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How often do you survey your customers?

by kencalhn
16 replies
one of my keys to success is routinely surveying my customers to ask what they want; then use that info to prioritize launches and new product development.

i do surveys every few months. i've taken courses and had a lot of experience in doing them, I've gathered thousands of responses. keys are, keep it short, unambiguous, focused, and then Do what your customers/prospects tell you to do.

How can you be a customer-driven company without surveying them regularly? You can't. I use a well known survey service, but you can do something as simple as "reply to this email and let me know your top 3 (niche topics) you want" ... it's easy.

anyone else do surveys?
#customers #survey
  • Profile picture of the author davidkings
    that is a great post and congrats on your launches of your products.

    How many products have you created based on your survey results?

    Do you just make ebooks for their needs?

    what is your launch sequence and pattern for these products.

    Are there mistakes you can share that others can avoid, and can you give some typical questions you can ask an Internet marketing list please.
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  • Profile picture of the author HzCy
    Surveying customer is a great thing! But just try to focus on your best customers, not just on some random ones.

    Always get the most qualitative feedback, not the standard.
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    • Profile picture of the author Horny Devil
      Banned
      Originally Posted by kencalhn View Post

      i do surveys every few months. i've taken courses and had a lot of experience in doing them, I've gathered thousands of responses. keys are, keep it short, unambiguous, focused, and then Do what your customers/prospects tell you to do.
      You may have taken courses about surveys, you may feel you have experience, and you may have gathered thousands of responses. It all means zilch!

      You DON'T keep it short, you DON'T keep it unambiguous, and you certainly DON'T do what your customers/prospects tell you to do. Where on earth have you got that load of nonsense from?

      1. You make it as long as is necessary. If it's short it's short, if it's long it's long. Do it as is necessary for your clients needs and what you feel is right, not what you've read from some recommendation by a so called "expert".

      2. You never keep it totally unambiguous. You ALWAYS get straight to the point. with a hint of mystique to keep them wondering. Potential customers want GENUINE FACTS, HARD INFORMATION, AND SOLID NO-NONSENSE DATA that helps them, and a hint of maybe more.

      3. You NEVER do what your customers/prospects tell you to do. For a start, that doesn't happen, and secondly if that were the case then you've got a serious problem if your customers have so little confidence in what you're offering that they resort to telling YOU what they want. YOU tell your customers what you're offering. If it's good they'll buy in to it. If it's bad they won't, and in which case you should seriously think about a career change.

      Originally Posted by kencalhn View Post

      How can you be a customer-driven company without surveying them regularly? You can't.
      Of course you can. If they're buying regularly then you're doing your job properly. If they're not then you're doing something wrong. Surveys don't come into it.


      Originally Posted by davidkings View Post

      that is a great post and congrats on your launches of your products.
      It's not a great post, and your criteria to meet your standards of what constitutes a "great post" must be abysmal to say the least.


      Originally Posted by HzCy View Post

      Surveying customer is a great thing! But just try to focus on your best customers, not just on some random ones . . .
      Agreed, surveying customers is a great thing, but ONLY if you need to. As for "focusing on your best customers", well, you're about to learn a very harsh business lesson if you think that satisfying the best customers is paramount . . . at the detriment of the rest, i.e - the bread and butter patrons who can make or break you.
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  • Profile picture of the author kencalhn
    I said "unambiguous" ... that means Not ambiguous.

    Definition of UNAMBIGUOUS

    : not ambiguous : clear, precise <unambiguous evidence>
    — un·am·big·u·ous·ly adverb

    I'm simply asking others about feedback on doing surveys of their customers to find out what customers want. I keep surveys short, to the point, 3-5 questions at most, targeted in a way that captures customer data that my organization uses to create new products.

    Anyone else, comments on surveys, hearing the "voice of the customer" in what you do?

    Here's several good articles:

    http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/08/ho...er-survey.html

    http://www.microsoft.com/business/en...id=QF2IyFWhTO4

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/baininsi...urvey-results/

    Successful businesses, including mine, regularly survey our customers to determine what customers want. Asking your customers for feedback is a great way to gather new product/service ideas, as well as fine-tune the business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    I survey my customers frequently including when they first join my list, so I can find out where they are in the journey, what problems they have and to gather more data on them. It helps me create more specific and relevant content and give them exactly what they need.

    You NEVER do what your customers/prospects tell you to do. For a start, that doesn't happen, and secondly if that were the case then you've got a serious problem if your customers have so little confidence in what you're offering that they resort to telling YOU what they want. YOU tell your customers what you're offering. If it's good they'll buy in to it. If it's bad they won't, and in which case you should seriously think about a career change.
    You don't do what they TELL you to do but it makes perfect sense to listen to what they have to say and then take action on that.

    You can tell your customers what you're offering all you like but if it's not what they want / need then chances are they won't buy it unless your marketing is so out of this world you convince them they do.

    Of course you can. If they're buying regularly then you're doing your job properly. If they're not then you're doing something wrong. Surveys don't come into it.
    I think I'll stick with surveying my customers to get feedback from them rather than not bothering listening to them and trying to force products on them they don't need.
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    • Profile picture of the author davidkings
      Originally Posted by RockingLastsForever View Post

      I survey my customers frequently including when they first join my list, so I can find out where they are in the journey, what problems they have and to gather more data on them. It helps me create more specific and relevant content and give them exactly what they need.
      If you survey each new subscriber though, does this mean you read every single answer?

      so if you have 60 subscribers in 1 week, you read 60 answers? and send 60 'different' individual marketing products to each one?

      (lets assume all 60 have different needs)
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      • Profile picture of the author Horny Devil
        Banned
        Originally Posted by davidkings View Post

        If you survey each new subscriber though, does this mean you read every single answer?

        so if you have 60 subscribers in 1 week, you read 60 answers? and send 60 'different' individual marketing products to each one?

        (lets assume all 60 have different needs)
        And if you have 500 subscribers, or 2,000+ . . . . . ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    You don't have to create different content, emails and products for every different subscriber but instead see what the majority want, and you'll soon realise most fall into a particular pattern, and then act accordingly.

    It's not rocket science.

    And yes I read every single answer. Obviously not ever subscriber will fill out the survey.
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    • Profile picture of the author davidkings
      Originally Posted by RockingLastsForever View Post

      You don't have to create different content, emails and products for every different subscriber but instead see what the majority want, and you'll soon realise most fall into a particular pattern, and then act accordingly.

      It's not rocket science.

      And yes I read every single answer. Obviously not ever subscriber will fill out the survey.
      Well i respect you for your style of marketing RockingLastsForever

      What is the maximum amount of answers you have read from your surveys in 1 survey session? to tally different answer groups?

      eg 1000 answers ? and how long did they all take to separate into individual answers ?
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      • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
        Originally Posted by davidkings View Post

        Well i respect you for your style of marketing RockingLastsForever

        What is the maximum amount of answers you have read from your surveys in 1 survey session? to tally different answer groups?

        eg 1000 answers ? and how long did they all take to separate into individual answers ?
        The answers all come in at different times. The survey is in the 2nd email of my autoresponder and is with SurveyMonkey so they tally all the answers up for me. Takes a quick glance to see the results and know the demographics, issues and problems of my subs and then act accordingly.
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  • Profile picture of the author TaraCarson
    Constantly, it's a great way of figuring out what your customers don't like - and then sell them the solution.
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  • Profile picture of the author vaidab
    I usually put my surveys in the autoresponder sequence and when I want to ask them different questions I just modify the link.

    I have multiple points in the followup where I'm doing this, usually #1 is for the avatar, #2 for product ideas and the rest depend on my needs.
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  • Profile picture of the author faisalmaximus
    Survey is important, but its also true it takes a lot of time to collect data properly and implement, and the work is tough too. Can anyone suggest me a good survey organizer on whom I can rely, please pm me if you can suggest.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    Yes i survey my customers once every 3 months. Then i simply create and provide what they want

    Cheers,

    Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author Cobaki
    Once in every few months I conduct surveys for my clients to learn if they are still happy with my services and if there are areas that I need to improve or add. I don't read them all at once and will depend on the amount of time I can spare for reading emails. This will help me on what I should do so they will stay as my clients.
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  • Profile picture of the author LastingLifeSuccess
    This is the kind of post that jogs me into thinking about my own marketing practices.

    I suppose in my own way I am rather constantly involved in surveying my customer's wants.
    Buy I tend not to do that so much with a professional service, rather I use word of mouth and various proprietary web based samplings fairly often.
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