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GUIDESTAR RESEARCH WHITE PAPER
GUIDESTAR RESEARCH -
WHITE PAPER - DECEMBER 2005 4
Section 2 - Dimension Factor Rating Questions
Dimension factor rating questions comprise most of the survey. Examples of service dimension
factors for the dimension of personal responsibility such as promptness, courtesy, accuracy and
thoroughness can each be rated by your customers. The individual factors' ratings combine to
produce an overall average rating for the dimension.
By combining these in a gap analysis, the relative significance of performance compared with
importance can be judged.
However, this approach has several drawbacks. It doubles the number of dimension questions,
making the overall survey longer, and that may affect response rates. What customers rate as
important may, in fact, not be what actually affects their behavior. They may say thoroughness is
most important while responsiveness may more likely affect their choice of service supplier.
A more reliable correlation is that between dimension performance ratings and the overall
customer satisfaction rating or customer retention rating.
Another consideration is rating dimension performance against your competition. While this may
be very valuable to ask in some intensely competitive environments, it may not be valuable or
appropriate to ask in other environments - and it does add another question per dimension.
Dimension Question Structure
Though dimension questions can be structured in a number of ways, it is best to use one question
structure as much as possible throughout your survey. Examples of question structures:
How satisfied are you with ___________?
(Very Satisfied, Satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, Very Dissatisfied)
Please rate __________ customer service.
(Excellent, Good, Average, Fair, Poor)
ABC provides good customer service.
(Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree)
How often does ABC's customer service exceed expectations?
(Very frequently, Frequently, Not Sure, Infrequently, Very Infrequently)
To what extent does ABC's customer service exceed expectations?
(To Very Great Extent, To Great Extent, To Some Extent, To Little Extent, To Very Little Extent)