Keeping your customers happy is critical to your business’ long-term success, which causes many marketers to pull their hair out, learning how to keep customers coming back. 

One of the best ways to get the information you need and learn what your customers want is to ask them via a survey. Market research is vital to business development, but not nearly enough companies utilize surveys to help inform their marketing decisions. 

Historically, it was expensive and time-consuming to conduct market research. Now it’s much easier with tools such as Google Survey or programs like Survey Monkey. Now anyone can gather insightful data to help them learn more about what their customers want. 

Why Are Surveys Important?

Using a survey is an excellent way to gauge how your customer base feels about your business. With surveys, you can directly communicate with them and have them answer the most critical questions in a relatively concise statement. Surveys typically have prefilled multiple response questions that users choose from or have a prompt that demands a one or two-sentence answer. Regardless of the questions, you’ll be able to gather direct answers from your customers about what they like, dislike, and want to see improved, which will help you decide your next steps.

Types of Surveys

You can use many different types of surveys to conduct research, but some tend to work better than others. Here are a few surveys that are commonly used with beneficial results:

Customer Feedback Surveys 

Customer feedback surveys are a great way to gauge how your customers feel about your business and how you’ve conducted yourself. They typically look to gain qualitative answers that tell a company how much the customer enjoyed buying from them. These surveys often have good information on certain aspects of your business that could be changed regarding the buying process, web design, customer service, etc. 

Market Research Surveys 

Market research surveys can be used to understand your customers’ needs and preferred shopping methods. You can also get a pulse on where you stack up against competitors. The primary takeaway from this type of survey is what consumers think about your products or services, which can help inform your future product development. 

Brand Awareness Surveys 

Brand awareness surveys can help you gauge how well or poorly your marketing efforts are. This type of survey can help point to areas that need improvement and help you learn about your different brand associations from the audience you’re advertising to. 

Distributing Your Survey

Historically, surveys were challenging to conduct market research because of how difficult it was to distribute them and have them returned with helpful responses. Now, all businesses can send out an online survey that can get a plethora of responses in a short amount of time. 

One of the best ways to distribute your survey is via email and with the opportunity to gain something. Customers typically aren’t eager to take time out of their day to respond to a survey, so offering coupons or a raffle opportunity could prove helpful in generating responses. 

You should also choose which types of surveys to send based on which segments of your audience you want to get answers from. For instance, you would only send customer feedback surveys to those who have purchased a product from you. Sending that survey type to a prospective customer won’t return any helpful information. 

Additionally, choose a survey program that’s easy to navigate for you and your customers to ensure no one abandons their survey halfway through. Using programs such as Google Surveys or Survey Monkey can help you create insightful surveys that are easy to set up, distribute, and fill out. 

The Takeaway

Surveys are now a prevalent and valuable tool to help you gauge how successful your business is according to the people who interact with it. It allows you to take a step back and see a different perspective from the consumer standpoint. This can help you understand what’s working for your company and what needs to be changed. 

If you’re thinking of running a survey, think about what you’re hoping to learn from the questions and who you want to answer them. These are two essential components to keep in mind when conducting your market research.