There’s a whole world of actionable insights a company can gather through just a four-option survey – and a lot of ways to send one out. Since joining team at CompTIA UK Channel Community member Customer Thermometer last year, Martha Pawlica, client development manager, has already seen and helped implement, along with the company’s Ministry of Magic tech team, plenty of creative deployments of the one-click SaaS surveying solution.
Sometimes it’s a one- or two-person micro-SMB embedding a one-click survey in their email communications and using the data to drive strategy. Other times it’s a huge enterprise using it as part of its ticketing system, with a customer service team watching the real-time aggregation of survey data on a monitor affixed to the wall, and CS agents leaping to smooth things out the moment negative feedback comes through. But regardless of business size or implementation type, customers tend to click through at an impressive rate. That’s because the versatile solution is built around a simple observation; customers want to have their say, but they are in a hurry.
“The key is to making sure that the customers feel like their feelings and their feedback [are] respected, and their time is respected,” Pawlica said.
Making Feedback Quick and Easy
Seven years ago, Customer Thermometer CEO and Co-Founder Lindsay Willott was herself running a tech agency. She wanted a way to get quick, honest feedback from her company’s clients. But none of the surveying tools available seemed to have the user-friendly simplicity she envisioned.
With Co-Founder Mark Copeman, Willott developed the four-color survey scale and launched Customer Thermometer to meet that need. Soon the solution found a niche. The U.K.-based, IT-oriented tool first started gaining traction with U.S.-based cleaning services. The quick, straightforward surveys proved perfect for getting a quick response from customers on the quality of a cleaning.
But that hasn’t been the only market excited to avail itself of Customer Thermometer’s impressive response rate. The client base has continued to grow more diverse.
And now, years after its creation, Customer Thermometer is experiencing a wave of popularity in the tech world; revealing itself to be a fantastic feedback tool for managed service providers.
Customer Thermometer’s MSP Expansion
Attending CompTIA’s EMEA event last October, Pawlica had an opportunity to interact with the community of partners and members CompTIA brings together. Customer Thermometer has been making more appearances at such events as MSPs have begun to appreciate the tool, and they’ve been building on the momentum of a natural synergy.
In the MSP space, after all, responsibilities are manifold, customer expectations are high, interaction with clients happen quickly and client satisfaction is paramount to preventing churn. And Customer Thermometer’s easy integration with platforms and tools like ConnectWise and Zendesk makes it easy for service providers to get actionable feedback at every step.
Of course, expanding to meet the unique needs of MSPs hasn’t meant a pivot away from Customer Thermometer’s longtime customers.
“We absolutely love our cleaning customers,” Pawlica said. “We love all of our customers, but certainly the spike in MSPs this year has been huge.”
So as Customer Thermometer continues to thrive, it’s helping both MSPs and an array of other businesses get the feedback they need.
In fact, you’ll find Customer Thermometer itself among its roster of satisfied customers. If you have an interaction with an employee of the company you’ll notice their four-option survey at the bottom of the email; an endorsement of the tool’s trustworthiness.
“Clicking one icon, leaving your testimonial and then having that feedback captured in real-time makes people feel like you’re on the ball,” Pawlica said.
Matthew Stern is a freelance writer based in Chicago who covers information technology, retail and various other topics and industries.
