The survey content is flexible and can be changed on short notice. You can measure a core set of items each month and periodically add questions that apply to specific initiatives or promotions. You can follow up on any negative responses to better understand the issues and possible solutions. And separate questions can be asked of varying customer segments, such as frequent vs. non-frequent shoppers or those who also shop at a specific competitor.

Survey results are constantly updated and are available on a secure web site 24-7. You can view and print reports, see trends, and access best practice and exception reports with a single click. Or listen to actual customer comments via the web or by voicemail. Managers can be instantly notified by fax or pager of customer issues requiring a timely response.

By gathering a large quantity of input about specific shopping experiences, CCF most accurately reflects the extent to which you are meeting your customers’ needs and expectations. You can focus your attention on any level, from a particular store to the entire company. You can view results for a particular day or an entire season. With automated IVR and Internet technology, there is no “lag time” for tabulation and report preparation – the results are available immediately.

We have sample surveys (web and IVR) and on-line reports available. To arrange for a demonstration, please contact us.

The heart of this survey is the detailed information it provides on the various store image factors, ranking all major competitors on each factor. Management is able to understand the store’s strengths and weaknesses, both on an absolute basis and relative to the other stores in the trading area. Image factors typically cover pricing, merchandise quality and selection, store operations (e.g., cleanliness, checkout speed), and personnel courtesy and helpfulness. For selected image factors, we follow up with respondents who give the store a negative rating. This helps management fully understand the issue and how to address it.

We also ask several general open-ended questions, to understand why respondents shop (or don’t shop) at the store, why they may prefer a competitor, and what suggestions for improvement they would make.

With this survey, a store manager comes away with a detailed knowledge of his store’s image among the consumers who live near the store. He is then able to prepare a detailed action plan to address the opportunities and capitalize on the strengths. At the end of the survey report, we provide action planning tips and forms to use for this purpose. This enables the manager to actually use the information and refer to it on a continual basis, which is clearly the most valuable aspect of the survey.

We determine overall customer concentration and usage, as well as category-specific shopping behavior and preferences. Using this type of survey, our clients frequently want to gauge the impact of a new retailer in the market or an alternative retail channel. For example, a conventional supermarket chain may wish to determine the extent to which consumers are purchasing food and groceries at club store or supercenter formats, and whether this behavior has been increasing or declining.

This market-wide survey is also useful for researching specific issues that are of interest to a retail chain, such as in-depth price perceptions or the potential acceptance of a planned change in merchandising strategy.

As in the store-level consumer survey, we determine consumer perceptions on numerous factors, so that our client can compare its image to the other stores in the market. We also obtain detailed open-ended feedback from primary, secondary, and non-customers.

This survey focuses directly on your customers. It can be administered in a variety of ways, including store-intercept or telephone interviews, mail-back cards, via the internet, or using in-store kiosks (see kSAT™ description below).

We ask customers why they shop at your store and where else they shop for similar merchandise. With this survey, we often do an in-depth driver analysis, which uncovers the specific reasons for shopping and purchase behavior.

As a central component of this kind of survey, we obtain satisfaction ratings on numerous specific factors, soliciting detailed open-ended feedback about negative responses. In addition, we often ask respondents to rate the importance of the various factors, which enables us to identify performance gaps and develop a matrix for prioritizing the action planning process.

A growing number of retailers are using kiosk technology in their stores. Consumers’ acceptance and usage of kiosks are increasing every day. RSG has the ability to administer ongoing customer satisfaction measurement systems using kiosk technology. Our survey functionality can be added to existing kiosks, or we can design a cost-effective custom kiosk for your stores.

Kiosk-based surveys offer many benefits over other methods of administration. Reponses are collected in the store, where the shopping experience is most salient to the customer. Data collection can take place at any time during the day; results can be tabulated continually and reported daily. New questions can be downloaded at any time and can vary by store type or location. Emails can be sent to store management if a customer requests to be contacted. And kiosk survey administration is more cost effective than IVR or mail-back studies.

There are many opportunities to leverage kiosk data. Retailers with loyalty cards can link satisfaction with purchase behavior. Customers can be segmented by satisfaction and usage, enabling targeted direct follow-up. The in-store survey kiosk can also be used for many additional functions, such as automated loyalty card enrollment, employment applications, and employee exit interviews.

RSG conducts all kinds of customized research surveys. In retailing, there are countless situations that call for a quantitative analysis of consumer feedback. These may be related to a planned change in merchandising strategy, an under-performing store or division, a new store or product line, or a competing chain or channel of trade.

Senior marketing or operations executives often contact us when they are faced with these situations. The bottom line is this: there is too much at stake to be guessing about consumer perception and behavior. Survey research provides a representative picture that cannot be obtained through a “gut feel,” or a collection of customer comments, or even formal (and usually costly) focus groups.

RSG provides the expertise necessary to find valid answers to critical retailing issues. For example, we know how many completed surveys will yield reliable results, depending on the goals of the study. We have extensive experience in constructing valid survey questions that yield actionable information. And further, we respect the tradeoff between the scope of a survey and its cost: we approach the process from the retailer’s perspective, advising on the most cost effective way to get actionable feedback.

Examples of recent ad-hoc research assignments include:

	A national retailer was considering a major change to its product fulfillment strategy. It wanted to survey both current and potential customers to understand the impact of the change. How satisfied were customers with the current process? Would the planned change make a meaningful impact on overall satisfaction? More fundamentally, how important is product fulfillment in the consumer’s perception of this retail segment? If executed properly, would the planned change have a positive competitive effect?
	A major retail chain was considering a change to the banner sign and wording on the outside of its locations. How much brand equity was inherent in the current name? Would shoppers even notice the change? Would the new exterior signage carry an implied change inside the store?
	A regional supermarket chain was considering whether to introduce irradiated meat in its stores. A competing chain had recently begun to offer the product in an overlapping market. What did consumers know about irradiation and what was their perception of the process? What proportion of customers would try the new product? How many had already tried the competitor’s offering, and what were their reactions?
	A national quick-service restaurant chain was piloting a point of sale system that improved the way in which customers were offered complementary and supplementary menu items. How did customers react to the system? Did perceptions differ by demographic? Was this new system perceived as an advantage or a disadvantage relative to other QSRs?