A Note from our CEO, Scott Soderberg

Not that long ago, you could go to the doctor, stay at a hotel, or buy something online, and that was the end of it. You may have experienced good care at the clinic, mediocre service at a hotel, or received your merchandise a little late. While you might tell a friend or family member about what happened, you probably didn’t do anything unless it was an absolutely amazing experience or it crossed a bad line for you. More recently, however, almost all our encounters are now followed quickly by a text or email with a “short” survey and a plea to “tell us how we did”. You open it to find a never-ending series of questions. Short of the requestor offering shares of Apple to do so, you can’t imagine that anybody would actually fill the thing out.

To be sure, there are surveys that deliver on the promise that they will be short. In my mind, those are done by companies that understand the value of their customers’ time. They also know it increases the chances that more customers will respond. Just as feedback from people in our everyday lives matters to us, feedback from customers is crucially important to businesses. It identifies “pain points” customers are experiencing, highlights flaws and inefficiencies in the companies’ operations, and generally gives a voice to customers who in many cases really want to see the business improve. Most of all, it enables a company to measure and improve customer satisfaction—the primary ingredient in creating loyal, happy customers and successful businesses.

We are currently in the process of running our 3rd annual National Promoter Score (NPS) survey for all our customers. We’ve had a good response rate in the first two, and we’re hoping that even more of you participate this year. We actually do make changes in what we do, how we do it, and in what we offer based on what we see in the surveys. In fact, you may have received a call from us as part of our effort to directly address a concern you raised in your responses.

There is only one question in the NPS requiring a response (“how likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague?”), and four more simple ones asking to rate our products and services if you so choose. Please know that your responses mean a lot to us. My pledge to you is that we will continue to utilize your responses to guide and improve the way we do business going forward. Thanks for your feedback!