by Guy Bolt

Created on: October 11, 2010

Is it worth the hassle? Can you really get anything out of them? Is it worth the cost? Does a customer survey bring anything useful to the business table, or civic planning meeting? The answer is yes, they do, and they are well worth persisting with…as long as you have spent the time assembling the right questions, and have framed them the best way possible to derive an informed response from those being surveyed. Whether you send yours out by mail, or via online, or conduct telephone surveys, there is no better way of gauging customer satisfaction, from which you can then go on to forecast the future behavior patterns of your customers. Even if you get fifty percent returned that is still considered a good result from a customer survey.

The whole point of conducting an online survey among customers, and service users is to find out whether they are satisfied with the product or service your business or organization has been providing, which has to be worth the effort. There is nothing to say you have to act on the findings in the survey, but the feedback might be useful to you in planning your next advertising campaign, or product line if you are thinking of upgrading. But the customer survey also shows the paying public that you care, and are interested in their opinions.

Undoubtedly, there are more surveys than ever before being conducted (especially online where so much retail activity takes place these days), and it is likely that some people may resent the constant barrage of questions when they just want to get on with their Internet shopping without the added hassle of answering questions. On the other hand, there are those who enjoy responding to surveys, and like to feel their time is being well spent answering questions.

Research has shown that the trouble with conducting a telephone customer survey to someone’s domestic number is that the householder is generally of the assumption that the person on the other end is trying to sell them something, and therefore cold call surveys by phone are not deemed as successful as other forms of surveys. However, some market researchers are adamant that telephone surveys are a valid survey tool, because the results are instant compared to mailed surveys which can often get left on the sideboard forgotten about for days, or months. Which is why some companies, particularly local civil authorities sometimes send out as many as two follow-up reminders on the tail of the original survey.

But in general, getting people to participate in a survey all depends on timing. If someone is in a hurry on the street, you aren’t going to stop him or her. Same applies to online surveys. They can be ignored, just as easily as they can be completed. So like many things, conducting a customer survey requires perseverance, but is definitely worth the effort. Not knowing what the public thinks is simply illogical if you are in business, and even more so if you are the Chief Executive of a state authority. Without feedback from the public you just are not going to have any idea whether you are doing a good job providing those services, and what areas you can do better in. There is no point sitting in your office wondering why your product is not selling, or why that arts event was so poorly attended if you don’t ask the public what is wrong with your product, or why they didn’t attend that show. As the saying goes, if you don’t ask – you don’t get.

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