DG case study
Switching from electronic questionnaires to verbatim customer feedback was a gamechanger for IT company, Digital Generations
When we first started working with Digital Generation (DG) a few years ago, we gathered customer feedback with electronic questionnaires.
While this approach produced results, we knew the company could dig deeper and go beyond the generic online survey (which is so often just a tick-box exercise for people). There were more substantial and meaningful insights to uncover. With verbatim feedback, we knew we could make a bigger impact on the success of the company.
The IT industry is extremely competitive and excellent customer experience and service delivery is a key differentiator, so we pitched the idea to DG of looking a little closer under the hood.
Why be good when you can be GREAT?
To our delight, they agreed to a verbatim offering, which involved more targeted questions via telephonic research with their clients. And the results were really exciting!
“When the data came through from the verbatim research, we could immediately see where the problem areas were and what changes needed to be made. We never had this kind of laser-focused lens with email questionnaires.”
Trevor Naidoo, Managing Director of DG.
According to Trevor, a major appeal of verbatim research is the fact that a real live person is asking the questions, which means that the questions are more varied. “It becomes a proper conversation. It’s not just our clients doing us a favour by answering a questionnaire, and probably doing so half-heartedly.”
Another big benefit that Trevor found with this approach was the kind of ideas that were triggered from verbatim customer feedback. He said that the insights from the client discussions were so in-depth that they allowed the company to make deliberate changes.
“The questionnaire feedback that we had gathered in the past never gave us the information we needed to come up with solutions that would make any real impact. It merely provided a measurement of sorts. With verbatim feedback, the information coming in is a lot more concise. It’s less one-size-fits-all and more controlled, which I have found to be greatly beneficial to our decision-making and planning because it gave us a very clear direction.”
Understanding the WHY leads to impactful solutions
The DG client base relies on frequent feedback from the company on the status of the IT equipment orders they have placed. And while the company is proficient in providing the clients with information, what the nlightencx verbatim research revealed was that clients were not finding this information constructive.
“When this came to light, we sat down with our clients to ask them what they needed from us. They told us that they needed more engagement from our sales team in terms of offering knowledge and solutions. For them, it wasn’t just about our staff taking the orders or responding to queries. They wanted advice, suggestions, and recommendations. This was interesting feedback to receive because a lot of our clients are in the technology space, so it’s easy to assume that they don’t require further knowledge of the products. This presented an opportunity for us to be more than just a service provider to our clients.”
Further to this, a major insight to come out of the verbatim research was the need for the clients to have access to real-time feedback and information regarding their orders. So, the DG team went ahead and designed a platform that provided this data at the click of a button.
“In designing this platform, we gave our clients assurance that we were listening to them. We showed them that we are committed to modifying our business to suit their requirements, rather than them having to adapt to us and how we work. This has been very well received and put us in a good position regarding client retention.”
Why nlightencx?
“Firstly, they are a great partner. They are always looking to do new things for our business and come up with new ideas. And secondly, their approach to customer research is really professional. Their researchers are not intrusive when it comes to engaging with our clients, in fact, our clients are always happy to engage with them. This makes the whole process smooth and efficient.”
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