Why You Should Survey Customers
Seeking feedback from customers is all part of running a business, but have you ever stopped to think why? You could take a really simplistic view, because you understand that more customers equal more sales. Making customers happy increases the chance they will come back again. So, it stands to reason that you want customers to be happy. But there’s more to it.
Research in 2018 showed that 91% of Australians had been involved in word of mouth, either giving or seeking information about products and businesses. Again, the dots are pretty easy to join here. Happy customers are likely to refer others, and this means more sales again.
But the whole process of surveying customers goes a lot deeper than just trying to make them happy. Here’s a few of the reasons you should be surveying your customers.
Measure Customer Loyalty
Many customer surveys are designed to specifically measure customer loyalty. If we think back to those statistics showing 91% of people seek advice from friends and family before making a purchase, you can see how valuable customer loyalty is.
There is an intrinsic link between customer satisfaction, and a customer’s likelihood of promoting your business to people they know. That’s why it’s so important to find out how loyal your customers are.
A great way to measure customer loyalty is by using Net Promoter Score ® (NPS®) or Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) surveys. NPS ® is all about customer loyalty, and involves asking customers how likely they are to recommend your business to a friend. CSAT is similar, asking about a customer’s overall satisfaction.
Increase Engagement with Customers
While you can gather plenty of useful information from customer surveys, you can also increase engagement. When customers are asked to give feedback, they can see you really care. It makes them feel valued as a customer, especially if they can provide meaningful feedback. Customer surveys are also another touchpoint where you can encourage engagement with your business.
For example, a customer may not have purchased anything from you in 12 months. This is a great opportunity to ask why, and what would make them return as customers. If nothing else, it puts your business in front of them and presents an opportunity for interaction. Conversely, if a customer has recently made a purchase, it’s a great opportunity to find out how you did. Again, it’s another engagement point, which could encourage further sales or recommendations.
Gathering Customer Data
Customer surveys should always be about the customer and their experience. That’s where the tangible information about how you’re performing comes from. However, there is plenty of other data you can gain from a survey.
You can find out basic things like where a customer heard about you, what area they live in, and other demographic details. This all helps to inform your future marketing efforts. If certain advertising channels aren’t bringing in new business, a customer survey can show you which channels are doing better.
Aside from all of this information, a survey is also a simple chance to capture people’s email addresses for future marketing. You obviously need to be careful with spam, but most successful businesses keep a database of customer information for that very reason.
Find Out What You’re Doing Well, and What You Could Improve
This may be obvious, but a customer survey will give you valuable insight into what you’re doing well and what needs to improve. Remember, the goal of any business is to make money, and you can’t do that without customers. Therefore, creating the very best customer experience is essential to your success.
This is where more detailed surveys are required to really drill down into what customers enjoyed about purchasing from you, and what they think could improve. There’s really no limit to the information you can gather, from satisfaction with pricing all the way through to whether the products meet customer needs.
Discover Exactly How Customers Want to Interact
Outside of the issues of pricing and products, you can also use a customer survey to find out how to market to them in the future. Why not ask how they’d prefer to receive discounts and deals? Do they want emails, social media messages, do they want shareable content to promote your business further?
The reality is, some customers don’t like endless emails, but they may be happy with a six-monthly list of specials emailed to them. Others love seeing all the best deals pop up on their social media feeds. However, they want to interact with you in the future, you’ll be able to find out and target your efforts accordingly.
Get a Picture of the Whole Customer Experience
Surveys are brilliant because you can tailor them to find out anything you want. NPS and CSAT surveys, for example, are very quick and easy. They’re asking about a specific thing. But using further surveys to drill deeper into the customer experience gives you an insight you wouldn’t otherwise have.
The whole aim of attracting and satisfying customers revolves around the customer experience. For example, if you sell products online, was your website easy to navigate? Can customers easily find the items they’re looking for? Was the ordering and checkout process user-friendly and convenient? Did the products arrive quickly and did they actually like the product? These are all examples of what you should aim to find out.
Remember that customer dissatisfaction is also part of the experience. For example, if a customer needs post-sale support, for returns or if they have complaints. Finding out if your returns process runs smoothly is also good, because it could result in retaining a customer who would otherwise not return.
Surveying Customers is Cost-Effective
Finally, surveying your customers is cost-effective. The information you gather allows you to make informed decisions on everything from marketing to sales techniques to the types of products and services you provide. If you’re doing things better, that should translate into more customers, happier customers, and more loyal customers.
It’s quick and easy to set up a customer survey, so if you need some guidance and surveys that really work, try us for free at Spark Chat today.
