All businesses can stand for some improvement. Sometimes we are too close to realize what could work better, or maybe we have a feeling but need the data to support our concerns.
Have you ever surveyed your email list? There are so many things you can learn from surveying your customers and prospects. From learning customer preference of your office hours to the services and products you offer you can learn what you are doing right as a company and where you can improve. With permission based email lists you may even have customers who have requested information on a specific area of your business. A quick survey to them can provide valuable feedback on how their questions were answered and what the results of their inquiry provided to them. Did they choose your product or service or did they choose your competitor and why?
Another popular use of email surveys is rating customer satisfaction after services have been provided. I love these surveys – even if I wasn’t happy with the delivery person or the time it took to complete the request, etc. I am more forgiving when I know the company is interested in my opinion and has taken the time to ask. Okay, so maybe some customers don’t use the feedback to improve – but your company will!
Seriously, when you survey your customers embrace their feedback! Make notes of the answers and view them as an opportunity to make direct changes that will improve customer satisfaction and therefore your bottom line. We recently composed a survey for a non-profit membership organization and we were amazed with the response we received. The results showed the Board of Directors a reinvention of the organizations’ program structure was necessary to keep membership interested and receiving value. The email survey campaign tracked responses and offered a pdf of the results to review. We composed direct questions to the members in this regard which helped us get clear answers to our most important questions. The results helped us target what needed addressed first.
For more information of the value of surveys read this excellent article on good reasons to survey your list.
(http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3620046&utm_source=MailChimp&utm_medium=ResourceCenter)
Author Jeanne Jennings mentions surveymonkey.com as her email survey source of choice in the article. Connection Group has had good success with email surveys with surveymonkey.com also. There are other valid email survey companies out there too, just be sure they are not going to spam your list after you use them to produce a customer survey! If you have any questions or need help composing your questions, please contact us. We are here to help!