… to tell me what they think”
Really? In my experience if you aren’t getting much feedback it’s more likely to be down to what and how you ask rather than your customers willingness to respond. If you make it easy enough, it’s amazing how many people will take a little time to give some feedback.
Earlier this year we created a new customer survey for a client who had previously sent out their own questionnaire and got a response rate of less than 15%, which wasn’t enough to make the information robust.
With our new survey we achieved a response rate of over 40%, providing some real insight into what they are getting right, and areas where some small changes could make a big difference to customer satisfaction. And all of this improvement despite the fact that we asked more questions too!
Of course, it doesn’t stop at response rate – with careful design, we were able to ensure that the data can be used in all the client’s marketing communications; telling a very positive story about their business, but in the words of their customers.
And we gave all the respondents a chance to request samples of some new products, which created some good new business opportunities and reasons for the sales team to make follow up calls and visits.
If you don’t think your customers will give you some feedback or you’ve tried in the past and been disappointed with the response, I recommend getting some professional help – there’s a gold mine of information out there, you just need to know how to dig it out.
Happy surveying,
Chris