Agencies often depend on customer feedback for a variety of reasons. However, the key to unlocking the truth of customer surveys is to design one that consumers don’t mind answering. The questions must be direct, but not intrusive. Yet the data it gathers must be used to develop an intricate pattern of what the consumer truly thinks about the company.
How can a company create a valuable survey while being careful not to be too direct or aggressive with its questions? To help, we asked 12 contributors to Forbes Agency Council to share their insight into how businesses can build excellent customer surveys that actually provide employable data. Here’s what they told us.
Members explain how to develop a reliable method for conducting customer surveys.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Personalize Response Requests
The easiest way for those with customer data like customer names is to personalize response requests. Research has shown that personalization of emailed survey invitations can increase response rates by 7% or more. In addition, respondents that received personalized invitations were 2.6% less likely to drop off before completing all survey questions. – JP Holecka, POWERSHiFTER Digital
2. Ask Your Most Valuable Questions First
Make sure to ask your most valuable questions first. People are busy and holding their attention can be difficult. I’ve also seen offering a large incentive, such as “win a $500 gift card,” be a great way to encourage people to complete a survey. – Brian Meert, AdvertiseMint
3. Keep It Short And Don’t Ask Often
Ask as few questions with as few words as possible, and don’t ask too often. Everyone’s time is limited, so the cadence needs to be long enough so customers have forgotten the last time you asked a favor from them. The questions should be short and provoke an emotion strong enough to elicit a quick response. Likert scales are better than freeform responses since they allow you to build objective data. – David Ward, Meticulosity
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4. Keep It To One Question
We send out a Net Promoter Score survey quarterly that simply asks, “How likely are you to recommend Influence & Co. to someone you know?” on a scale of 1 to 10. We give them the ability to leave a comment with their response as well. Since this is so easy and simple, we get a great response rate and follow up with anyone who gave less than an 8/10 to understand how we can improve. – Kelsey Raymond, Influence & Co.
5. Give An Opportunity For Anecdotal Responses
Give an opportunity for anecdotal responses and, as a business, try to personally follow up on anything negative that you receive. Additionally, besides a “scale of 1 to 10” type of survey, consider reaching out to your customers directly and engaging them in one-on-one conversations about their experience. You’ll get invaluable feedback that will likely shape your next steps as a business. – Matthew Brown, ThumbStopper®
6. Try To Identify Real Problems
Documenting organic feedback and identifying real problems helps create a survey that is reliable, genuine and useful for the client. Ask simple questions, such as “What are we doing wrong?” Prove to the customer that you want to get it right. – Greg Carney, Freedom United Social
7. Follow Up On Received Feedback
Follow-up is absolutely critical to make customer surveys something that your clients will participate in, and continue to provide valuable feedback. If a customer sees that you are listening to their feedback and making updates to your processes to address positive and negative feedback, it will build trust and they will continue to want to provide helpful feedback to your organization. – Elyse Flynn Meyer, Prism Global Marketing Solutions
8. Thank Them And Include Them In The Findings
Look at each engagement with your valued customers as a chance to deepen the partnership. Acknowledge that the customer is taking time out of their busy lives to help you be a better partner. Not only thank them for their time but offer to include them in the findings. Sharing this data provides a chance to feel ownership and a potentially elevated status as a valued customer. – Patrick Nycz, NewPoint Marketing
9. Leverage Input From Online Reviews
If you want to become the industry leader in your market, understanding your customers’ needs is a must! Leverage online reviews from sites like Amazon, Google and competitor websites to determine the common focus points or concerns your customers have. Take those talking points to create your customer surveys, then use marketing automation to gather feedback multiple times a year. – Breynan Hammons, Innvio
10. Make Sure Customers Know Your ‘Why’
Customers can quickly become frustrated with constantly being asked for feedback. Make sure they know the “why” for your question. For example, if you are trying to improve a specific product function, only ask them about that. Remember, people want to help, and giving you insights that are specific makes them feel good about giving you their time. – Kathleen Lucente, Red Fan Communications
11. Make It Easy To Give You Feedback
Make it easy for your customers to give you feedback! Value-driven incentives and tools like Outgrow are great for collecting customer data. Outgrow allows your customers to interactively answer questions with conversational surveys and forms built to get you more data. Don’t forget to make it worth their time afterward! Secure the next purchase by offering future discounts. – Alex Quin, UADV
12. Show Them The Money
Customers could make completing surveys a full-time job. To move your request to the top, provide a relevant incentive. It doesn’t need to be costly. Maybe a valued-added insight that will make their work better, access to an asset that might have cost them otherwise or a credit toward a future purchase. An incentive gift that makes them a hero with their family means you win twice. – Jim Heininger, Dixon|James – Rebranding Experts
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Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
