If You’re Not Surveying Customers, You’re Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’
Do you truly know how well you’re doing with your customers and clients? Do you have problem areas or holes in your customer support you’re unaware of? Want to find out what they really think? There’s only one way to get this information—ask them! A well-crafted customer survey can be a great tool to help you learn the answers to these and several other items you might not even have known were issues for your customers.
So why ask questions at all?
The main incentive for a customer survey is to head off problems before they become part of your reputation, and find ways to improve your service or products. Most of the time, we never learn about a dissatisfied customer: they’ll simply look elsewhere. CustomerThink.com has discovered that more than half of consumers have had issues and complaints with the goods and services they’ve purchased. Creating a survey helps you find and rectify mistakes that can be the difference between holding onto a client or not.
What sort of questions work best?
Make sure you have a clear goal to your surveys, and you pose questions that require more than ticking a box, or assigning a number to your query. Avoid “Yes” or “No” questions. Let them expand on their experiences and feelings. (This can end up being a great way to collect testimonials!)
How exactly should you hold the survey?
There are many ways to conduct a survey. However, if possible, the best way seems to be via an online survey, thus giving the respondent a good chance to think about and form well thought-out answers, something which may not take place via a phone call or personal contact. Look at offering a bonus for filling out your survey, and try to be timely as to when you send it. If you are new to this, consider using a company that specializes in this type of data collection, such as SurveyMonkey. However you accomplish it, getting a read on how your customers view your business is invaluable data to possess.