The business of business might be business, but it can cost you your business to think of your customer as just someone you need to sell to. With a multitude of options available, the Internet Age provides people with a greater say in the information they want to see, more than at any point in history.
Though the prospect, of the large competition you are facing, is daunting, the internet has made conversations easier and free-flowing. Starting a conversation with your audience can help you explore their needs and anticipate future requirements. They can give you insights about your existing products and services, and how you might expand your business. They can help you explore new avenues that you were not previously aware of. Sometimes, the loudest and the most articulate are the only ones who are heard. Ideas that can revolutionize can easily be lost in the noise. It is highly unlikely that you can produce a statistically significant analysis when many voices remain unheard.
Surveys are the best alternative in this scenario. They give every member of your audience an equal say. It allows them to be anonymous, and therefore more truthful with their opinions. It can provide you with a clear, statistically significant analysis. You can target a specific audience, based on geography, demographics, and other filters.
Most importantly, you are in charge of the conversation, with complete control over the questions. You can direct the conversation to avenues you prefer to know more about, avoiding the distractions that are otherwise abound.
Any survey is bound to fail without a clear game plan. A survey is only as good as its questions and motives. You have to factor in that a minority of your respondents will intentionally give misleading answers. A few more will inadvertently answer incorrectly. However, you can reduce the number of people falling into these two categories by creating a carefully designed survey.
Keep your questions and survey short to avoid lethargy among your respondents.
Remove any question that doesn't conform to your goals. Keep your survey well focused.
Biased and leading questions lead to skewed responses and incorrect conclusions.
The terms you use to describe the points in your rating scale need to be consistent across your survey to avoid misleading results.
Your customers may not be familiar with specific jargon that you may use. Keep the language simple and clear.
Your respondents are most likely to answer your surveys on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays. Timing is everything.
Research shows that incentives can help improve your response rates by as much as 20%. Try giving them a gift card or a special discount for every response.
Zoho Survey understands the importance of a good customer feedback survey. We want to make sure you ask all the right questions in the right manner, and we want you to be able to make sense of the data you collect, so you can use it to make future business decisions.
You can modify and add questions to any of the survey templates to suit your needs. The templates also offer wording suggestions and will help you frame your questions. In short, these templates will save you a lot of valuable time, and will provide you with the information you need to help you grow your company.
