How to Use Online Tools for Customer Surveys
If you're truly willing to listen to - and act on - feedback, here's the way to do it right.
In the Internet age, customer feedback is only a click away. Online surveys are one of the best ways to solicit it. Done right, online surveys can help you more effectively listen to customers and make informed business decisions.
But before you design and launch a survey, think about this: are you, or is your company, willing to act on the insight a survey generates? In short: Can your company handle the truth?
"Collecting data is one thing. Acting on it is another thing altogether," says David Ambler, a partner in the Phelon Group, a consultancy based in Palo Alto, California, which focuses on helping companies better relations with customers. "If you are unwilling or unable to act on survey data, then the survey is a waste of your customers' time and an unnecessary distraction for your organization."
Online survey tools are widely available today from such companies as Zoomerang, Survey Monkey, and SurveyGizmo – and some are free. But it's important to remember that an online survey is not just a form – it is a customer touch point, and an opportunity to build better customer relationships. To your customers, an online survey, a survey invitation, and the actions you take in following up the survey in response to issues consumers point out show that you value their feedback and opinions.
Keep in mind that online surveys are merely one of many tools to gather customer insights, Ambler says. It's important to balance these surveys out with other market research, such as face-to-face interviews, focus groups, and online viral marketing to gather intelligence on which to base business decisions.
Here's how to pinpoint the goal of an online survey, who to include in your online survey population, and how to craft informative questions.
Using Online Tools for Customer Surveys: Craft a Survey Research Objective
Before you start sending out electronic questionnaires or posting a survey on your business website, do some homework. Gather input from others in your company to figure out what they already know about customers and what new information they really need in order to improve a department, product, or service. These are the individuals who will ultimately be charged with acting on the results of your survey, so it's best to involve them early in the process.
"One objective might be figuring out overall customer satisfaction," says Alex Terry, executive vice president and general manager for Zoomerang, the online survey arm of Market Tools, which provides software and services for market research. "A different goal would be to get input on a new product or a new feature of an existing product. You might also want to generate new ideas for your product team."
Depending upon your different objective, you may want to use a different slate of questions and survey a different population, Terry says. Another tactic is to conduct a broad survey over a few weeks and, judging on the feedback you get, develop a new, more focused online survey that pinpoints certain objectives.
Keep in mind that by defining a specific research objective, that ensures your survey is short enough to be completed because your customers are busy people. At the same time, you want to generate answers comprehensive enought that they can translate into actionable insight.
According to Ambler, an example of a weak research objective would be the following: "Determine the current state of customer satisfaction." He says: "Such a broad, vague statement cannot guide the design of specific questions, and often leads to long, unfocused surveys and, ultimately, poor survey results."
A solid research objective should be specific enough to help determine whether each question really belongs in the survey and clarifies the action intended, Ambler adds. For example, a strong research objective would be the following: "To improve customer service, identify the drivers of customer retention and repurchase, as they relate to widgets."
Dig Deeper: Tools Provide Online Reviews and Drive Business
Using Online Tools for Customer Surveys: Identify Your Online Survey Population
A few key issues may impact your choice of whom to survey:
- The purpose of the survey
- The size of your customer base
- Your customer segmentation
- How purchase decisions are made, meaning is the customer an individual consumer or a business in which several people are involved in the decision to buy?
"The key question is this: From whom must I hear to be able to act with confidence?" Ambler says. "With a large base of individual consumers, you might focus on obtaining a statistically significant sample for analysis by customer segments. If your base is mostly businesses, with significant revenue coming from key clients, then you'll be better with a business-relevant sample that includes decision makers in top accounts."
Another issue that may come into play is how you intend to deliver the survey. If you want to know how satisfied your existing customers are, you may already have their e-mail addresses on file from previous interactions so you may want to send them an e-mail with a link to an online survey. To reach this population, you may also decide to have a survey on your website for existing customers to access.
Another growing option, Terry says, is to use your business' Facebook fans or Twitter subscribers as a potential survey population by using online survey tools that integrate with social media. "A lot of businesses have realized that it's cheap and efficient to interact with customers online using social media," he says. "Increasingly a lot of customers spending time online and specifically in social media channels. There are good survey opportunities with people who have been following your business online. You want to ask questions where your customers are, meaning you can post a survey to Facebook or send it via Twitter."
