Today, facilitated by the Internet, nearly every business asks for feedback, with one dramatic exception: the insurance agency.

Most of us don't ask how successful we've been at meeting the expectations of current and potential clients, either because we're afraid of what we might find out or because we're too busy. But a customer-satisfaction survey actually has a double payoff: It provides a benchmark for how you are doing and also communicates to customers that you care about your performance. In other words, your customers will know you're interested.

A few things to keep in mind in preparing to use a survey:

• Keep it simple. Surveys that are too detailed or ask too many questions discourage people from responding—the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.
• Determine what subjects are most important to measure. Do you want to find out how pleased (or displeased) your insureds are with your claim service? Do you want to determine how effective advertising has been? Are you interested in how your communications—bills, renewal policies, audits—are received?
• Decide what medium you're going to use for reaching people, such as enclosing a response card with every policy, sending an email or using an interactive website.
• Decide whether you will survey all clients or only certain categories, such as personal accounts, commercial accounts or large accounts.

The mechanics also are important. You must emphasize confidentiality and responses should go directly to the agency principal. This will reassure clients that their opinions will be highly regarded and any adverse comments won't be read directly by the target of those comments.