This is the season for conducting customer satisfaction surveys. There are many good reasons for the growing popularity of these surveys, what with increased competition for translation buyers, attempts to counter-act shrinking translation budgets, and efforts to build stronger client relationships.

In fact, many translation companies equate high customer satisfaction with guaranteed future revenue from their client base. Unfortunately, that view is often wrong.

Why? Because it doesn’t reflect how translation purchase decisions are made in the real world. Sure, on an individual project or two or 20, an individual medical device or pharmaceutical customer will go with the translator that has provided good service before.

But medical device and pharmaceutical companies are complex beasts. Over a longer period of time, there are many, many groups and people who will influence the decision of which translation supplier to work with. Read full article.