Surveying Your Customers

Find out who's buying from you and what makes them happy

By Jennifer Mattern, Freelance Writer / Editor / PR Firm Owner J.H. Mattern Communications

One of the most basic tools in market research for any business is the customer survey. Surveys allow your business to learn not only about the demographics of your target market, but also allow you to get into the heads of your customers to find out what they like and don't like about your business, products, or services. There are a few different types of customer surveys:

Demographics surveys.
Customer satisfaction surveys.
Customer loss surveys (when customers leave).

Plan your survey

First, you need to determine what kind of information you hope to pull from survey results. Are you just looking for demographics, or are you trying to gauge customer satisfaction with a specific product or service? Next, decide how you'll get your survey in front of customers and determine who will have access to the results and for what reason.
Try: Based on what you hope to achieve, decide if you have the means to carry out the survey yourself, or if it makes more sense to use a service such as WebSurveyor to reach your customers.

Write your survey

Decide if you intend to use open-ended (allowing customers to write their own feedback) or close-ended questions (multiple choice). Be sure to ask for at least some demographic information (age, sex, location, etc.) to help you better understand who your primary market really is.
Try: If you need help crafting your survey questions, try using a service such as Advanced Survey, which automatically provides you with some common answers to common survey questions.

Implement your survey

Choose the best way to reach customers with your survey. Common methods include direct mail, email, and phone. If you have a retail business, a restaurant, or some other type of business that customers visit, you can drop surveys in shopping bags along with purchases or place them on a restaurant table.
Try: Zoomerang and other online services will implement surveys by setting up a custom sample of participants (good for more general surveys) or by using an email list you provide (best for finding out what existing customers think). SurveyMonkey is a do-it-yourself tool for creating and analyzing surveys you post on your Web site.

Evaluate the results

Input results into a database or spreadsheet software program that will allow you to sort results by ZIP code, age of respondent, or even by a rating given in a certain survey question.
Try: Invest in database or spreadsheet software, such as MySQL or FileMaker Pro so you can enter, store, and evaluate results. If you run very simple surveys online, you can have a free service such as Survey Console host your survey and provide you with results, rather than having to input results manually as with print and phone surveys.

Keep it short. The longer a survey is, the fewer customers or potential customers will be willing to finish it.
You'll likely receive a better response rate if you can allow survey respondents to remain anonymous, and if you promise not to sell or rent the information to others.
Keep your business model in mind. If most of your customers are online, try email surveys. If you run a retail store or restaurant, keep surveys on location. If you run a service
business where you or employees visit customers' homes, try direct mail or bring a survey with you.