Martha Brooke

GUEST POST: Jerry Sokol’s Thoughts on Customer Experience Metrics

Jerry Sokol writes for Biz Meets Tech, and he recently wrote about something that’s always top of mind at Interaction Metrics—good customer experience metrics. Metrics are only useful insofar as they help you improve—simply tracking outcome scores or collecting data and calling it done is never the answer. The right customer experience metrics don’t just […]

December 20, 2016

Bad Customer Survey Questions: Throw Them Out!

Bad customer survey questions are everywhere. But they’re not as tricky to avoid as it may seem. Why Use a Customer Survey? What’s the point of doing a customer feedback survey? Well, rather obviously, to gauge how customers perceive you, and where their expectations are being—and not being—met. This requires walking in the customer’s shoes […]

December 14, 2016

Retailers Waste Time with Critically Flawed Surveys

It seems that we’re asked to take a customer satisfaction survey with nearly every purchase. But do you ever wonder…do they really care what I have to say? Our 2016 Customer Listening Study, the first of its kind, evaluated the customer satisfaction surveys of 51 top US retailers. The main finding: retailers like Lowe’s and […]

November 1, 2016

3 Ways to Get More from Your Mystery Shops

At conferences, I’m often asked about mystery shopping, and it got me thinking: there are a lot of misunderstandings about what mystery shopping can and can’t do. What Is It Good For? Mystery shopping has tremendous value for B2B as well as B2C, and is vital to a thoughtful and well-vetted customer service evaluation. Obviously, mystery […]

October 14, 2016

Fake Customer Survey Data

While there are a lot of common errors in customer satisfaction surveys, I recently experienced a particularly egregious one: fake customer survey data. Fake Customer Survey Data Example Our company recently began working with a website optimization service. As the introductory phone call drew to a close, our new account manager asked me to take […]

September 28, 2016

Customer Experience Metrics: How to Measure CX In a Way That Actually Improves It

Last updated: May 4, 2026 Here is a question every CX leader should be able to answer: What did you do differently because of your last survey? If you did nothing, your measurement program is more decorative than real. What goes undiscussed in most CX conversations is that companies aren’t failing because they lack data. […]

August 23, 2016

Starbucks: Your Customer is NOT Your Guinea Pig

When it comes to customer service, don’t let customers be your guinea pigs for internal changes. Here’s an example of what that looks like. What Happened? It was the typical noon-time rush at my local Starbucks—certainly not my favorite time to stop, but I was hungry and wanted a snack. I ordered a drink and […]

August 18, 2016

Customer Experience: Benchmarking or Innovating?

Benchmarking the customer experience will not always get you the metrics to grow and improve. But what is benchmarking? Customer Experience Benchmarking Benchmarking has a history of helping businesses compete in global markets. But these days, many companies are missing out on the opportunity to innovate due to an over-reliance on benchmarked metrics. The practice […]

August 10, 2016

How to Improve Your Customer Survey

If you want to improve your customer feedback program you probably need to improve your customer survey. An Analyst Perspective on Customer Surveys Customer surveys make up a multi-billion dollar industry, and many of us get at least one per day. But just because surveys are everywhere doesn’t mean they’re always good. At Interaction Metrics, we […]

July 22, 2016

How Any Outcome Metric Falls Short

Many companies rely on outcome metrics to measure and improve. The problem is, outcome metrics fall short. When it comes to improving your customer experience, first you need to decide what your goals are. Every company has its own take on customer experience—what are your goals? Perhaps you’re looking to stage the customer experience to […]

June 30, 2016

Survey Text Analysis: What Open-Ends Reveal (That Scores Never Will)

Last Updated: June 5, 2025 Companies obsess over survey scores. But the real gold—the part where customers actually say what they think—is buried in the open-ended responses. These unstructured comments are where customers vent, explain, and suggest. It’s where emotion and insight live. And yes, of course, most companies look at them, usually plugging them […]

June 16, 2016