You are here: homehome » faqs
FAQs
Most answers to your questions will be found in the FAQs section. Check out other areas of the site for more detailed information.
If you still can’t find what you are looking for or have questions to add, please contact us.
About Us
What is 121QA?
Where does 121QA content come from?
Why is it important to know how customers feel about your service?
What is the advantage of surveying customers on a regular basis?
How do I introduce 121QA to staff?
The 121QA Survey
Where do the survey questions come from?
Why aren’t the survey questions industry specific?
Customer Surveying
What are survey links?
How do I create a survey shortcut on the desktop?
How do I store a survey link in Bookmarks [Favorites in Internet Explorer]?
Where do I find my survey links?
How do I transfer a survey link to another device?
How do I add additional surveys?
How do I change the subject heading of an existing survey?
How do I change the open-ended survey question?
How do I email a survey to a customer?
How do I save a survey link to my website?
What kind of computer equipment do I need?
How do I administer a survey?
When is the best time to survey customers?
How do I choose who/what to survey?
How do I make surveying part of my routine?
How should I organize my survey administration?
When is it appropriate to temporarily stop surveying customers?
Scorecard Reporting
What is the scorecard?
When should I reset business targets?
What do the red boxes mean?
What do the green boxes mean?
How are the diagnostic questions organized?
How long can I archive survey data?
My Account
What features are included in a Basic account?
What features are included in a Pro account?
How do I open an account?
How do I reset business targets?
How do I cancel my account?
How do I change the user name on my account?
How do I change the email address on my account?
How do I cancel a survey?
Privacy
How secure are my survey links?
How do you keep my data secure?
How does 121QA protect the identity of my customers?
What will 121QA never do with my data?
What is 121QA?
121QA is a method of assessing service quality and identifying where your service exceeds or falls below customer expectations.
With 121QA you can:
- Identify what parts of your service experience delight customers.
- Compare your service against business targets you set or industry norms.
- Detect and correct service weaknesses before they become problems.
Where does 121QA content come from?
121QA is based on over 30 years of research on service design, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Many models have been developed, tested and refined across a wide range of service industries.
Our Heroes section includes a review of the literature and examples of leading service providers.
Why is it important to know how customers feel about your service?
- Satisfied customers tend to be more loyal.
- Loyal customers are more likely to repurchase and refer others.
- Referral customers are usually easier and less expensive to service.
What is the advantage of surveying customers on a regular basis?
Service quality often varies by time of day and day of week. Occasional surveying can miss this variation and collecting intermittent feedback generally leads to poor decision making.
121QA makes continuous surveying easy:
- Surveys can be administered anywhere in 3 minutes.
- Survey questions capture customer impressions on 25 proven dimensions.
- Survey response is immediate and confidential.
How do I introduce 121QA to staff?
Creating a superior customer experience takes teamwork. And the same is true of 121QA. Be sure you get everyone’s commitment before you start surveying.
Several benefits are worth reviewing with staff:
- 121QA makes it easy for customers to give us feedback.
Every customer has an opinion but most find it hard to tell us what they like or dislike.
- 121QA demonstrates how much we care about our customers.
Research shows that asking for feedback raises a customer’s opinion of the quality of the service they receive. - 121QA eliminates guesswork.
Decisions previously influenced by hearsay or personal opinion can be a thing of the past. - 121QA is quick and easy to administer.
Two completions per survey a day delivers actionable data.
Where do the survey questions come from?
The questions are based on scholarly research on service quality conducted over the past 30 years. The questions reflect common themes that emerged in studies conducted in various sectors of the economy. They have been replicated or validated in different countries and businesses/industries. You can find a review of the literature in Our Heroes section.
Cross industry differences reflect the relative importance of the different elements of the service.
For example, appearance is more important in a retail environment while reliability is essential in a medical clinic.
Why aren’t the survey questions industry specific?
The ability to judge the technical quality of a service is often beyond the capability of the average customer - even though it is well understood by the provider and often assessed or regulated independently.
121QA probes impressions of what is received rather than what is delivered. Questions are designed to capture customer perceptions of the quality of the service experience: the voice of the customer is what the survey is designed to hear.
What are survey links?
A survey link is a unique web address generated by 121QA where a customer goes to complete a survey.
The uniquely generated GUID code [globally unique identifier] is easily stored on your desktop or transferred to any web-enabled device.
You will receive your survey links by email immediately after you register. There will be a link for each location, service or person you wish to survey.
How do I create a survey shortcut on the desktop?
To create a survey shortcut, simply copy and paste the link to your desktop. Rename the 121QA icon on your desktop to identify the subject of the survey.
How do I store a survey link in Bookmarks [Favorites in Internet Explorer]?
->Click on the survey link to open [e.g. http://www:121qa.com.......]
->Click on Bookmarks [Favorites in Internet Explorer]
->Click on Bookmark this Page [Add to Favorites in Internet Explorer and be certain to name the individual survey at this point.
The survey is now ready to administer.
Where do I find my survey links?
To find your survey links:
->Login to your account
->Go to – Survey Summary
->Copy & Paste the link into a browser window
How do I transfer a survey link to another device?
To transfer survey links copy and paste the survey url in the address bar to the new device.
How do I add additional surveys?
Your Pro account comes with 1 survey. You can add as many additional surveys as you need. To buy additional surveys:
->Login to your account
->Go to – Survey Summary
->Add a Survey – enter the new business location, service or person – Submit
->Preview the survey to ensure it is correct [e.g. Family dentist, Dr. Walters]
->Click on the desktop 121QA icon - Rename [e.g. Dr. Walters]
Each survey link costs $10/month and is billed on the 1st of the month following.
How do I change the subject heading of an existing survey?
To change the subject heading of an existing survey:
->Login to your account
->Go to – Survey Summary
->Update the survey heading you want to change.
->Enter the new business location, service or staff member - Update
->Preview the survey to ensure it is correct [e.g. Family dentist, Dr. Walters]
->Click on the desktop 121QA icon - Rename [e.g. Dr. Walters]
How do I change the open-ended survey question?
To change the open-ended question on a survey:
->Login to your account
->Go to – Survey Summary
->Update the question
How do I email a survey to a customer?
To email a survey link:
->Open the survey in your browser
->Copy the full url in the address bar to your clipboard
->Open a new email
->Paste the url into the body of the email
->Insert the survey name in the subject line [e.g. 121QA Survey – Dr. Waters]
->Send
How do I save a survey link to my website?
To save a survey link to your website:
->Open the survey in your browser
->Copy the full url in the address bar to your clipboard
->Open the web page
->Add and label an achor tag to your page
->Paste the url into the href of the anchor tag
What kind of computer equipment do I need?
No special equipment is required.
Surveys are hosted on the 121QA site and delivered via http protocol.
Your web-enabled device should have a:
- Mouse, stylus or point-and-click navigation with a full keyboard
- Screen with minimum 800 x 600 pixel resolution
- Memory capacity of no less than 1GB
How do I administer a survey?
There are 3 ways to administer a 121QA survey.
Put the survey link on your web site.
Gather random insight from regular customers.
Good if there is a lot of traffic, content is updated frequently and views and opinions are regularly shared by customers.
For instructions click here.
Email the survey link to a customer.
Get feedback from the customers who've agreed to be surveyed.
Better if the customer is pressed for time or the person completing the survey is different from the person who was serviced.
For instructions click here.
Administer the survey as part of the service.
Capture actionable customer intelligence in 3 minutes.
Best when incorporated into the service exchange at a convenient and logical time - before, during or after the service transaction.
When is the best time to survey customers?
The best time to survey customers is during a service appointment - when impressions are fresh and response rates are highest.
If you're in an office:
- Place a desktop, laptop or tablet computer in a convenient location
- Ask customers to complete the survey before, during or after the service transaction
- Put a note on the customer file to keep track of completions
If you're on the road:
- Use a web-enabled smart phone, lap top or tablet
- Ask the customer to complete the survey at the end of the appointment
- Put a completion notation on the customer’s billing record
How do I choose who/what to survey?
121QA surveys can be personalized by business location, service or person.
Ideally suited to organizations with several offices or stores
Appropriate when more than one type of service is offered by a business
Essential where personal interaction is critical to customer retention.
How do I make surveying part of my routine?
Set a daily routine so it’s fast and easy.
- Select the customers you plan to survey at the start of each day
- Ask customers to complete the survey before, after or during the service interaction – whatever is most convenient
- Record the date of the survey completion on the customer’s file
Remember – every customer has an opinion and research shows that asking for their feedback improves their opinion of you.
When is it appropriate to temporarily stop surveying customers?
Consider taking a break when:
- You have surveyed a sizeable portion of your customer base
- Your survey results consistently exceed business targets and industry norms
- You have not made any changes in processes, procedures or people for some time
Refer to How do I to turn surveys off/on.
What is the scorecard?
The scorecard is the page where 121QA survey results are displayed.
This is where you can:
- view survey results
- mine and manipulate data
- read customer comments
- compare your results against industry norms or business targets
- access diagnostic questions to solve problems
- change account details, business targets or survey subjects
When should I reset business targets?
Follow these suggestions to ensure that the goals you set for yourself are achievable and realistic.
- If you know you’ve got a problem, fix it and continue to collect survey data. Continue to monitor your results, and check for increasing mean scores, and reductions in the range score.
- If you suspect you’ve got a problem, don’t change a business target. Investigate the problem using the diagnostic questions as your guide. Brainstorm solutions, pick one, and pilot it. Monitor your results, particularly looking for increasing mean scores, and reductions in the range.
- If you believe that you’re perfect and thinking of setting 7 as a target, think twice: Setting perfect scores can automatically trigger false alarms. And acting on false alarms wastes time and money.
What do the red boxes mean?
Red highlighted boxes indicate areas where customer impressions of the service they received fell below industry norms or your business targets.
Red boxes draw attention to areas that may need corrective attention. To investigate further, simply click on the box.
What do the green boxes mean?
Green boxes appear when you open a red highlighted box. The green boxes contain diagnostic questions you can use to find and fix problems.
How are the diagnostic questions organized?
Diagnostic questions are there to help you solve problems and are organized into categories.
- Fact-finding: Exploring what customers expect and what they think they receive
- Organization: The setting of service standards and the processes, systems and supporting documents required to achieve them
- Management: How manpower, technology and other resources are deployed to create the service experience
- Communication: Overt or implied promises made about the nature of the service[s]to be provided to the customer
How long can I archive survey data?
With a Pro account, the short answer is forever.
When you turn surveys off you still have access to your scorecard and archived data.
If you want to add new data you can reactivate your surveys at any time. Refer to How do I to turn surveys off/on.
What features are included in a Basic account?
A Basic account is designed for organizations with neither the time nor expertise to administer a reliable customer satisfaction survey. It's free.
Your Basic account comes with 1 survey and an easy-to-read scorecard. Collect and view survey data and comments instantly. See if customers are satisfied and plan to recommend your service.
The moment you sign up you're ready to go – no survey to design, no statistics to calculate and no charts to create.
Collect up to 100 completed surveys. Transfer data to a Pro account when you need deeper insight.
Visit Pricing to compare features.
What features are included in a Pro account?
A Pro account includes all the Basic account features plus a large array of customization, data mining and diagnostic tools.
With a Pro account you can add, change and turn surveys off/on as you need them. Solve service problems by applying proven methods and benchmark improvements you make against business targets you set for yourself.
A Pro account comes with 1 survey, complete analytics and unlimited responses for just $59.95/month. Each additional survey costs just $10/month.
The country of the business location you register determines whether you are billed in American or Canadian dollars. Applicable taxes are extra.
Visit Pricing to compare features.
How do I open an account?
To sign up, enter your subscriber details and set up your surveys. Once your registration is complete, 121QA will email you your survey links.
You will need a valid email address and credit card to open a Pro account. 121QA will bill your credit card on the first day of each month.
If your Pro account is in arrears, access to your account will be temporarily denied. If you account is past due for more than 30 days it is cancelled.
How do I reset business targets?
Business targets are automatically set at "6" when you sign up for a Pro account. To reset business targets:
->Login to your account
->Go to – Reset Targets
->Click the radio button to raise or lower a measure – Save changes
How do I cancel my account?
You can cancel your Pro account at any time without obligation.
Email us at accounts@121qa.com a minimum of 48 hours prior to the end of the month to avoid being billed for the upcoming month.
If you decide to reactivate your account you must do so within 30 days to save your archived survey data.
How do I change the user name on my account?
To change your user name:
->Login to your account.
->Go to - Subscriber Details
->Click on - Subscriber Details
->User name - Update
How do I change the email address on my account?
To change your email address:
->Login to your account
->Go to - Subscriber Details
->Email - Update
How do I cancel a survey?
To cancel a supplementary survey link in a Pro account:
->Login to your account
->Go to - Survey Summary
->Remove Survey – delete the survey – Confirm
->Remove the appropriate 121QA icon from your desktop
There are no rebates for survey links canceled during a month.
How secure are my survey links?
Globally unique identifiers [GUID] are used to secure the links. They are unique serial numbers and the probability of the same identifier appearing twice is infinitesimally small.
How do you keep my data secure?
121QA uses SSL data security. This stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and is a protocol for transmitting private documents over the internet. It is approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force as a standard.
How does 121QA protect the identity of my customers?
Survey respondents are not required to identify themselves and their email addresses are used only for purposes they authorize.
What will 121QA never do with my data?
121QA will never release your surveys to a third party.
