Do You Know What Your Customers Think About You?
Whether you offer products or services, you may find yourself
wondering what your customers or subscribers think about your
offering and how you can improve it.
Below are just a few of the questions you can get answered about
your product or service by simply surveying your customers.
-What do they like and not like about it? -What do they think
about potential new features? -Who are your customers? -How much
are they willing to pay (or how much more would they pay) for
your product or service? If you have a Web site, you may also
have specific questions about it as well. -What do your visitors
like and not like about your site? -Why are they visiting your
Web site, but not purchasing? -What does your average visitor
look like, e.g., demographics, online usage, or online
purchasing? -Why do your visitors come to your site, and what
are they looking for? -Is your site meeting your visitors'
needs? -What other services should you add to your site? -How
does your site rate on attributes that are most important to
your visitors?
As an example, when I first started marketing my service, I
asked my site visitors what they were looking for when they came
to my site. I found that I was delivering my service in a way
that was the exact opposite of what they desired. Consequently,
I completely transformed my offering and began delivering my
service to satisfy my target.
Once you decide which questions you would like to ask, you are
ready to create your survey. Many survey creation options are
available, spanning from do-it-yourself services to hiring
someone else to carry out the entire process. Take some time to
decide on the many options and choose those that work best for
your purpose and budget.
Once your survey is complete, select a method to collect
responses. Several methods can be used, and each can be
accomplished quickly and easily if you use the right tools.
1.Survey via email.
If you have an opt-in email list of your customers or
subscribers, then you are sitting on a goldmine. With such a
list, you can efficiently survey your customers, providing you
with valuable feedback and the potential for making more money.
To survey via email, simply include the surveys in an email to
your list. Your response rates will be higher if your list is
fresh and you have interacted frequently with the list members.
2.Place a pop-up survey on your site.
If you are interested in the opinions of customers and prospects
visiting your site, you can utilize pop-up surveys to intercept
people with a survey as they enter or leave specific pages on
your site.
If you use pop-up surveys, it is usually better to intercept
visitors once they leave a particular page, as opposed to when
they first enter a page. This method allows a visitor to view
the page of interest first before being interrupted. In
addition, you should activate the window once per unique
visitor. This will ensure that your customers are not annoyed by
having to deal with more than one survey invitation.
Pop-up surveys yield relatively high response rates. Depending
on the demographics of your visitors and content on your site,
pop-up surveys typically yield response rates between 10 and 40%.
3.Place a survey link or button on your site.
This option is less intrusive than pop-up surveys and will
likely yield much lower response rates. If you use this method,
place your link prominently on your site where people will see
it.
In conclusion, surveys are a powerful means of gathering
valuable information from your customers. You may be surprised
to learn how many will tell you what they really think about
you. Ask some questions and find out what your customers truly
want. The information you gain could be exactly what you need to
take your offering to the next level.