Asking your customers what they think of your service can be a brave move, especially when you know they’ll have lots to say, some of it not all that complimentary.

Telstra customers aren’t shy with their opinions of us, which is something we are very thankful for.  We’re constantly asking people to tell us what they think of us – during the past year, through 250 focus groups, more than 100 special research projects, 15 regular tracking programs and daily surveys, and via the 15,000 members of the ‘My Telstra Experience’ online customer community, we have listened to almost 5 million people tell us what they think of almost every aspect of their dealings with Telstra.

That feedback, which is so generously given, is a rich mine of insight used in many ways to keep us customer focussed, and it guides a whole range of service improvement initiatives, and helps us gauge their effectiveness.

For Telstra stores, we’ve now taken that one step further. We’re asking you, our customers to tell us what you think of the service you’ve experienced in your local Telstra Store, and we’re publishing your reviews for all to see on a new website we’ve launched last week.

New Store locator website

The Store Locator website helps customers to find their nearest Telstra store and share their in-store experience.

The site provides a store’s address details and a Whereis location map, but for me the most exciting aspect is the opportunity to read reviews direct from customers who I hope won’t hold back in telling us what they really think – both good and bad.

How customers rate our stores

You’ll also notice there’s a customer service rating out of 5 listed for each store – this is based on a survey of thousands of customers each week after they leave the store, and we’ve published the ratings here for the first time.

We use these scores to guide our service improvement programs – and to identify and cheer on our top rating stores.  The ratings also enable us to see where a store may be struggling, and could need some extra training or resources to provide the service our customers rightly expect.  Since we started this survey, it’s been great to see how our stores have improved their ratings, and our average score now sits around 4.2.

For us, publishing these ratings is about being open about how we are doing, and gives customers the chance to see how their local store stacks up.

What do you think of the Store Locator?

More information:

• Telstra Store Locator