Surveys are multi-faceted marketing tools that are often overlooked. Perhaps the disdain that many have for taking surveys themselves influences their unwillingness to subject others to this practice. We have grown accustomed to them because they appear in our inboxes from every corner of our lives. Why? Because they’ve proven to be very effective marketing tools.
Asking someone for feedback on the services you provide does more than gather data provided with their answers.
Even if someone chooses not to respond, asking their opinion communicates that you care about what they think. It says that you value them and want them to be pleased with the services you provide. There is no downside to sending a survey even if someone chooses not to complete it.
More to the point – if a client is not satisfied, don’t you want to know? Of course, you do!
Don’t be afraid of a less-than-glowing response. You would rather them complain to you instead of telling all their friends about their terrible experience. Receiving negative feedback gives you a chance to fix the problem and may prevent any negative influence it could have on other future business prospects.
Surveys are also a great way to generate positive reviews (on Google or otherwise).
If someone gives you great feedback, you can follow up and ask them to post their positive review so that others may consider it. Asking for feedback might also prevent a negative review which you can almost always do nothing about once it is posted. Again, dealing with problems is only possible when you know that they exist.
Some client-reported problems are unique to that client and their case. But others might be systemic. There may be a problem employee in your organization of which you were unaware. Be grateful when you can fix those types of problems.
Surveys are easy to do.
SurveyMonkey is an easy-to-use online tool that also has a free version complete with templates to guide you. Your survey should be short and easy to understand and use. It should include this question: How likely are you to recommend our services to a friend, family member, or co-worker? This will generate your Net Promoter Score or NPS. The response should be a number between 1 and 10 with 1 being not very likely and 10 being very likely. You are shooting for getting a 9 or better on this question. These are your “influencers” or “promoters.” Those who respond with a 7 or 8 are considered passive. They won’t likely help or hurt you. Those giving you a 6 or less are detractors. They are not likely to use you again and are likely to discourage others to use you. Add any other questions that you think would be helpful.