Sept. 8, 2017 by ReviewPro in Best Practices
The information obtained from customer satisfaction surveys is invaluable for hoteliers, who can use it to identify what guests like or dislike and why. By acting quickly and effectively on the basis of this feedback, hotels can offer excellent service, improve customer satisfaction and have a positive impact on their online reputation.
But are you confused by the jargon used in surveys? Do you know the difference between NPS® and ECR? We have compiled a glossary to help you better understand the key terms related to satisfaction surveys and enable you to get the most out of this powerful tool.
ECR (email collection rate)
It is extremely important for hotels to monitor their Email Collection Rate (ECR), because if you don’t have emails, how can you contact customers to get their feedback or for other marketing initiatives? ECR is the total number of valid emails obtained by a hotel divided by the total number of departures. This percentage gives the hotel an idea of how many emails collected were correct, in relation to the total number of rooms that have left the hotel. This can be a valuable key performance indicator, not only for monitoring performance over time, but also for setting targets for staff.
Guest list
In order to send a satisfaction questionnaire by email, hotels must create a guest list with the relevant data from their PMS, such as the guest’s name, email address and departure date. The more data fields included in the PMS, the more detailed the analysis of the questionnaire results can be. For example, if the room number is included, it is then possible to analyze guest satisfaction by room number.
Question logic
Question logic is a handy feature to use when designing a survey. It allows hoteliers to show or hide questions based on customer responses, making the survey more relevant to each customer and giving you more detailed feedback to help you prioritize operational, service or product improvements. It also helps you keep your surveys as short as possible, which is always good for getting higher response rates!
Using question logic, it is possible to create follow-up questions based on the specific response of the guest. For example, rather than asking five questions about the recording, ask one about the overall recording experience. If guests give a low rating, ask further questions to obtain more specific information.
Rating scale
A rating scale is a type of question that asks the customer to assign a value to what they are being asked to evaluate. There are three common types of rating scales: numerical, graphic and descriptive.
There are different schools of thought on whether the scale should have an even or odd number of categories. With an odd number of categories, e.g. 1-5, customers can select 3 as a neutral option. With an even rating scale, there is no midpoint, forcing customers to choose a negative or positive option. The number of points on the scale, as well as the choice of an even or odd number, depends on the type of question you ask and what you hope to learn from the answers. The scale you choose will be the same for all rating questions throughout the survey.
Likert scale
The Likert scale, named after its creator Rensis Likert, is a rating scale used in survey questions to measure the attitudes and opinions of customers. Rather than a simple “yes”/“no” answer, it offers a greater degree of nuance by offering customers a range of response options.
In general, respondents are asked to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with a statement, based on a five-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. To measure customer satisfaction, the scale can also range from “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied”.
In terms of analyzing the results, it is possible to calculate the percentage of respondents who select each option. If you prefer, it is possible to assign a numerical score to each option and use these values to calculate an overall score.
Review program
Review programs integrated into satisfaction questionnaires allow hotels to increase the number of online reviews on the main review sites. Hoteliers who participate in the program can integrate a review form into their satisfaction questionnaires to encourage guests to post a review online, thus increasing the number of reviews. Three of the most important programs are offered by TripAdvisor, HolidayCheck and Google.
Post-stay satisfaction questionnaire
A post-stay survey is a digital questionnaire sent to guests by email after they have checked out to assess their level of satisfaction with their stay. A series of questions invites guests to give their opinion on specific aspects of their stay and to evaluate the services and features. These in-depth comments provide the hotelier with valuable information to identify and resolve internal problems. It is important to ensure that the design of your survey is not too cumbersome for the client while allowing the hotel to collect as much detailed feedback as possible.
In-stay survey
An in-stay survey is sent to guests while they are still on site to check whether or not they are satisfied with their stay. This is an extremely valuable technique because it allows hoteliers to correct any problems identified before the guest leaves, thus reducing the risk of a negative online review.
This type of survey is generally short and has a maximum of three questions. The channel and the time of sending the survey during the stay may vary depending on the type of hotel. For example, the survey can be sent by e-mail after two nights’ stay or via a pop-up window containing a link to the survey when customers connect to the hotel’s WiFi for the first time.
Delivery rate
The delivery rate is the percentage of survey emails that you send and that reach your customer. The indicator is calculated by dividing the number of delivered emails by the total number of emails sent.
A delivered email is a message that arrives correctly in a recipient’s inbox without being rejected. A permanent bounce reflects a permanent delivery problem, for example when the recipient’s email address is invalid or the email domain does not exist. A temporary bounce generally reflects a temporary delivery problem, for example when your email is too large, the server is down or the recipient’s inbox is full.
When delivery rates are low, hoteliers can review their email collection strategy to ensure that emails provided by customers are verified by reception staff, for example, in order to increase the volume of emails delivered successfully.
Survey conversion rate
The conversion rate is simply the percentage of customers who respond to your survey. It is calculated by dividing the number of completed responses to your survey by the number of surveys correctly delivered to customers. By optimizing the design and distribution of your survey, it is possible to increase the conversion rate.
NPS
The Net Promoter Score® (NPS) is a measure of customer satisfaction based on the fundamental principle that each company’s customers can be classified into one of the following three categories: promoter, passive or detractor.
It is based on the answer to a simple question in the customer questionnaire: “How likely are you to recommend this hotel to a friend or colleague?” Customers are asked to answer this question on a scale of 0 to 10 (an 11-point scale).
• Promoters: those who give a rating of 9 or 10
• Passives: those who give a rating of 7 to 8
• Detractors: those who give a rating of 6 or less
To calculate the NPS®, the percentage of detractors is subtracted from the percentage of promoters. This means that this score can be either positive (there are more promoters than detractors) or negative (there are more detractors than promoters).
The NPS® is a standard measure used worldwide in many sectors and its importance is growing in the hospitality sector thanks to the standard methodology used, making it a key measure for benchmarking.
Overall satisfaction rating
The overall satisfaction rating is calculated based on the answers to the specific survey question asking guests to rate the establishment as a whole. It is not an average of the individual rating questions in the survey relating to the different elements of their experience. An example of an overall satisfaction question would be “How would you rate your overall experience at the hotel?” and the answers are given on a numerical scale such as 1-5, 1-6 or 1-10.
Top Box
The Top Box score is a measure that allows you to understand the levels of excellence of your hotel. It is the sum of the percentages of responses for the highest point or points of a rating question.
When hoteliers ask an evaluation question such as “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your satisfaction with your room?”, they may be particularly interested in the number of guests who give a rating of 9 or 10. The Top Box score allows them to track this in an intuitive and easy-to-understand way.
Management response rate
It is important to respond to customers who have taken the time to give their opinion in surveys to show them that you care about them and, if necessary, to let them know how you will follow up.
The management response rate allows hotels to monitor the volume of questionnaires they respond to. The percentage is calculated by dividing the total number of questionnaires you have responded to by the number of completed questionnaires you have received. Hoteliers can monitor the evolution of this indicator over time and compare management response rates for establishments in the same group.
Average response time
In addition to the volume of survey responses that hoteliers respond to, it is important to monitor how quickly you do so. Average response time, often measured in hours, is an average calculated based on the time it takes management to respond to a customer after receiving the completed survey.
Rather than trying to respond to every customer who provides direct feedback, it is often better to focus on responding as quickly as possible to the most relevant cases. Responding to negative customer feedback tends to be prioritized over neutral or positive feedback, as it often requires an apology or clarification.
Now that you have an overview of some of the most common terms in satisfaction surveys, we hope you have a clearer idea of what to consider when developing an effective satisfaction survey strategy. If you would like to find out how we can help you improve customer satisfaction at your hotel through direct feedback, both from in-stay and post-stay surveys, please contact us.
