It stands to reason that ordinary Romans lived better than anyone else. After all, Roman Emperors were one of the first to conduct market research and, have since, shaped modern economics.
Data collection may have begun in the Middle Ages but fortunate for us, the way in which we collect information has evolved. Digital surveys include a kind of anonymity and prove less intimidating.
In fact, if you want to test the waters, try this free survey maker to help make market research more appealing. Here’s why a great survey will help your business grow.
Help understand your customer demographics
The goal of every company should be to find out who their core customer is. Having this knowledge not only helps you secure your place ahead of the competition but it helps you accommodate your audience in a way that keeps people loyal to your brand.
Measure satisfaction
Have you ever wondered what people think about your products, your delivery, and your staff? If you have, you may want to consider building customer surveys that measure satisfaction. Customer satisfaction surveys give you insights to allow you to make better business decisions.
Scenario: Let’s say you launched a new digital service last year and it was doing well in sales but they’ve fallen in the last month. Sending a survey to customers who purchased the service will allow you to receive real feedback. These questions can be based on the price point, availability, customer service, similar services in the market etc., etc.
Collect email addresses
A great way to collect email addresses, especially in a manner that adheres to the upcoming GDPR is to have people give you voluntary feedback.
Scenario: Let’s say your products currently have a lot of male customers but you want to launch a product to gain a female audience. To get women to give you honest feedback as well as take an interest in your new product, you need to get creative. If the feedback is worth something to you, you can say you’ll offer their partners (the existing customer base) discount on their purchases with the brand. Or that when the new product launches the first 50 customers will get 50% off.
Whatever you offer, if the feedback is valuable to you, and it should be, you’ll be able to seamlessly tie in an incentive that works for you and the customer. After all, they are entrusting you to send them great content in exchange for their time.
Brand Reputation
Don’t forget to monitor the overall experience of your brand from those who engage with your organisation.
Scenario: You have just made your first hire but you would like additional feedback from candidates that you interviewed during the whole process. Why not send out a candidate experience survey to gain an understanding of how your company is perceived from an outsider. The feedback may also help you retain your new hire and change existing communication barriers.
Before you begin your survey, here are few things you should think about:
- Create the right survey questions
This element is crucial as it determines what kind of feedback you get back. Great questions will elevate your market research. The questions you want to ask yourself is:
- What’s the purpose of this survey?
- What information do we need and how can our customers help us?
- What is the commitment time for customers and how can we make it as user-friendly as possible?
- Consider the aesthetics
In the information age, customers have a ton of content to go through. Brands need to think about how to make their survey content stand out from the rest.
Think about the design elements – colours are great in igniting certain reactions but these days you need to think about whether these elements remain gender neutral. However, this will depend on the audience you send it out to. For example, if you are a baby retailer, your audience is much more conscious about these colour elements than ever before.
- How will you deliver the survey content?
Around 30 to 40% of all surveys are now conducted on a mobile device. The usability will be different to that of a desktop. You’ll need to make sure the content is:
- Responsive
- Available for people when they have time to engage with your content
- Social-platform friendly – Can you tweet the survey or share it on Facebook?
- Don’t forget about branding
Make sure your audience knows exactly who the survey is from. Branding is important as people are emotionally involved with brands these days.
- Possible incentive
As discussed before, don’t forget about offering people an incentive for taking your survey. Whether it be in the form of exclusive content, or something tangible, the level of feedback you require will determine what you should offer.
Get real, reliable feedback and change your business.
One company we love, and who is ahead of the field in creating beautiful surveys is Typeform. If you are a follower of MOZ and Hubspot you’ll notice Typeform being used on a constant. In fact, Rand Fishkin has tweeted surveys created on Typeform to get feedback on what people would like to see at upcoming Mozcons as well as on the influencer discovery process. We participated because the survey integration was seamless and easy and was available to us on a platform we regularly use.
The truth is, we’ve tested the best survey creators and found that Typeform offers the most variety in terms of templates, drag and drop options, and the ability to add videos, images and gifs, without the need to be a techie!
