Surveying Multicultural Customers

First Quarter 2008
By: Michael Soon Lee, MBA, CSP
Wednesday, January 02, 2008

If you conduct customer satisfaction surveys, multicultural buyers will present a unique challenge. Many of my consulting clients are confused and frustrated by the fact that many first- and second-generation immigrants will give mediocre ratings (such as a five or six out of a possible ten points) and yet provide written  comments that sound like you should have scored a twelve. Why is there such a disconnect?

There are two types of cultures in the world – individualistic and collectivist. People from the United States, Canada and England are prime examples of individualistic cultures where top people receive an individual award such as a publicly-presented bonus check, engraved plaque, trophy and even the employee of the month parking space.

However, if you have customers who are Hispanic, Asian or Middle Eastern these are collectivist cultures where people prefer to be rewarded as a team. In collectivist cultures to recognize someone individually causes everyone else on the team to lose face. In fact, there’s a saying in Japan, “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” This is why people from collectivist cultures tend to give good but not great scores. They just don’t want to embarrass you in front of your boss or peers.

If you want to receive the survey scores you deserve you must avoid the most common mistakes when surveying multicultural customers:

1. Not setting the stage from the beginning. Educating customers from the very outset of your relationship is crucial With any customer but especially those from collectivist cultures, you must let them know that they will be receiving a survey and that it’s very important that they complete it. Second, tell them that your performance is graded by the scores and that you will “lose face” with your peers and your boss if you do not get the score you deserve. Third, ask them to let you know at any time if there is anything you can do at any time to improve because you really want to receive a “10” or whatever your top rating happens to be.

2. Even more basic, you must make sure that your surveys are designed to be “culture friendly”. Right at the top it should be stated that your company strives to meet the needs of all its customers and one of the ways to measure this is through a survey. Avoid phrases like “We strive to be the best” because to collectivist cultures this is arrogant and puts down your competition which causes you to lose face. Many customers wonder if this is realistic considering all of the wonderful companies they considered before choosing yours. Remember, you are just trying to assess how well you satisfied this customer on this transaction.

Consider using a one to ten scale with ten signifying that you exceeded customer expectations. This moves away from implying that the number one is singularly the best score.

3. Be consistent: A new car dealer I consulted with had one survey that used a one to ten scale with one being highest and another where ten was highest. In addition there was also one question with a one to five scale. This can be confusing to people from any culture including long-time Americans.

Also, be consistent with terminology. I read a survey where the person being evaluated was variously called, “personnel”, “individual” and “employee.” There kind of inconsistency can be confusing and will slows the reader down in completing the survey.

4. Define the scores. Again, refrain from using the terms “best” or “outstanding” as this can be very difficult for people from collectivist cultures to relate to, Let customers know that a five or lower indicates that the service was lacking in several ways and that they should list them in the remarks section. A seven or eight means that the service was very good but not great and a nine or ten means the service was better than better than expected.

5. Don’t assume: Don’t assume that everyone knows the meaning of terms used in your surveys. I’ve seen surveys that used terminology that only people with an advanced college degree could understand such as “rationale”, “sufficient”

Some of the wording in surveys can be confusing to, not only new immigrants, but long-time residents of the United States as well. For example, does everyone understand what “the staff person went ‘above and beyond’ to meet your needs… means?

Also, don’t assume that that everyone knows what “N/A” means. Be sure to explain clearly. I have surveys that said, “N/A means that it does not apply/” The average person would then ask if it should be “DNA” causing confusion and frustration.

6. Take into consideration written comments make by customers. While they may be difficult exactly rank they can be used to adjust the numerical score especially when they seem to be contradictory.

7. Don’t overweight negative comments and low scores. Studies show that people who are disgruntled tend to vent by giving extremely low marks and negative comments whereas those who are satisfied don’t usually feel any reason to be overly complimentary on scores or comments.

If your survey includes multicultural customers and you do not make adjustments the results will be of dubious value and could even be misleading. Like anyone else, these customers appreciate exceptional service and want, more than average, to let people know.



So, how did you do? If you want tools to be more culturally competent check out the resources in our store.

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