Beyond NPS – Customer Surveys that Sing
Chesterfield County Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
While many libraries use customer surveys to gather feedback, CCPL has combined the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques. Using a combination of Net Promoter Score, dashboarding, tagging by theme & impression, and by-branch breakdowns, customer surveys are transformed into a key performance indicator giving real-time feedback.
Challenge/Opportunity
Ad-hoc surveying of the community had led to suggestions, but no real understanding of priorities, no numerical understanding of progress, nor branch-specific feedback. Success stories were widely available, but without rigorous analysis, had ceased to be effective tools for communicating with stakeholders. Attempts to improve based on feedback were sporadic, without an understanding of their reception. And a lack of consistent surveying made it difficult to track overall success in improving customer satisfaction.
Key Elements of Innovation
Using an improved survey and automated staggered emails, CCPL modernized their customer survey program. A NPS question was paired with open-ended feedback, questions about branch use, and a 2nd optional page of rotating questions. Responses were meticulously tagged based on the comment’s theme and whether the impression was positive, mixed, or negative. Using PowerBI, a dashboard was made available to managers, allowing them to dive into responses. Detailed write-ups from analysts helped call out actionable items.
Achieved Outcomes
As of February 2023, NPS scores are the highest ever recorded for the system, and based on feedback, various improvements have been made system-wide. This survey program has enabled tweaks to existing services & products, quick feedback on new offerings, support for business cases related to holds mitigation, improved collection management decisions, and a more grounded general understanding of customer sentiment. Managers use this tool as a key performance measurement and as a finger on the pulse of the community.