Experience Surveying

What it is

Experience Surveying, sometimes called gap analysis, is a diagnostic method used to identify the differences between expectations and experiences of service in order to uncover areas for improvement or innovation. Importantly, Experience Surveying creates relative models of service quality, although at Engine we have some universal experience standards we try to use across all Experience Surveying exercises.

At the heart of Experience Surveying lies a simple premise: Your experience of the quality of any service (or anything) is based in a large part on your expectations prior to the experience. If your expectations are exceeded, it can be said that you’ve had a good experience. Likewise, if your expectations are not reached, its fair to say you’ve had a poor experience.

Gap analysis in Excel

In order to measure the difference between expectation and experience, we administer two identical surveys - one to measure user’s expectations of service quality within a generic sector, and one to measure users actual experiences of service quality for a specific organisation (normally our clients). Analysing the gaps between the two leads to insight and opportunities. The trick (as with all surveying) is to know exactly what, and exactly who to ask.

At Engine we use Experience Survey’s across many different types projects. Through this work we’re developing a proprietary set of service experience benchmarks by sector that we’re constantly refining and improving.

What you get

Experience Survey outputs can be more qualitative or more quantitative depending on the sample size and research intent. Typically, the outputs are presented as graphs, with research notes and recommendations on areas for further investigation and opportunities for innovation. In a quantitative exercise you’d expect to see detailed results broken down into a segmentation model, in a more qualitative study we’d typically include supporting anecdotes and details of individual respondents.

When to use it

Engine generally uses Experience Surveys during the diagnostic phases of service design and innovation projects. If enough appropriate data are gathered in the early stages of a large service innovation project, they can be used during later evaluation stages to measure impact.

Entering expectations

Experience Surveys can also be valuable as a generative tool for unearthing new opportunities, or isolating service quality problem areas in an organisation. They can also be used internally, to compare perceptions and understandings between teams and colleagues.

In summary, Experience Surveys are an invaluable tool to diagnose areas for improvement or innovation, to build support for customer centric metrics, to make the case for change, and to measure performance of a project. It’s hard to argue with a graph, and harder still to argue with your customers.