While your most valuable asset is often your customer’s opinion, finding out what your customer is thinking is not always so easy. If you have disappointed them or somehow, in their opinion, not delivered what you promised then good lord will you hear about it! Unfortunately it is not always that easy to get them to tell you when they are happy about something or what they like about your business.

Getting Valuable Feedback through Surveys

Surveys are an excellent way to find out how your customers feel about a new product, service, location, store policy or virtually anything that’s important to your business. A survey will tell you what your customers expect of you and your company, and clearly express how you are performing in their eyes.

The typical survey will run you about $3,000 to cover a large segment of your customer base. While this may seem like a lot, in most cases you will find that it is well worth the investment.

10 Tips for Assembling an Effective Survey

In order for a survey to be effective you need to have a clear goal, such as how your regular customers feel about a particular aspect of service. This may help you find out why someone who was once a steady customer is now shopping elsewhere.

A good way to get a customer to fill out a survey is to provide a special discount or even a raffle entry form with the survey. While the prize does not have to be lavish, a nice prize will attract your customers to return the survey and the raffle entry. This can also be a great tool for attracting new business. Also by returning it in person you can take the chance to personally thank them.

Let the customer know that you value what they say. The more the survey pertains to issues that matter to them the more likely they are to return it.

Do not make the questions too general. Your survey should be fun to fill out, not something they just set aside with intentions to get to “some other time”.

Limit the number of questions to about 10 or 12. If the customer thinks it will take a lot of their time they will usually just throw it away.

While this may seem like an imposition, chances are if they have to mail it they won’t. By placing a discount coupon on it you have a better chance of the customer bringing it back in the store.

By allowing a customer to fill out comments they can do more than just check mark a box or circle a number. This will allow the customer to provide some valuable input.

Ask some good customers to fill it out the next time you see them. Not only will they fill – out the survey but they will also give you their input on how to improve the survey. Kind of like a survey for the survey.

People are more prone to take the time to fill it out if they do business with you on a regular basis. By mailing to about 2,000 valuable customers you should receive about 150 filled out surveys back. If the majority of your business comes from a select few people aim your questions at their particular needs.

Promoting the survey and the coupon or raffle before mailing it will alert your customers to keep an eye out on it. A brief attention-commanding announcement should be delivered a week before the survey is officially mailed.