Advertising effectiveness isn’t usually measured in guest experience surveys.

Outline for the article

• Hook: The guest experience is a throughline in every Chick-fil-A visit, and CEM surveys tune in to the moments that matter most.

• What CEM surveys typically measure

• Food quality, cleanliness, fast and friendly service, order accuracy, atmosphere, and overall satisfaction with team members.

• What CEM surveys usually don’t measure

• Advertising effectiveness and how well marketing messages land outside the dining room.

• Why this distinction is important for team leaders

• It helps leaders focus on the controllable parts of the guest experience and build habits that improve daily service.

• Practical ways to use CEM insights

• Quick wins, root-cause thinking, team huddles, training tweaks, and consistent follow-ups.

• A short digression that still stays on point

• Marketing and operations both matter, but in different ways; the restaurant floor is where guest experience is earned.

• Takeaways and encouragement

• Keep guests at the center, use the data you collect, and turn insights into small, doable improvements.

Chances are you’ve walked into a Chick-fil-A and felt something almost instant: a friendly greeting, a clean vibe, a meal that’s hot and well-assembled. That instinctive sense of “this just feels right” is exactly what Customer Experience Management (CEM) surveys aim to capture. The goal isn’t to weigh every possible feeling in the air; it’s to measure the moments that a guest can both notice and influence while they’re in the restaurant. Let’s talk about what these surveys actually focus on, and what they leave out—because that distinction changes how team leaders respond and improve.

What CEM surveys typically measure

Imagine stepping up to the counter or the pickup line. A CEM survey looks at several concrete touchpoints, not vague vibes. It’s about actionable feedback you can react to today, not in a quarterly report months from now.

• Food quality: Is the food prepared as expected? Are the flavors consistent from visit to visit? Are the portions right? This isn’t about taste preferences in general—it's about the reliability customers depend on when they choose Chick-fil-A for a meal.

• Cleanliness of the dining area: Tables wiped, floors clean, restrooms in decent order. A tidy space signals care and standards, and guests notice.

• Service from team members: Are team members friendly, attentive, and helpful? Do they handle requests smoothly, with a genuine smile or the appropriate warmth? The human touch matters as much as the food itself.

• Speed and accuracy: Are orders prepared and delivered promptly? Is the order correct when it reaches the guest? Timeliness and precision are big confidence boosters.

• Overall guest satisfaction with the experience: This is the snapshot that ties the separate moments—food, service, cleanliness—into a single feeling about the visit.

These elements are tightly linked to what a guest can measure with their senses and their experience. The surveys are designed to spotlight weak spots (and strong ones) so a team can adjust quickly—without waiting for a bigger strategy meeting.

What CEM surveys usually don’t measure

Now, here’s the part that sometimes surprises people. Advertising effectiveness—the way a marketing campaign resonates, the reach of a social post, or how a flyer influences someone to walk in—belongs to a different discipline. It’s still important for the business, but it sits outside the day-to-day guest experience measured inside the restaurant.

Why does this distinction matter? Because if you try to optimize everything at once, you spread your energy thin. The CEM feedback you act on is the feedback you can influence on shift, with training, with a quick tweak in how you greet guests, or how you maintain a clean dining area. Advertising performance is a separate metric, typically tracked by marketing teams using different tools and time horizons. In short: CEM is the view inside the guest’s dining room, while advertising metrics are the view from the outside looking in.

Why this distinction matters for team leaders

Team leaders live on the front lines. You’re the person who translates feedback into real, visible changes—on the floor, in the kitchen, and in the way shifts are run.

• Focus on controllable factors: Food prep consistency, speed of service, friendliness, and cleanliness are tasks you can influence with training, checklists, and daily routines.

• Build reliable routines: Daily huddles, side-work plans, and real-time feedback loops help ensure the small things don’t slip through the cracks.

• Foster a culture of ownership: When a guest experience gap is found, the instinct should be to fix it quickly, not point fingers. That mindset turns feedback into momentum.

The practical angle is simple: if the survey says “cleanliness” fell short, you don’t chase a marketing plan. You rally the team for a quick cleanup sweep, recheck the restrooms, and reinforce the table-busier times with extra runners or a better queue process. If the score for “service from team members” dips, you revisit standard greetings, the right-pickup steps, and how to handle busy moments with calm, confident communication.

Practical ways to use CEM insights

Let me explain how to turn feedback into doable improvements. Think of it as a short playbook you can improvise with on any shift.

• Prioritize quick wins: Pick 2–3 high-impact areas to improve this week. For most teams, cleanliness, greeting guests promptly, and order accuracy are consistently impactful.

• Run root-cause checks: If a problem pops up repeatedly—like long wait times during lunch rush—map out the steps from order to plate. Where does the delay actually start? Is it at the drive-thru, the kitchen clock, or the handoff to the guest? Knowing the bottleneck helps you fix it without guesswork.

• Train with real examples: Use recent guest feedback as concrete drills. Role-play a greeting, a recovery for a wrong order, or a clean-as-you-go routine. It’s more memorable than generic training slides.

• Use micro-feedback loops: Instead of waiting for weekly reviews, share quick notes after each shift. A 60-second debrief can reinforce what went well and what to adjust.

• Tie feedback to measurable goals: Track the specific metric you’re improving—table turn, order accuracy, or speed of service. Seeing progress in real time boosts the team’s confidence and momentum.

• Celebrate the wins: When a shift nails the guest experience in a measurable way, acknowledge it. Recognition builds motivation and consistency.

A short digression that still stays on point

Marketing and operations are both essential, but they live in different rooms. Marketing might set up a campaign that draws someone to the door, while operations ensures that once inside, the guest’s experience holds steady. A small dent in the dining room can undo a big marketing win. So, the bridge between the two sides is clear: use CEM data to keep the guest’s in-store experience spotless. That’s how a single great visit becomes a reason to return, and a reason to tell a friend.

Takeaways to keep in mind

• CEM surveys focus on in-restaurant elements: food quality, cleanliness, team-member interactions, speed, and overall satisfaction.

• Advertising effectiveness sits outside the standard CEM feedback loop. It’s valuable, but it’s a separate measure of marketing impact.

• For team leaders, the real gold lies in what you can influence today: training, routines, and daily frontline decisions.

• Use the data to drive small, consistent improvements. Even tiny changes can compound into a noticeably smoother guest experience over weeks.

• Remember that happy guests often start with a warm welcome, a clean space, and a meal that meets expectations every single time.

If you’re stepping into a Chick-fil-A environment as a leader, this is your operating manual in spirit: observe, act, and iterate. The CEM feedback is a flashlight—pointed, practical, and relentlessly focused on what happens while a guest is with you. Advertising may bring the crowd, but it’s the daily performance on the floor that keeps guests coming back.

A final thought to carry with you

Guest experience isn’t a single moment—it’s a collection of moments, woven together by how consistently the team shows up. The surveys are there to tell you which threads need stitching and where the fabric holds strong. When you lean into that, you’re not just chasing a score; you’re shaping a guest’s memory of Chick-fil-A as a place where they felt seen, valued, and cared for. And that is how a simple meal becomes a favorite ritual.