Ins and Outs of Online Surveys

Whether you have an existing business or you are thinking about starting a business, knowing your target market is SUPER important for your company to survive. You don’t want to offer a service or product that people don’t want or people won’t pay your prices for? Perhaps, your product / service is a new and you need to know how people would perceive it or whether they would make use of it?

Imagine knowing what your clients or potential clients WANT? How would that make a difference to your business? Would it make your pricing easier? Would it make your marketing strategies easier? Would it make you a leader in your field? If you said YES to one or more of these, I highly recommend you start considering doing some surveys in the industry that you are either in or looking to move into.

Why do surveys?

Other than the above mentioned benefits, here are a few more reasons that surveys can be so valuable to your business.

• Affordable market research.
• It’s fully traceable in real time.
• It’s a quick and effective solution to finding out what your clients / potential clients WANT.
• Saves you time doing research yourself manually.
• Quicker and higher response rate.
• People who take surveys are able to take the surveys in their own time and in the privacy of their own homes
• No telephone calls and having to leave messages, miss the call, be told you must phone them back – HUGE cost saving!

How do I run the survey?

OK, this can be the tricky part. Here are a few ideas:

• Social channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Your mailing list – send out a mailer to your subscriber list requesting some feedback
• Family and friends
• Previous clients – the good and bad! Those are the ones you want i.e. not just the GOOD
• Speak to companies you are thinking about advertising with or you do advertising with and see if they can help you.

My take on surveys

I started using surveys recently and I’ve found it amazing. I’m passionate about supporting the people who support me and my business. I have always wanted to give back and surveys have allowed me to start doing just that. Understanding what my clients need / want that will help their businesses excites me. Surveys, for me, are a no brainer.

How to do a survey

I make use of Survey Monkey. It’s not that difficult to use and well it’s worked for me, so I have no reason to look elsewhere. And, what’s great is that if you want to start small, they have a FREE starter package (BASIC) where you can setup 10 questions and receive up to 100 responses – a great start for you!