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Hi Dakka,

I started a thread similar to this on the DCM forum and now want to open it up to the rest of Dakka. I am currently doing an MBA at University and one of my modules is entitled delivering Customer Value. I have chosen to analyse how GW deliver value to its customers and to collect some further evidence I was hoping that as many of you as possible could complete the following survey with as much honesty as possible. If for some reason you would not like to post your view on here but would still like to complete the survey please pm me the answers.

The scale for the answers is as follows:

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0

I am labeling the question numbers A B C etc so please could you post your answers in the following format:

A - 5
B - 3
C - 1

Thank you in advance for taking the time to do this it is greatly appreciated. Now for the questions:

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback.

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback.

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued.

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved.

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart.

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers.

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers.

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors.

I. I feel valued as a customer.


If anyone wishes to comment further on any of the questions please could you do so at the end of your nine answers. If I can just reiterate that this is a serious piece of work and not designed to become either a GW fanboy or hater thread, thanks

Ed.

Hi, I think it will be interesting on how this turns out! I'll go first then....

A-3.5
B-3
C-4
D-5
E-2
F-4
G-3
H-4
I-3.5

I hope you don't mind me adding the halves, for the first question I have completed surveys in the past for White Dwarf, etc, but only a couple. Not enough to Agree, but have actually completed them in the past.

Hope this information is useful to you and good luck on the rest!

I'll add a little more if it's any use...

C, I guess i put a 4 down because I'm fortunate to have a really cool store manager, (he's the only one that works there to be honest) he's really friendly and not pushy regarding sales or anything!
D, Very confident that issues are resolved 'miscast sprue you say?' - instantly replaced, AND you keep the old one too! Customer service at GW is very good, providing your not on the phone to a call centre -_-
E, With the way things come in smaller quantities and become more expensive I actually believe that they WANT to drive customers away from the hobby.
F, A 4 solely down to my store manager. However as a company it would be a 2.
G, Hmm, neither agree nor disagree on this one.
H, Yes, agree. WH40k is VERY different from the shiny, smooth high tech, sci fi that is popular now. I love the grim, dark and gritty theme, very unique.
I, Valued as a customer, to the company? Not really.

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0


A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. = 2

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. = 2

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. = 2

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. = 1

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. = 1

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. = 1

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. = 1

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. = 4

I. I feel valued as a customer. = 1

I took my encounter with Gw over the Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book as my guide for this and then added in my current knowledge that the bloody book was only out of stock temporarily and the bloody company didn't see fit to inform it's own employees about that.

My experience can be read here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/310458.page

for those interested in my choice of rankings.

Ed, I feel some of your questions are not perhaps clearly enough explained (unless that's intentional to the survey?), for example H, GW placing emphasis on differentiating it's self from competitors, we know that they have put work into seperating much of their aesthetic from that of other miniature companies to minimise reproduction and claim IP, yet the question could be read as that or as the company striving for a better level of customer service than the rest of it's rivals.

Tristan I'm using Hooley's model of market research which involves making questions deliberately quite vague in order to promote the person taking the survey to put their answer based on the impression of the question. The aim being to get either a positive or negative generalised feeling based on the answer to the questions of a collective. Thanks to you and Nobaconz for participating so far.

a 2
b 1
c 4
d 1
e 3
f 5
g 4
h 3
i 4

took my encounter with Gw over the Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book as my guide for this and then added in my current knowledge that the bloody book was only out of stock temporarily and the bloody company didn't see fit to inform it's own employees about that.

Obviously shopping at the wrong store! Still have it on the shelf.

How lucky you are moving across the pond and will be able to come shop here. Only a couple of hours of driving. Remember to stay on the right side of the road too.

A - 1
B - 1
C - 4
D - 3
E - 1
F - 3
G - 4
H - 4
I - 1

Comments PMd

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback.

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback.

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued.

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved.

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart.

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers.

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers.

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors.

I. I feel valued as a customer.


A - 2

B - 1

C - 3

D - 3

E - 2

F - 2

G - 2

H - 4

I - 2


Hope that helps man, good luck.

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 3

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 4

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 3

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 4

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 3

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 3

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers.2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 3

I. I feel valued as a customer. 4

Thought I would be more critical, but there you go.

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 4

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 5

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 5

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 5

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 4

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 5

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 4

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 5

I. I feel valued as a customer. 5

A. 1

B. 2

C. 4

D. 4

E. 1

F. 2

G. 1

H. 1

I. 2

Best of luck.

Thank you to everyone who has responded so far this is much appreciated. To all those that have viewed and not replied please take a minute to do so at the least you boost your post count by one cheers people.

A 2
B 2
C 4
D 1
E 1
F 1
G 1
H 4
I 2


Automatically Appended Next Post:
They sort of did listen to some of us when we wanted a stormraven, new DE and Dp, etc

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 1

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 2

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 1

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 4

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 1

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 1

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 1

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 3

I. I feel valued as a customer. 1

The scale for the answers is as follows:

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0
Now for the questions:

A. 4

B. 3

C. 4

D. 5

E. 1

F. 2

G. 4

H. 4

I. 3

A. - 2

B. - 0

C. - 2

D. - 5

E. - 3

F. - 3

G. - 3

H. - 5

I. - 3

A. 3 (They collect feedback for good business such as useful staff and product quality eg. casting, they don't take feedback on the actual written quality and content of their games)

B. 4 (On the subjects they appear to take feedback I'm had a good response to queries and concerns)

C. 3

D. 5 (Never a complaint about customer service in this regard)

E. 1 (They make no effort to disguise the fact they see themselves as a very premium product, they charge what they believe the market will bear not what is value to the customer)

F. 3 (It's impersonal, not like a local hobby shop)

G. 1 (It's clear the most money is made quickest from new hobbyists and GW have increasingly targeted them over the years)

H. 3 (They try to make their product distinct, but they also try to swamp out competition and draw attention away from it.)

I. 2 (not greatly because I don't spend enough to matter)

Don't think this is the best way to sample the GW customer base, but hey, it's your MBA so what ever you think works I'll play along with:

A - 3
B - 3
C - 4
D - 5
E - 4
F - 5
G - 4
H - 5
I - 4

A. 2

B. 1

C. 3

D. 4

E. 1

F. 1

G. 1

H. 4

I. 1

My gripes are that I have no trust in GW HQ. I do get along famously with some individual members of staff at some of the stores I visit. Other staff, I can't stand.

1 to all.

A. - 1

B.- 1

C.- 2

D. - 5

E. - 1

F. - 3

G. -1

H. -5

I. - 3

Oh and i forgot to say thanks for posting this on both forums!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Lord of battles wrote:1 to all.

FTW that cannot be true you have to atleast have one number different

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0



A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback./0

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback./0

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued./4

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved./4

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart./2

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers./3

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers./2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors./4

I. I feel valued as a customer./3

Good idea for a thread, and good luck in college!

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 3

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 3

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 4

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved. 5

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 3

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers. 5

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers. 2

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 5

I. I feel valued as a customer. 3

Look forward to the results. My responses are basically that I don't think they are out to get me, take good care of mix-ups/bad product, and that they love their new hobbyists best

A - 3
B - 3
C - 4
D - 5
E - 1
F - 3
G - 1
H - 5
I - 3

The scale for the answers is as follows:

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0

I am labeling the question numbers A B C etc so please could you post your answers in the following format:

A - 5
B - 3
C - 1

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback.
B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback.
C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued.
D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved.
E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart.
F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers.
G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers.
H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors.
I. I feel valued as a customer.

A - 2
B - 2
C - 3
D - 4
E - 4
F - 4
G - 4
H - 4
I - 3

This survey is tough for me. I've been reading so many forums for so many years that I have to actively work to separate my personal memories and experiences from the many anecdotes that I've read. My personal experience with GW has been good. Every time I've bought something that had a problem (missing parts in a box or blister), the GW sales folks fixed the problem. Now to be precise, it has only happened twice but I'm rather happy that the vast majority of my orders have been error free and that they fixed the two orders that were not right.

I don't recall many surveys over the years. None stand out in my memory.

I don't think that GW really listens to customers directly. My perception is that the company listens to its employees who often do pay a lot of attention to customers. However, the collective feedback probably combines with other inputs (marketing, sales, product development) in ways that make it look like GW has the turning radius and responsiveness of a Baneblade.

Over the years GW has accomplished many amazing things that customers wanted: more awesome plastics models, super heavies, Apoc, nice terrain, better codexes/army books, better availability of products in the US, etc. Yes, you can hate them for [insert your personal pet peeve here], but I remember how hard it was to get anything GW back in the early 1980s and finding anyone to play a game took an Act of God.

Just my two Imperial credits.

My data point to contribute:

A - 0
B - 0
C - 0
D - 5
E - 3
F - 3
G - 3
H - 3
I - 3

My tangential rant:
Where's your consent form?!? Where's the IRB protocol approval notices?!? Who approved this study? I don't see any paperwork for this study at all.
If none of that makes sense, you don't know how lucky you are.

A. 1

B. 2

C. 1

D. 5

E. 2

F. 2

G. 3

H. 4

I. 1

Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree Don't Know
5 4 3 2 1 0

A. Games Workshop collects customer feedback. 2

B. Games Workshop responds to customer feedback. 1

C. When interacting with Games Workshop staff I feel valued. 1

D. If I have a problem with Games Workshop products I am confident it will be resolved.5

E. I believe their business plan has customer value at its heart. 2

F. I believe Games Workshop values its customers .2

G. I believe Games Workshop values established customers as much as new customers.1

H. Games Workshop puts major emphasis on differentiating itself from competitors. 0

I. I feel valued as a customer. 2



I feel that GW don't rely on consumer advice enough. As far as I can see no customer input is put in the design process. It seems crazy to me

A. 3
B. 2
C. 3
D. 5
E. 2
F. 4
G. 3
H. 5
I. 4