Armed with such a treasure trove of accurate customer data thanks to the help of vendors such as Vovici, Confirmit and Satmetrix Systems Inc., Kolsky said that companies can do more than simply ascertain customers’ concerns; they can make — and save — money. “You can affect the bottom line by implementing actions, workflows and better processes based on what customers want and need,” said Kolsky, who offered an example. “If you actually retain customers and reduce the number of times they call to complain by offering better products and services, then this results in bottom-line savings and revenue increases.”

Not to mention the impact happier customers can have on a company’s employees in the form of high morale, overall job satisfaction and call-center work force retention.

Soliciting feedback is one thing. Making sure that feedback is an accurate reflection of a customer’s true feelings, however, is an entirely different matter. After all, how many times have you bluffed your way through a Web-based survey just to be able to read a restaurant review or check out of an online shopping session?

“Not only are companies not getting the most accurate gauge of customer satisfaction, they’re not getting any useful information. For a survey to be valid, it needs to be something that benefits both the user and the company,” said Kolsky. After all, he added, “If you don’t think there’s going to be any benefit to you, why would you even take two minutes to answer the survey?”

For this reason, Kolsky recommends that companies carefully craft their questions for targeted responses. What’s more, he suggested creating incentives for respondents to supply honest and accurate responses, such as a purchase discount or a gift item. Nevertheless, don’t expect EFM to perform miracles. These days, Kolsky said that a mere 30 percent is considered a “good” response rate to a Web-based survey.