Using The 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis Approach With Your Customer Feedback

Using 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis in your Customer Feedback Process

© Genroe (Australia) Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score and NPS are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.

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Speaker

Adam Ramshaw

– Director and owner of Genroe

– Customer Experience Management Consultant

– Customer Feedback Consultant

– Net Promoter Score®

– LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/adamramshaw

Today’s Agenda

• Why bother with Root Cause Analysis?

• How to run a 5 Whys Process

• How to use 5 Whys in your Customer Feedback Process

The Closed Loop Customer Feedback Process

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LISTEN

• Understand what

your customers want

• Measure how well are you delivering

ACT

• Implement

UNDERSTAND

• Identify

Customer Loyalty Drivers

• Perform root cause analysis

DESIGN

• Target the highest

value changes to the business

React

Act on tactical customer feedback immediately

5-Whys: A bit of history

• Where did it come from

– Developed by Sakichi Toyoda

– Used by Toyota Motor Corporation during the evolution of its manufacturing methodologies

• What is it

– One type of root cause analysis tool

– A methodical approach to uncovering the underlying cause of an issue.

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Why Root Cause Analysis?

• To Fix This Problem?

– NO, well, a little bit

• Prevent Future Problems?

– YES!!

• Benefits

– Lower Costs

– Improved Customer Loyalty

– Increased Profit

• Fix the cause not just the symptom

– Prevent it from happening again

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The 5 Whys Process

• Agree on the Problem Statement

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“If I had an hour to save the world, I would spend 59

minutes defining the problem and one minute finding

solutions.”

Source: http://www.informationarchitected.com/resources/notable-quotes/albert-einstein-defining-the-problem

The 5 Whys Process

• Agree on the Problem statement

• Ask “Why Did this Happen?”

• Arrive at the Root Cause?

– Yes – Stop

• The real root cause should point toward a process that is not working well or does not exist.

– No – Ask again “Why Did this Happen?”

• Address Root Cause!

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An Example

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Problem Statement “The vehicle will not start”

The battery is dead.

The alternator is not functioning.

The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced.

The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule.

Source: Example From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

The alternator belt has broken.

Why?

Symptom

Symptom

Symptom

Symptom

Symptom

Process Root Cause!

What happens if you only treat the symptoms?

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Problem Statement “The vehicle will not start”

The battery is dead.

The alternator is not functioning.

The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced.

The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule.

Source: Example From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

The alternator belt has broken.

Why?

Vehicle will not start next time

Vehicle will not start at some time in the future

Vehicle will always start

Vehicle will not start at some time in the near future

Vehicle will not start at some time in the near future

You can be taken for a loop if you don’t find the process

Problem: Sales are down

Because we are not processing enough leads

Because we don’t have enough sales people

Because we laid off sales people

Because we had to cut costs

Because sales are down

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No Process Cause Identified!

Stay on Target – find the process cause

Problem Statement: Sales are down

Because we are not processing enough leads

Because we have not automated the leads management process

Because we have not invested in a CRM

Because we did not have a business case for investment

Process Cause: Because we do not calculate the value of leads

Solution: Introduce a process to calculate the value of leads so we can make better investment decisions.

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What to do if there are two Whys: Follow them both

Because we don’t have enough sales people

…

Because we have not automated the leads management process

…

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Problem: Sales are down

Because we are not processing enough leads

5 Whys benefits

• Simplicity

– It is easy to use and requires no advanced mathematics or tools.

• Effectiveness

– It truly helps to quickly separate symptoms from causes and identify the root cause of a problem.

• Comprehensiveness

– It aids in determining the relationships between various problem causes.

• Engaging

– By its very nature, it fosters and produces teamwork and teaming within and without the organisation. 17

Using this with Net Promoter or Customer Feedback Data

– Tactical: • Process Team weekly workshop – pick 3-5 “0” Scores and run a Five Why’s

analysis

– Strategic: • As the second pass to a more complex problem

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Tactical: Using 5 Whys on Customer Feedback

• Put time on the weekly staff or group meeting agenda.

• Grab some verbatim comments from your lowest scoring responses.

– If you’re using Net Promoter then grab 0’s & 1’s.

• Frame the comment as a problem statement.

– Split it up to have one thought/idea/problem to work with at a time.

• Run the 5 Whys’ process on the first problem.

– Get to the end point in 10 or 15 minutes.

• Assign someone to take action and report back

– Validate the analysis

– Look for a solution

– If it’s too big: assign to a team for action 19

Benefits

• Change the culture to one of action

– Get into the rhythm of change

– Easy small changes lead to bigger harder changes

– Staff engagement goes up

• People see real action from customer feedback

• Costs come down

– Less re-work

– Fewer resources required

• Improve your customer experiences

– Customers are happier

– Net Promoter / Customer Loyalty goes up

– Profit goes up

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Re-cap

• Why bother with Root Cause Analysis?

• How to run a 5 Whys Process

• How to use 5 Whys in your Customer Feedback Process

5 Whys Resources

• Free Resources

– 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis Process – http://bit.ly/LNjHbD

– Free: 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis Excel Template – http://bit.ly/1e1L9Z4

• Services

– Customer Feedback Root Cause Analysis and Action Training

– http://bit.ly/1iqoCul

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QUESTIONS

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