Surveys can be useful to find out what your customers are thinking and how you can better serve them. To conduct a meaningful survey, you need at least three things: 

BRIGHT IDEAS!

Copyright by Cathy Stucker, The Idea Lady(tm)

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In this issue:

From the Idea Lady

Using Surveys to Learn About Your Customers

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*From the Idea Lady*

Last week I shared the results of my survey of Bright Ideas subscribers. This week’s article is in response to a request from a survey participant that I share my experience with the survey and offer ideas about conducting surveys.

I used SurveyMonkey.com, and I like it because it is simple and flexible. (It can also be free, but I used the paid version.) There are others, so compare features and costs before choosing. Because many have an unpaid option, you can create a survey or two to test the system before deciding if you want to upgrade to a paid version.

Cathy

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*Using Surveys to Learn About Your Customers*

Surveys can be useful to find out what your customers are thinking and how you can better serve them. To conduct a meaningful survey, you need at least three things: 

1. A survey tool. You need a way to collect responses. That might be a paper questionnaire you distribute, a telephone survey or an online survey. The right tool depends on your market. For example, because this newsletter is online, an online survey tool was the obvious choice. If you have a store or other physical location, a written or phone survey might be better.

Online tools with both free and fee versions include :

http://www.SurveyMonkey.com/

http://www.Freedback.com/

http://www.Zoomerang.com/

http://www.HostedSurvey.com/

2. Qualified respondents. If you are surveying current customers, you can simply contact those current customers with the survey and ask them to respond. Relatively few will, and they will be self-selected. That means that your results may not be repre- sentative of all of your customers. Still, you can get results that will give you insight. (FYI–about 5% of you completed the Bright Ideas survey.)

If you are surveying people who might become customers, it is helpful to qualify them in some way. You might include questions about their prior purchases of similar items, etc. Keep in mind that what people say they want and what they actually buy are two different things. (Ford learned that lesson the hard way with the Edsel.)

3. Good questions (and answers). The types of questions you ask are important. Do you want multiple choice questions, or open-ended questions where the respondent has to enter their answer? Multiple choice limits the responses to whatever you thought to include, but some respondents will not want to come up with an answer on their own.

I included a mix of question types, using multiple choice for the basic questions (such as preferred format, text or HTML) and open-ended questions where I wanted you to tell me what you liked or would change, without me leading you.

Overall, I believe that the questions solicited the feedback I wanted. If I were starting it over, one change I would make would be to add a choice or two to the question about frequency. The choices I offered were Not more than once weekly, not more than twice weekly, and three to five times weekly. I should have included monthly and bi-weekly (every two weeks). At least some of you would have chosen one of those answers. Oh well– next survey.

Spend most of the time planning the survey on creating the questions and possible answers. Involve people who can suggest any questions you may have overlooked. Give sample surveys to a few people to see what they think about the survey itself. Were the questions clearly written? Were the multiple choice answers adequate? Are there questions you should have asked them but did not?

Once you conduct your survey, use the answers to better meet customer expectations. And let them know when the changes you make are as a result of their participation in the survey. It lets them know you value their input and you really were listening. And it makes them more likely to participate in future surveys.

P.S. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to respond to my survey. You didn’t ask for a lot of changes, but I am working on them. And I appreciate the topic suggestions.

Focus groups assemble several people who are current customers or members of a target market to give their opinions about current or planned products, advertising campaigns and more. One way to conduct a do-it-yourself focus group is to create a customer advisory board.

Copyright Cathy Stucker

One staple of market research is the focus group. Focus groups assemble several people who are current customers or members of a target market to give their opinions about current or planned products, advertising campaigns and more.

One way to conduct a do-it-yourself focus group is to create a customer advisory board. Ask a few of your customers if they would like to participate in giving their opinions of your business and how it could be better. Or ask them to evaluate products you are considering to see how they can best meet customer needs.

To encourage the most honest responses, it might be best to have a third party conduct the research. After all, your customers probably like you and wouldn’t want to tell you that they hate your new product idea. They might be more open to sharing their misgivings with a more neutral person. Who do you know who could facilitate a discussion and get your

customers to open up?

Most focus groups pay participants for their opinions. You may wish to reward the customers who assist you with a cash payment, or you may give them a free product or a discount on a future order. Most people are so happy to be asked for their opinions, and to know that they will be listened to, that a payment may not be necessary.

Be prepared to hear some things that will surprise you. Don’t discard the results if they show something other than what you expected. After all, the reason you do research is to learn the truth. Can you handle the truth?

As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker helps entrepreneurs and professionals attract customers and make themselves famous. Get free marketing tips at http://www.IdeaLady.com/