Action:
Survey practitioners on specific applications.
Background Information:
Transactional surveys are surveys that are conducted
in the immediate aftermath of a transaction with an individual/organization. The
idea is to measure customer satisfaction with the transaction while the
experience is still fresh. Patents has conducted several transactional
surveys over the last decade including:
§ Patent
Action Surveys - conducted in the early 1990s to measure customer satisfaction
with specific Office actions.
§ Customer
Feedback Cards for the Patent Assistance Center (PAC) and for Office
Actions in the Semiconductor area - conducted in the mid-1990s and measured
customer
satisfaction with interactions with the PAC as well as with specific
Office actions in the Semiconductor area.
§ In
Process Reviews - began in late 1990s and continue except for the customer
part of the process. This was a three-pronged approach to assessing the
quality of certain key Office actions. Quality Assurance Specialists (QASs)
review 380 cases per year in each Technology Center (TC) and the Office
of Patent Quality Review (OPQR) reviewers validate a small sample of those
same cases (80-120). A telephone interview was conducted with the attorneys
in the same cases that are reviewed by OPQR.
§ Office of Petitions
Survey - A survey that was mailed out with Office of Petition decisions in
April of 2001 to receive feedback from customers.
The USPTO has historically experienced low response
rates with transactional surveys for two primary reasons: most were
done as mail surveys with no advanced notification or follow-up; second,
there
appears to be some reluctance on the part of the customer to comment
on an Office action while the patent application is still pending.
USPTO currently conducts an annual comprehensive survey
that measures customer satisfaction with performance against specific customer
service standards and general process and customer issues.
Options Considered:
Option 1: Conduct both the annual comprehensive survey
and a new transactional survey.
Option 2: Eliminate the annual comprehensive survey
and conduct only a transactional survey.
USPTO Recommended Course of Action:
Option 1:
Conduct the Annual Patent Customer
Satisfaction Survey every other year supplemented by the use of transactional
surveys on the off years that focus on key drivers and information about
specific office actions. The rationale for this recommendation is as
follows:
1. There
are over a hundred questions on the annual survey that address a multitude
of issues relating to patent policy and procedure. Transactional surveys
would focus on only one or two key issues on which to receive feedback. The
questions on the transactional survey could vary based on specific issues
for that TC for that period of time. Example: A TC may conduct a transactional
survey that measures satisfaction with the examiners ability to clearly
explain the motivation behind a rejection. Additionally, the transactional
surveys could contain a set of consistent questions across TCs that are
asked each time.
2. One
reason for completing the comprehensive patent survey is that it is important
to isolate the key drivers of customer satisfaction in order to develop
improvement plans that focus on providing the biggest return on investment. Attempting
to develop key drivers with data from transactional surveys that address
only a few issues is not recommended.
3. A
baseline for customer satisfaction has been established that goes back
to 1995. Starting over with a new approach makes validating change over
the last 5-7 years and into the future virtually impossible.
4. Transactional
surveys can be worthwhile for getting feedback at a level lower than
the TC level (work group, art unit) and for obtaining information about a
specific
part of the patent process (e.g. first actions).
5. Explore
methods for improving response rates with transactional surveys including
advanced publicity and alternative methods for conducting surveys such
as electronic surveying.
The alternating cycle of surveys begins in 2003 with the
first transaction survey to be distributed to practitioners in May. Survey data will be collected through July. Data analysis will be completed
by the end of August. The
comprehensive Patent Customer Satisfaction survey is being planned
for execution in 2004.
Estimated Benefits: More TC specific issues will
be identified and incorporated into training opportunities for examiners.
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