CST Online

The increase in home Internet access (55% UK, 46% EU, 38% Ireland) and the proliferation of 3rd party access points (place-of-work, Internet cafes, Wi-Fi etc) means that online surveying is now far more feasible than was the case even a few years ago. The access to the Net, while still not representative of the population as a whole, is now such that online surveys can offer very useful insights into the typical customer experience for many businesses. This applies most particularly to services and products purchased by the younger and the more affluent consumer segments.

Securing participation remains the key issue because most people are uninclined to offer feedback unless either asked directly (active sampling), incentivised or annoyed to the point of initiating a complaint.

CST Online Surveys use a number of prompts in order to secure customer participation. These are the principal applications.

CST@POS uses customers' till receipts as survey prompts. It is designed for applications where customers are handed a till receipt on conclusion of their transaction. Typical applications for this service are department stores, speciality stores and supermarkets, restaurant and food service outlets, forecourt retailers, fashion and apparel outlets, hair and beauty salons, DIY, consumer durables and similar.

CST-Mail uses e-mail to customers as survey prompts. It is designed for applications where customers' e-mail addresses are (or can be) captured as part of the business process. Typically this will include airlines, hotels, estate agents, car-hire companies, travel agents & tour operators, insurance brokers (e.g. post-claim measurement), outcall service organisations (e.g. home appliance repair), motor vehicle service and repair, utilities and retailers of consumer durables.

CSTellfreeuses either 'owned media' or 3rd party media as the survey prompt. It is designed for applications where there is little or no direct customer contact between manufacturer and final user/consumer but where the opportunity exists to engage with customers through, for example, product packaging.
Typically this will include packaged goods manufacturers. Equally it can apply to consumer durables, home electronics, DIY and other major purchases.

CST-SCREEN captures the customer experience onscreen at the 'point-of-experience', in other words, as the customer prepares to depart the premises. A touch screen is used to record the customers' opinions, a process that takes only seconds. An added benefit of CST-SCREEN is the facility to ask questions in a variety of languages, to respond to specific answers and also to ask questions based on the customer's specific experience in the outlet. CST-SCREEN is particularly useful in hotels and other environments where departing customers can be requested to complete the survey while (or just after) they pay their bill.

All our surveys are designed to be both multi-modal and multi-access. This means they can be completed on a variety of devices and in a variety of locations, for example online using home/office/Internet Café/Wi-Fi or 3rd party PCs. They can also be completed on touch screens or on a variety of mobile devices (PDAs/GPRS phones etc). This allows respondents to participate when and where it suits them.