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Author's profile photo Ashwini Kumar Dalai

Answering pertinent business questions – SAP Hybris C4C surveys

 

In the last couple of weeks, we learnt about Retail Execution capabilities of C4C and we also got an in-depth insight about how to efficiently plan the visits along with ensuring proper execution of task/surveys (link) . In this week blog we would be elaborating about the key capabilities of C4C Surveys.   

Surveys are an important means to capture business related data of a customer. The information collected provides insightful direction for the next set of actions. C4C surveys are developed keeping in mind the important business scenarios that are used frequently by our customers. It is a simple to use tool but yet it captures the complexity of the business requirements.

Surveys are broadly divided into two major categories – Internal and External Survey.

 

Internal Surveys are typically filled by the employees of a sales/service organization with reference to a customer. There are various types of surveys that can be designed based on the business needs

  • Checklist – This type of survey contains a series of question, based on the answer of which a logical conclusion may be derived.
  • Competitor – This survey is used to capture information related to competitors.
  • Competitor Products – This survey can be used to collect competitive data for competitor products.
  • Products – This survey is used to capture product related data for the organization.

Internal surveys cannot exist on its own. It needs a consumer for its usage. As of now surveys can be used/consumed in the context of a visit, lead, opportunity, service ticket and sales quote.

 

External Surveys are typically filled by the customer itself. These surveys are mostly used to capture the satisfaction quotient of a target group of audience/customers. One can also trigger a survey based on a business transaction. E.g. upon the completion of a service ticket a satisfaction survey can be triggered to the target audience.

 

Let’s discuss some of the salient features of the C4C survey. The texts in bold highlights the features that are available.

 

Flexibility

 

Varied business scenarios would require different methods of capturing the responses in a survey. E.g. If a merchandiser wants to collect the stock information of the products then the answers should be in quantity and if the technician wants to capture the last serviced date of a device then the answer should be a date field. Hence keeping many such scenarios in mind, the following question/answer types are supported – Amount, Date, Date range, Multiple choice, Quantity and Text. At times it is also required to display some read only fields from master data in the survey, this is also supported. E.g. displaying certain extension fields from product and product list.

 

The mandatory question checks ensure that the user completes the most important content in a survey. The survey would not be allowed to be completed until and unless the mandatory questions have been completed. In order to make the surveying experience better the branching logic functionality creates a custom path through the survey that varies based on the respondent answers.

 

There can be many surveys in the system but the availability of the right survey at the right time is the key to capture the relevant information. The Activity planner and the Routing rules provides the flexibility to propose the right survey based on various parameters.

 

Product surveys are one of the most used surveys and here again the availability of the right set of products during the survey execution is a key. Creating different versions of the same survey for different product list would create large amount of redundant data. The dynamic determination of the products allows the reuse of the same survey in different contexts. E.g. the same survey can have different a set of products for different accounts and sales area combinations.

 

The user also has the option of defining two types of views for the product and the competitor surveys, the Matrix view and the normal List view. The matrix view would represent all the products and questions in a single window. This is normally the preferred view by the sales rep as this view provides a quick snapshot of the gamut of work that needs to be completed.

The Matrix view provides the option to mass answer a question for all the products at one shot, this functionality really saves time if the sales rep is aware that the answer for a particular question is same for all products. The filtering and sorting functionality at a question level in a matrix view also helps the sales rep to quickly arrive at a right set of products for conducting the survey.

 

Sometimes the merchandisers/technicians are not able to complete the survey at one go. They would like to save a portion of the survey that is completed and then complete the rest at a later point of time. The Save as draft functionality enables them to do the same.

 

Surveys are completed based on the consent of the respondent and the surveyor and at times this consent act a document proof for the follow-up business transactions. Survey summary documents can suffice this need. E.g. Sales/service representative can prepare a quotation based on the survey response and can attached the survey summary as a document proof.

 

Pre-population of the previous survey response helps the user to make a comparison between the current state and the past state of things at a customer premise, thus providing a yardstick in gauging the performance of the customer

 

The sales rep should clearly understand the question before noting down the responses. In order to aid this the tool tip provides the possibility of providing more descriptive definition of the questions.

Seamless integration

 

Sometimes it is necessary to seamlessly use the survey results for the the succeeding business transaction. E.g. The stock out situation for certain products can be an indication for creation of a sales order. With the follow-up action functionality in survey the user can enable the proposal of the stocked out products during the creation of sales order. The follow-up action can be based on a particular answer in a survey

Satisfaction surveys can also be triggered to the relevant customer upon successful completion of the service tickets. The combination of survey designing and activation of the relevant work flow rules can help in achieving this scenario.

 

Often it is required by a third party system to read and write back data to C4C surveys. The A2X/A2A and OData Services can be used for this purpose. This provides flexibility in integrating a third party application with that of C4C surveys

 

Reusability

 

In order to capture the right information, it is extremely important to define the right kind of questions in the survey. The question should be defined in such a way that they should be able to capture specific information pertaining to an account and yet be generic enough to be used across multiple accounts. This helps in traceability and reporting of the responses of the surveys. Question bank provides the functionality where the user can create and save the questions so that it can be readily and quickly used to create the desired surveys. The question bank ensures reusability and eliminates the chances of creation of redundant questions.

 

The versatile design capabilities of C4C surveys also permits the usage of a particular survey in many different contexts based on parameters like Sales area, Product list, target group of accounts, etc.

Quick image capturing

 

Fact based responses always unveils the truer side of a business situation and what can be more apt than an on spot camera capture. C4C survey helps the user to take pictures to corroborate the responses to a question. Images can be captured at a question level, at a survey level and also at a product level.

Real time reporting

 

The final step of a survey process is reporting the findings. Reports should be informative, relevant to the target audience, and customizable to the individual or organization’s needs. C4C already have some standard reports to present the survey findings. The data sources that are used to create these reports are quite comprehensive and captures all the elements/parameters of the survey. Customized reports can be prepared using the available data sources

 

Scores can be given not only at a survey level but at an individual answer options level as well. The idea behind using weights/scores is that one can assign a numerical value to answer choices, which will then be reflected in the reports. Thus providing a framework to derive the efficacy of the objective behind a survey.

 

As a ready reckoner please find below the list of the features that have been mentioned above.

 

Flexibility Seamless Integration Reusability Image Management Real Time Reporting
Multiple question types Follow-up actions Question Bank Image capturing at various levels Standard reports
Question validations A2A/A2X services Versatile design capabilities Wieghted scores
Conditional questions OData services Comprehensive data sources
Routing rules
Matrix product survey
Dynamic product determination
Mass Response for a question
Filtering and sorting
Save as draft
Survey summary
Pre-population of survey response
Tool tip

 

 

The final blog on this series is on order process. Please find it here – Enable the end game in retail execution with a simple and expeditious order process

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      27 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Manoj Gupta
      Manoj Gupta

      Nicely summarised Ashwini.

      Just a small correction wrt question type supported:

      Question types supported are : Amount, Quanity, Date, date Range, Multiple Choice Single Select, Multiple Choice Multi Select and Text

      Author's profile photo Manoj Gupta
      Manoj Gupta

      Export to .csv is also supported for Survey results.

      Author's profile photo Michele Costa
      Michele Costa

      Great article Ashwini!

      I think that two functionality are missing for now:

      - complete a survey directly in account workcenter

      - use the response of a survey to targeting customers

      Michele

      Author's profile photo Manoj Gupta
      Manoj Gupta

      Hi Michael,

      Can you please elaborate these 2 scenarios?

      - Manoj

      Author's profile photo Sebastine Augustine
      Sebastine Augustine

      hi Michele,

      The second scenario of targeting customers based on survey responses is possible by using the survey reports. This would help in filtering down the list of customers following which you could create target groups. Although its not possible to directly create a target group out of every report, it is possible to achieve the same via export/import using Microsoft Excel.

      Regarding the assignment of a survey to an account, as detailed out in the blog, the survey is enabled for certain objects which is expected to increase over the next few releases. However, from an account standpoint, it is important to know what scenarios require a survey to be assigned to an account. Ideally, most scenarios can be handled via the survey assignment to transactions such as visits, leads, opportunities, tickets. For e.g. in the case of a new account creation, you could create a lead, respond to a survey and further convert the lead into an account. If there is a need to have a survey for a periodic assessment of the account, a visit could be utilized. For change requests, a service ticket can be leveraged. Hence, would be useful if you could provide more information on the scenario that you are trying to implement.

      Regards,

      Sebastine

      Author's profile photo Michele Costa
      Michele Costa

      Thank you Sebastine and Manoj.

      Regarding survey from account workcenter our client ask us, in some cases, to avoid click for the creation of a visit or other business document.

      Regarding targeting, I think my previous message was misleading: what I need is a sort of  "workflow rule" or "follow up activity" to, for example, automatically valorize a field in account master data. Another example is an "approval workflow" for Complete status of a survey.

      Michele

      Author's profile photo Sebastine Augustine
      Sebastine Augustine

      Thanks Michele. We will evaluate these scenarios further to see if the functionality can be enhanced to cater to them. Among the ones you listed, the follow-up actions is an area where there is a higher likelihood of future investment, and influencing account atributes or marketing attributes is definitely valid need.

      Regards,

      Sebastine

      Author's profile photo Alexander Lindegaard
      Alexander Lindegaard

      Hi Sebastine,

      You mentioned back in August 2016 that "the follow-up actions is an area where there is a higher likelihood of future investment, and influencing account attributes or marketing attributes is definitely valid need."

      Our client is requesting to have exactly this feature in C4C, where surveys can influence marketing attributes. As you wrote that there is likelihood of future investment, does that mean that we can expect it to be on the roadmap? If yes, when?

      Thanks in advance
      Kind regards

      Alexander

       

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini, I am setting up surveys in C4C and would like to know what’s the objective of the “Follow up actions” facet that I have available in the surveys’ definition process. Bottom line, I understand that surveys are not only for information capture but the most important strength is to execute actions plans based in the information collected from the surveys. How do I inform and keep posted a final user regarding his surveys’ results?  And regarding the action plans that I am expecting from him, how should I give him feedback and provide instructions to execute? Note: I have the Retail Execution version of C4C. Thanks, Joaquín Jiménez

      Author's profile photo Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Joaquin,

      Use case for follow-up action - the sales rep is conducting a product survey and one of the question is "is the product out of stock". If the answer is yes then probably the next step is to create a sales order to replenish the stock. With follow-up action you can achieve this

      So during designing the survey you could say that based on the response of the question " is product out of stock" the follow up sales order for a product should be proposed.

      If the answer is yes then SO should be proposed and if No then nothing is proposed

      After completing the survey, once you try to create the SO for the same account, then while selecting the products, the sales rep would find a survey bucket from where he would be able to select the surveys and the products for which a sales order is required. The surveys and the associated products displayed in the survey bucket would be based on the answers given in the concluded survey. e.g if a survey has 4 products P1,P2,P3 & P4 and for P1 and P2 the answer to the question "is product out of stock" is yes then only P1 & P2 would be displayed for SO creation.

      Thanks and Regards,

      Ashwini

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini, Is it possible to create different “follow-up action” others than the Sales Order creation? For example, if I have a quality assurance survey asking “Do you have noncompliance products?”, if the answer is yes you need to create a ticket requesting the pick-up of the damage products. Thanks Joaquín

      Author's profile photo Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Joaquin,

      As of now we have enabled it for Sales order only. We may enable it for other transactions going forward, based on customer requests.

      Regards,

      Ashwini

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Thanks for the clarification. What would be your recommendation to accomplish this goal? I mean, we need to give instructions and have feedback from the actions plans. How should I communicate the action plan to the final user that fulfilled the survey and how can I track and monitor if he/she executed the tasks we indicated? Regards, Joaquín Jimenez

      Author's profile photo Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Joaquin,

      As I said we cannot create a task as a follow-up of a survey response. We may take it up in the future. As of now it has to be done manually.

      Regards,

      Ashwini

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini,

      Thanks for the confirmation. We will looking forward to have a standard solution for followup activities in addition to the sales orders.

      Regards,

      Joaquín Jiménez

      Author's profile photo Martin Schneider
      Martin Schneider

      Hello everybody,

      first of all - thanks for this nice summary.

      I have a question concerning the matrix view of surveys.

      As you already described, this kind of view is the most convenient one for sales reps. Unfortunately the matrix view allows only a comparison of max 20 products or competitors within one survey 

      -> is there any chance to increase this number?

      Thanks and regards,

      Martin

      Author's profile photo Sebastine Augustine
      Sebastine Augustine

      hi Martin,

      The limit of 20 is for the number of questions and not the number of products or competitors. More questions increase the horizontal scrolling due to which it has been limited to 20.

      Regards,

      Sebastine

      Author's profile photo Martin Schneider
      Martin Schneider

      Hi Sebastine,

      Thanks for your quick response! That helped for understanding.

      Regards,

      Martin

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini,

      Is there anything on the roadmap for Survey's where customers will have the ability to add other elements to the Survey that are non-Questions/Section related?  Example:  The ability to add additional text/notes that can contain hyperlinks to external systems.

      Regards,
      Daniel

      Author's profile photo Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Ashwini Kumar Dalai
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Daniel,

      We have a text box type questions, which provides the possibility to enter text/notes.

      Regards,

      Ashwini

      Author's profile photo Majid Ahmed
      Majid Ahmed

      Hi Ashwini

      Great blog!
      I have created a survey using the "others" category, however when I try to add branching so that if for example answer A is given to question 1 then the next question based on that answer given should be question 3, then I immediately receive an exception error.
      All questions in the survey are of multiple choice type select one.

      Please can you shed some light here!

      Many Thanks
      Majid

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini,

      Thank you for this blog. I am wondering what the plan is around the integration of surveys to-from CRM.

      If I create a visit in CRM which has a survey attached, I would like to have the same in C4C, once the visit is replicated. In particular I am using the retail execution functionalities of C4C in the same fashion as SAP ReX.

      Likewise when the survey is submitted in C4C, I need the results to replicate back to CRM.

      Any help/hints please?

      thank you so much

      Corrado

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini,

       

      Is it now possible to create Service Ticket and Tasks as follow up items to Survey? As per client requirement, the user should be able to raise a ticket or create a task if a survey question is angered in the negative.

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini,

       

      Is it now possible to create a service ticket or task  as a follow up action to surveys in c4c?

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      HI, Thanks for detail information,

      We are using External Survey where survey will be sent to the customer on closer of Ticket, Survey consist of Multiple choice question and also score cards. In case of external survey we can see the survey filled by customer only in the report, on creating report we are finding # mark for all multiple choice score card answer, SAP has confirmed that they don't have data source for score card and multiple choice,

      Any other alternate solution for this any once faced similar issue.

       

      Regards & Thanks

      Rachappa

       

       

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi Ashwini,

      Is possible to send satisfaction survey from e-mail marketing campaign? no related to service ticket just to check customer perception of the brand and service provided.

      Best regards,

      Monica

      Author's profile photo Former Member
      Former Member

      Hi,

      Is this survey can be multiple languages?

      we have created survey Q&A in Spanish, but when ticket is closed the we click link then Q&A always appears in language EN not Spanish, any reason for this behavior?

       

      Regards,

      CD