Frontline Surveys

What is this method about?

A research activity that provides insights into the customer experience by gathering feedback from the front-line employees who have direct contact with customers. The activity surveys staff at all of the customer touchpoints and analyzes the responses.

Why use it

This activity allows organizations to access a key source of customer information: frontline staff members. Capturing the Voice of the Employee (VoE) is an effective way to enhance your understanding of the Voice of the Customer (VoC)—providing valuable customer insights that might not be available from other sources.

When should I use it?

To gain the greatest benefit from this activity, it should be undertaken on a regular basis—often as part of a wider employee engagement initiative. It can also be useful (or necessary) to run ad-hoc frontline surveys when specific customer issues or complaints arise—in which case, surveys can be implemented in those specific touchpoints with more targeted survey questions and triggers.

What you get

Organizations will have solid quantitative data and key insights across all customer touchpoints to assist in understanding the customer experience and front-line staff engagement levels. This information will be used to develop and improve both customer and employee satisfaction, and used in Voice of Customer (VoC) and Voice of Employee (VoE) initiatives.

At a glance

• Time: Long
• Effort: High
• Cost: Medium

Materials

• Markers/felt tips
• Sticky notes
• Whiteboard / large brown or white paper rolls.
• Software for reporting e.g. Word, Excel
• Survey tools for online/email e.g. SurveyMonkey, MailChimp

Who is involved

• SD Designer/Researcher
• Front line staff (research subjects)
• Customers (research subjects)
• CX Manager
• Customer Satisfaction Manager