Why surveys are a valuable business tool

Lately I’ve completed around half a dozen online surveys, which is the most that I’ve ever done in a week.

It got me thinking that people are finally realising how useful they are in sales and marketing planning for any organisation.

I am honest in surveys and I’m sure 99% of people are; why would they waste their time otherwise? It’s when it is too long that I suddenly become less interested, so I’d suggest short and sweet is the way to go.

Using a tool such as Survey Monkey means it may not cost you anything and looking at their website I see that “98% of the Fortune 500 rely on SurveyMonkey”, so it’s not used just for SMEs.

So why should you conduct surveys?

I believe they are great if you want to find out valuable information such as:

• How satisfied your customers are.
• What do they like or dislike about your business, products and services.
• Gathering data on who your customers are, and their metrics.
• Do they read your newsletter and what other content would they like to see/receive.
• Where customers see your brand sit in relation to your competitors as a brand awareness exercise.
• Employees can also be canvassed for their opinions on various issues and if they are feeling fulfilled and engaged.

If you have a loyal and engaged coterie of people whose opinions you value, you can even survey marketing ideas to see how they resonate. For example:

• If you are developing a new tagline, ask them to rate in order of preference your shortlisted three or four suggestions.
• If you are developing a new product or brand, find out which name they prefer from your final selections.
• The same type of survey can be conducted for packaging.

What you and your management team thought was a winner may not be that popular after all!

Every survey you do should be designed to help grow your business through a better understanding of your stakeholder’s needs, desires and problems they may have in dealing with your organisation.

Before you start have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and what you will do with the results when you have them. Care needs to be taken when formulating the questions so that results aren’t skewed through a ‘leading’ questions.

Having survey results is one thing, it’s what you do with that information and making sure you listen to what the results are telling you that is important. For example, would you be prepared to revise your sales and marketing strategies if that’s what the results showed?

Let me know your thoughts via the comment form below…