Surveying: Listen to Your Customers!
Posted by: Michael Poston, Product Manager
Used by business professionals for decades, customer surveys allow you to benchmark your product or service’s competitive stance, respond to your customers’ needs, and increase customer satisfaction through participation.
For example, you could use a survey to identify how customers compare the strengths and weaknesses of your products to your competitors’ products. You can then highlight features that your customers feel are particularly strong in your promotional materials and on your Pitch Page. You can also identify and correct features that your customers feel need improvement.
While it’s nice to hear nothing but positive things from your customers, the negative feedback you receive from surveys can be even more important to your business. It is a rich source of information about who your customers really are and what they really want. You can then use this information to respond to your customers, let them know you’re listening, and tell them what you plan to do in the future! Your customers will appreciate your responsiveness, and as a result your product, brand, and customer loyalty will all be strengthened.
Another benefit of surveys is that they increase customer satisfaction through participation. Because customer communities are bound by common interest, they are looking to interact, learn, and provide feedback that has an impact. By surveying customers regularly, you maintain a two-way dialogue that fosters the success of your product and increases your customer’s investment in it.
An important final point is that surveys are most effective when you administer them on a regular schedule, so you can measure trends over time and ensure you’re meeting your customers’ needs. Regularly getting feedback from your customers is one of the best ways to make sure you’re doing everything you can to help your business succeed. Start harnessing the power of surveys! Your customers will thank you for it.
Happy selling, friends!
Becky, Ann Michaels said,
November 5, 2008 @ 7:19 am
Hello!
I can’t agree with you more. One way to keep the door open to your customers is to have a link on your website or an 800 number with these showing on a receipt so your customers can always call or login to take a survey. Further, offering some sort of an incentive to show your customers how much you appreciate them taking the time to take a survey will even increase the response rates. One final thought is that by offering these surveys through a 3rd party will alleviate any influences on the results of the survey and allows the participant to answer more freely!
Great Article!
Becky
Wahyu Widodo said,
November 13, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
Hello,
I tried to set up a Clickbank Account to be an Affiliate Marketer but found out that my country (Indonesia) is not among the list. Clickbank required that I set up my account first before being able to write them about the inquiry (which I think is quite strange, since that is exactly the question that I am about to ask).
For your information, I was able to purchase a product via Clickbank with my credit card. In the future I hope that if Clickbank trusts my credit card to purchase a product, then they would also trust me to set up an account with them.
This comment may not be directly relevant to the posting, but this is really a genuine voice from a customer. Hopefully this concern will reach Clickbank’s management in due course.
More successes in the future!
Widodo