If you"re not already gauging your customers then you"re missing a plethora of valuable information about not only your products but also their experiences with your business.
Learning directly from your customers will reinforce your practices while offering you different ways to do things.
Criteria #1: Set Goals for Your Surveys
The information gathered from surveys is virtually limitless. So, how in the world do you distill it into a simple and easy survey?
First, set goals for what you want out of your surveys.
What do you want to learn?
Customer habits
Review of your website
Review of your social media sites
Review of your products and services
Share customer"s experiences with your business
General feedback
Best Practice
Without goals for your surveys, you"ll become lost and the information you"ll get from your customers will be inaccurate and useless.
Criteria #2: Cost (You Get What You Pay For)
There are many survey companies out there, some which are free and others that require a usage fee.
For example, Survey Monkey, a free service, is great for single-use surveys, but isn"t without limitations. Free survey services limit the number of responses and questions. Also, many free survey services display annoying advertisements during the survey. With advertisements during any survey, you run the risk of having your customer leaving your survey to follow an ad that interests them.
Best Practice
You get what you pay for. For one-time use, say for a survey of a non-profit board, and then free survey services are the way to go. However, for businesses truly interested in gathering critical information about customer habits, then skip the free services.
Criteria #3: Features
Features depend entirely which way you"re heading, whether you"re going for a free service or pay. Regardless, ensure that the service offers comprehensive services that are customizable and easy to use.
Does the company easily integrate into your other marketing platforms, website and social media?
Does it offer email, floating or website surveys?
Is it customizable for your needs?
Does the company offer unlimited questions and responses?
Is there easy to understand reports and analytical tools?
Best Practice
Just like we"ve said numerous times, before signing your life away to a survey service, test them through their free trial period. Ensure that the features offered are relevant to your needs and that they actually work.
For more information about SimplyCast's survey marketing solution, including our free 750 contact-based plan, visit
http://survey-marketing.simplycast.com or call 1.877.312.4979.
