I just finished a survey provided to me by a partner of Element 47. I’d call them a vendor, but that would just be rude.
So I’m in the mood to talk surveys. In some cases, there’s no better way to get the feedback you need. But before you go asking questions of others, there are several questions you need to ask yourself.
1. Why am I doing this survey and what do I want to discover?
If you don’t have a specific answer to these questions, you should definitely go no further. You need a WHY and a WHAT to move forward. Let’s start with WHY. Do you want to expand your service lines? Or break into a new market? Or just assess where you are with your current customers?
And now let’s look at WHAT you’re trying to get out of your survey. Are you looking for actionable data on which you’ll build your next marketing campaign? Or are you simply trying to discover your net-promoter score? That’s a good one.
Answering WHY and WHAT and writing both down will help guide the process. Once you have those in place, building your survey gets much easier.
You need a WHY and a WHAT to move forward.
2. What kind of questions do I ask?
Quantitative or qualitative? Are you looking for numbers or words? Do you seek raw data that can become charts and graphs or do you want opinions? If it’s qualitative information (words) you seek, individual interviews, focus groups, or group discussions will be your path.
3. How am I going to administer the survey…and will people take it?
My suggestion? Start small. Pick a quick win with a net-promoter score (NPS) survey. What is NPS? I’m glad you asked. NPS is a single-metric scoring system that enables you to measure customer/client satisfaction quickly and easily. Literally the easiest way to identify the growth potential of your product or service.
A quick NPS Google search will provide you with ample resources for discovering your net-promoter score.
4. How will I interpret the data?
For a quantitative survey, what numbers are acceptable when you review the results? What gives you concern, hope, or joy? And how ready are you to act on what you’ll learn?
These are questions we ask our clients to help us get beyond “you know, just a survey” to “I want to understand how our brand is perceived in the marketplace.” Surveys are great. Just make sure you’ve asked yourself the right questions before you start asking your customers.