Getting Feedback That Counts

Recently we talked a bit about customer focused marketing and the need to frequently answer the customer’s inevitable query, “What’s in it for me?” Of course, it’s rather difficult to effectively market to customers if you are not fully in touch with their specific concerns. The best way to understand what the customer wants is to ask him. Logical enough, right? Alas, what’s not so simple is getting the customer to answer.

The tried and true tactic to gather customer feedback is a satisfaction survey. So what does it take to make a survey really count?

Shorter is sweeter. Getting a customer to do the work of a paid focus group is no simple task, and frankly it conveys to him that you do not value his time. Limit your survey to five really meaty questions. Trust me, you’ll get more thorough answers and many more responses.

Don’t mince words. Make every question clear, concise, and open-ended. Whilst a multi-part question may detract from clarity, a “yes or no” question won’t yield useful answers. Another effective approach is asking a series of multiple-choice questions, which can do a lot for convenience (just be sure to offer a good range of responses, positive and negative).

Clarify your expectations. Ask yourself (and your colleagues) what kind of information you are hoping to gather. You may be able to gather demographic, product, and customer service data from some very pointed questions, but it may be in your best interest to focus surveys on one specific area of interest at a time.

Take advantage of free tools. Smart Survey UK is just one of many web-based survey tools that can assist in your data quest. You can send interactive surveys out to customers via e-mail in the form of survey requests, or in most cases link to the survey in your signature.

Offer an incentive. In some cases it may be enough to use the old “help us help you” line, but if you really want to rake in the responses you ought to get creative. An exclusive discount or entry in a drawing can be a cheap and effective way to entice Feedback Scrooges, but it never hurts to use your imagination and affordable resources.