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David Gammel posted this week about an error message he came across on a website. In thinking about what the organization could have done differently to engage with folks who hit that error page, he says, “In this case, a form for an e-mail address and an offer to let you know when the problem was resolved could have been a good alternative to a standard feedback form.”

I think this is a great idea with a broader application: I think sometimes we underestimate the importance of followup as an element of excellent customer service. When a member/customer has a question that can’t be resolved immediately and hears “We’ll certainly take your input into account and consider it,” he or she may feel OK about the response. But if that member/customer hears back in three months, “We wanted to give you an update on what happened because of your feedback,” he or she will probably feel really good about the organization that took the time to check back in.

This is something that can be fairly hard to do (I would be the first to say that I should look for more opportunities for this kind of followup in my own work), but I think it can really be worth the effort.

At my last association, we used to routinely see member responses in anonymous surveys that cried out for personal responses. Typically, the member was using an open comment field to vent about something important to him/her that didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the survey at hand. (I would imagine this wasn't unique to that association.) You could tell this individual was frustrated, but there was no way to reach out to him or her.

I always wished there was some way to end a survey with, “Did you provide any comments on this survey that you would like to discuss personally with staff? If so, please paste the comment and your e-mail address here.” I’m sure there are good research reasons not to do this—certainly it would make some respondents worry that the rest of their survey responses would no longer be anonymous—but I would have loved the chance to talk to some of those frustrated members directly and address their concerns.