3 Examples of Using SMS Messaging for Hotel Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Even great hotels sometimes have a mix up or some sort of problem that can affect a guest. And with social media and hotel review sites, chances are a disgruntled guest isn’t going to keep their complaints to themselves for long. In my previous blog I talked about using SMS messaging to ask guests about their stay before they hit the web and write their review. Here are three examples of how to use SMS messaging to gauge customer satisfaction.
- Ask a single question. This is probably the most straightforward and easiest approach to use. Send the guest a message asking them to rate their visit from 1-5 stars. If you don’t get five stars, you may want to follow up with them to get more details. You could follow up with other text messages, but a phone call from management is probably best. If you can understand their issues and relate to them personally, you might make them feel better about your hotel. That might mean the difference between a bad review and a good (but maybe not great) review.
- A short series of questions. If you can put together 3-5 short, easy to answer questions, you might be able to use a series of text messages as a survey. These are a little harder to construct for a number of reasons. The questions need to be short, but clear. The answers need to be short so they’re easy for a guest to type. And the whole survey needs to be short so it doesn’t take up too much of the traveller’s time. As for example number one, if the answers are not as positive as you’d hope, then follow up personally.
- Send a message with a link to a survey. Online surveys are great. They offer the chance to get more detailed feedback than you can in a simple text message. The downside is that the guest needs to click on the link, rather than typing in their response immediately. Fortunately, click through rates in SMS messages are much higher than you’ll find in email. So this method could work for you if you want more feedback than a warm fuzzy star rating.
Whichever method you choose, don’t make it hard or too big. If you send the message out shortly after they leave (before they write their online review), they may still be travelling. With the visit fresh in their mind they’ll probably be willing to answer your questions – as long as it doesn’t take too long.
Once a guest has sent you feedback, definitely send them a thank you. A text message expressing your gratitude is good, but a coupon code or discount for their next visit will certainly leave them feeling appreciated. With each message costing you 3.5p or less you can see how SMS messaging is a massively cost effective way of communicating with your customers.
If you would like more ideas on how SMS messaging can benefit your business download our free “Hotels Guide to SMS Messaging“.
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