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Improve Your Bottom Line With Customer Surveys
Customer surveys are an important way to improve your bottom line by finding out what your customers need and what they think of you as a vendor. Consultant Séan D. McArdle of LifeAnswers Inc., Vienna, Va., says before you write the survey, determine what you want to accomplish the most:
- Will the survey measure customer satisfaction levels because sales are not what they should be?
- Do you want to ask customers about a new product or service to predict sales response?
- Do you want to measure customer needs in the future against your firm's current products?
- Do you want to determine how technology or some other issue is affecting your customer, and therefore, your own firm as a vendor?
Next, determine the best format for your customers to respond-fax, e-mail, mail, the Internet or in person. Surveys posted on a Web site and those sent via e-mail and fax should be short-preferably, one page, says McArdle. Even for mail or in-person surveys, the shorter the better. Be sure to explain the reason for the survey and how the answers will help your firm better serve customers. This gives customers an incentive to respond. McArdle says offering an ad specialty item may also boost response.
Focus your questions on no more than three to five areas of your business and ask no more than five to seven questions in each area, suggests McArdle. For example, to find out about clients' technology needs, you could ask, "How are you using technology to create business forms?" A more general question to help future planning might be, "What are the challenges you are facing in the future?" This question also could be made more specific by asking, "What are the challenges you are facing in the future regarding information retrieval (or storage or any other issue you think might affect your clients)?"
Then ask about needs in the next six months, the next year or next five years. Sometimes a global question provides invaluable insight. McArdle suggests asking, "If there were any one thing we could do for you, what would it be?" Other questions could cover the quality of service and products customers buy from you. Be sure to plan how your firm will use the information collected. Inform your customers about the results and how you used them to improve service or product quality.