In the customer's hands: Making the most of user feedback

Customer feedback about products and services is a critical link in AT&T's quality process. This paper describes various approaches to obtaining and using such feedback. These include laboratory assessments, surveys, task analyses, observational studies, and experimental manipulations during pilot trials. The benefits of the feedback have included correcting product design or realization flaws, guiding future product development, validating independently gathered performance data, and providing quality metrics, all with the goal of increasing customer satisfaction. Examples are drawn from experiences with residential telephones, large business systems, and services support tools.