, a woman in the audience urged me to be careful. Some of those wastebaskets are a little flimsy, she pointed out. I noticed that she was similarly peephole-challenged, and sensed she knew whereof she spoke.

Part of an effective feedback process is finding out what's important to your customers, and how well you are doing on the things they identify. In telling this story to numerous audiences, I've found that many hundreds of women are similarly peephole-dissatisfied. And conversely, when you're the customer, you can indicate what's important to you, whether or not they ask. I know I do. When I fill out a hotel feedback form, I now use any blank space in it to emphasize the importance of providing waste baskets capable of supporting the weight of one short woman traveling alone.

About the Author
Website: www.nkarten.com

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. Her background includes a B.A. and M.A. in psychology and extensive corporate experience in technical, customer support and management positions.

Since forming her own business in 1984, she has presented seminars and keynotes to more than 100,000 people internationally. Her services, books and newsletters have helped organizations and groups

• Manage customer expectations,
• Enhance their communications and consulting skills,
• Provide superior customer service, and
• Establish successful service level agreements.

She is the author of several books including:

Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, which provides strategies and guidelines for improved communication in such contexts as building strong relationships, delivering superior service, fostering effective teamwork, and managing change

Managing Expectations: Working With People Who Want More, Better, Faster, Sooner, NOW!, which offers a serious, lighthearted look (yes, both!) at policies and practices for successfully managing expectations in the workplace

How to Establish Service Level Agreements, a handbook based on more than a decade of experience providing SLA consulting and seminars internationally and which is designed to help you avoid the flaws and failures she encounters so often

© Naomi Karten, www.nkarten.com