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School is in Session

November 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Today’s guest post is from the team at ALL Things CRM, a comprehensive and easy-to-understand resource where you can learn about all aspects of customer relationship management, and the best ways to achieve superior results for your business.

You have probably seen the acronym CRM floating around online, and might have seen the word contact management along with it, but thought little of either. For the business world, they are very important things to know about, and are easy to understand. CRM, or customer relationship management, is used to describe the methods in which a company manages it’s customer base. A comprehensive CRM system includes different elements for sales and marketing, and one of these important elements is contact management.

Today, companies interact with customers in a variety of ways: over the Internet through chat, over the phone, by e-mail, through social networking, and more. When a company uses multiple channels for customer service, information can get lost in the shuffle, leading to unhappy customers down the road. With CRM and contact management, you can easily organize that information, helping to make your business better and create happy, satisfied customers.

Every business in the world needs some type of contact management system, especially if they do their business primarily online or through e-mail. The reason for this is so that every e-mail will be saved, contact information will be up to date, and lists or groups can be made to make sure each customer receives the right information. Special marketing e-mails or newsletters can be sent at any time to this list of either previous clients or potential clients.

In order to get the most out of your CRM system or platform, make sure that contact management is part of the package. CRMs have many additional functions, too. They can keep track of inventory, record employee/customer interaction, and can even record a customer’s previous purchases and personal information. All this information is valuable to a company, as it is the needed information for future sales and customer service needs. CRM allows any business large, or small to interact with the customer quickly and efficiently through a variety of different ways.

Just as there are different versions of office management software, document management software, there are different versions of CRM and contact management, each with their own unique solutions. For instance, operational CRM handles marketing campaigns, while analytical CRM bases its operations on data received from customers. Sales intelligence CRM is like analytical CRM in that it shows what the customer behavior is allowing a company to up-sell, or to tailor their sales, but it is more of a direct marketing tool which offers sales alerts that sales staff can offer to customers.

Contact management programs also analyze and store statistics and responses to sales campaigns. With the right CRM in place, a company will interact with customers through several departments like sales, technical support and marketing, thus allowing for smoother transactions and storing of important customer information and histories.

Newer contact management programs also use <a href=“http://www.allthingscrm.com/social-networking-for-business”>social networking</a> sites like Twitter, Facebook and others to gauge customers sentiment toward a certain product, and to help a company interact with potential customers from social network sites.

Whichever system you choose, make sure it will be compatible with your existing services. There are many solutions that are based online, or “in the cloud,” that are easily accessed through just a web browser, and can be accessed on any mobile computing device as well. The advancement of technology has made it easier than ever to provide great customer service at a fraction of what it used to cost.

Categories: customer research · marketing strategy

How to Create an Irrisistable Offer

November 16, 2009 · 1 Comment

iStock_000003164931XSmall

Let’s get one thing straight.  You don’t sell products or services – you provide offerings. There’s a difference.  And the difference is so much bigger than semantics.  In fact, if you are struggling with what makes your company unique, then this distinction will really help.

Products are things. Services are actions. People are priceless.  But Offerings are Everything that’s Uniquely YOU.

Picture your offering being everything – the entire package that you offer to your customers – just as a butler would.  You are the butler, serving your customers and the offering is the unique combination of product, service and people presented in your unique way.  If each of us is unique, then by definition your company and it’s offerings are like no other.

6 Steps to your unique Irrisistable Offering

It’s one thing to talk about irrisitable offerings and quite another to actually create them.  Here’s an easy way to start from scratch and finish irrisistable at any price.

  1. Develop an a la carte menu with prices. List every product, service and value-added activity.  Don’t skip anythin g, you can edit later.  The products and services should be easy.  It’s those little unique things that matter, that you do for your customers that no one acknowledges or knows about that add value, but kill you because they are hidden from the customer.  So, if you follow-up every order with a personal phone call, list it.  If you spend time with customers on the phone helping them decide on what to buy, list it.  You get the picture.
  2. Create a “sampling” or starter package option for new customers. People want immediate gratification.  How will you give it to them.  Look through your a la carte list and start putting things together into packages. Give them something for very little investment that will allow them to sample your offering without a major commitment.  It’s a two way street.  You want to know they are a good customer, and they want to know that you give them what’s important to them.
  3. Give them an option to move up. If the sampling stage goes well – then give them more of the same with options to ramp up to more.  Go back to your list and choose more product, service or people.
  4. Give your offering fun names that clearly communicate the benefit. People can’t have an interest in something they don’t understand, and they won’t buy something that doesn’t clearly communicate a solution or the delivery of a want or desire.
  5. Make it a good value. It’s all about trading cash for what we want.  Put some time into doing the math and then communicating it clearly. Stay away from percentages – that’s too vague.  Stick with real numbers like $20 off, for example.
  6. Give it away. If you do the math and you understand how much profit you make on each customer – then don’t be afraid to give things away.  Instead of coupons, try gift certificates of real value e.g. $50.  Honor them – that means if people come in and buy less, so be it.  They got into the store, they had the experience – and that’s more value than you’d get from a $600 dollar ad.  Chances are really good that people will buy MORE than the certificate and in that case, it’s advertising that pays for itself.

You can build an irresistible offering no matter how long you’ve been in business — it’s not just for new companies or start-ups.   Building a new and irresistible offering can actually revitalize your bottom line.  This is an ideal time to create a new offer for the holiday season, for year end and for the beginning of a new year.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.

Categories: marketing strategy

Small Talk is Big Business

November 13, 2009 · 2 Comments

Woman holding megaphoneI listened in on a recent Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) webinar in which John Moore, of Brand Autopsy stated:

Social Media helps small businesses seem big and big businesses act small

Knowing the psychographics of your customers can help you not just act small but be small and have one to one level conversations with them.  This is exactly what will ignite positive word of mouth for your business!

According to Forrester Research, 94% of consumers trust Word of Mouth and 84% of business buyers say Word of Mouth has the greatest influence over their purchase decisions, far surpassing any form of paid media. Nielsen, the market research firm, recently called Word of Mouth “the world’s most powerful sales tool.”  Social media only amplifies word of mouth.

What information helps big business create profitable small talk?

  • Knowing your client’s contact sphere

Get to know where they spend time.  It could be with an organization. It could be within an industry specific association.  It could be where they find the latest information for their profession.  Knowing your client’s associations, will help you understand the current conversations they’re participating in and what matters to them.

If you would like to jump in on the conversations, be in the know and genuinely care what’s new for your client’s or what’s causing the most pain – find out their associations and set up a Google alert to give you updates on the latest information posted to the web.

Now, you can engage your clients about what’s on their mind, engages them and incites action.

  • Know your client’s circle of influence

Do you know who they influence or impact?  It could be students, people they mentor or people they’ve helped.  Often when you make a difference in the life of someone, they feel such tremendous gratitude.  This gratitude influence them to assist in a way that makes them feel that there’s balance between what you received and what you eventually give them.

Know who they are “the best customers” for. If you follow the checkbook, you’ll see who your clients directly influence through their livelihood.  This “food chain” can reveal to you who your client’s influence.

What a tremendous way to engage in one-to-one conversations that are meaningful and presented in a manner that is comfortable and familiar to them.

Find out:

  • What they like to read
  • Where they spend their lunchtime
  • Are they members of:
    • Social service organizations
    • Industry associations
    • Reunion event or educational
    • Volunteer organization

Author: Maria Elena Duron | chief buzz officer, speaker and coach focused on helping you move, touch and inspire others to action and speak positively on your behalf at buzz2bucks | word of mouth firm

Categories: Uncategorized

3 ways to Magnetize People to Your Brand Using Social Media!

November 11, 2009 · 2 Comments

magnetYou’ve seen people with thousands of fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook. You’ve heard stories of people selling services and products and making money with Social Media but you haven’t been able to get any significant amount of followers or generate any interest, much less income, using these tools. You may be ready to shrug this Social Media thing off as a fad.

There are over 300 million users on Facebook alone, with the largest growing demographic being 35 and older.  It stands to reason that many of the people who are interacting or have to potential to encounter your brand off line are already on line.  Before you throw out this strategy as a complete waste of time, you may just need to tweak a few things to make your brand more attractive and draw people to you.

What separates brands that succeed from brands that fail is the ability to connect and engage.

Here are 3 ways to attract people to your brand:

Build Relevant Content

People don’t care about your brand, unless they feel that your brand cares about them. Position yourself as a resource to your Social Media friends, fans, followers and community by talking about what’s important to them, as it relates to what you do.  Successful brands take the talk beyond the product and branch out into conversations that relate peripherally to their brands.  Beverage companies talk about parties, insurance brands talk about safety and protecting what you care about most, PR brands talk about how to shine in the community. Social Media is a huge data mine. That’s one of it’s most amazing benefits. Not just data in the traditional sense, of how many people are looking at a site, but relevant data about how people think and feel.  If you listen carefully, you’ll be able to build content and have conversations that build trust and make you memorable.

Connect With Communities

To expand your network, so let everyone you know that you’re on Social Meda.  Promote your presence on your business cards, websites, other social media sites.  Let people know where they can find you.  Follow and engage your customers and people on Social Media.  Social Media is about conversations. Talk, listen, learn and respond.  Talk to people. Share what you think and know, as well as your content, products and services.  Balance sharing with promoting.  Listen to your customers and respond, show interest in what matters.  By interacting and engaging, you’ll be able to make the transition from a company on the outside; you’ll be a trusted member of the community.

Communicate with Consistency

Building and maintaining relationships requires consistency.  Once relationships are established, consistent communication within the communities is needed.  Be sure to communicate with your Social Media communities regularly.  This can be via a status update, blog post or content from other sources.  Setting up profiles and then going silent will cause followers to shift to more engaging brands.

About the Author: If you’ve ever wondered how you’re going to build your brand using social media, then pay attention to our our guest columnist today.  Staci J. Shelton is a social media expert and blogger who specializes in building and maximizing online relationships.

Categories: Uncategorized

CRM: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Application

November 9, 2009 · 1 Comment

customer services representativeToday’s guest post is from the team at ALL Things CRM, a comprehensive and easy-to-understand resource where you can learn about all aspects of customer relationship management, and the best ways to achieve superior results for your business.

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is a crucial part of a successful business. This is a process that involves gathering information on a company’s customers in order to meet their needs more effectively and efficiently. The primary piece of information used is service or product history. That is, what has each specific customer purchased or utilized in the past. Additionally, what are the little things that said customer appreciates, what do they like and dislike and how did previous interactions go? All of this information is relatively easy to collect. Most customers are willing to complete simple feedback surveys, send a quick e-mail with suggestions or answer questions in a phone call. Once this data is collected it can also easily be stored in a database or attached to customer records in other ways. However, it is much more difficult to take that feedback and implement the suggestions or desires that the customers have relayed.

One of the best ways to apply the feedback is by simply making it available to those within the company who have contact with the customer. This means having the history of previous products and services readily available. Additionally, having easy access to notes from previous conversations or e-mails helps greatly in meeting the customer’s needs and makes each contact personal. It can also help prevent revisiting hot button issues, or at least prepare the customer service representative if a difficult situation may arise.

CRM is also immensely valuable when it comes to marketing and product development. Reviewing and implementing customer feedback regarding current products, as well as considering recommendations for future products or services, will help a company meet the needs of its current customers and anticipate those of potential customers. Some of the best product improvement or innovation comes from listening to feedback and responding accordingly. Additionally, such feedback will show areas of strength, and those that need to be improved upon or removed all together. This is true for both services and products.

Asking customers for feedback, listening to it, and even building databases of the feedback are all beneficial steps for any business. However, all of the feedback in the world will not do any good if it is not analyzed and implemented into plans for a company’s growth and improvement. There are many ways to use the feedback received, it is only a matter of determining the best way for your company. CRM allows companies more time to communicate with customers, and build stronger, longer lasting relationships along the way.

Categories: customer research · marketing strategy

How to Define, Create and Measure Customer Experience

November 6, 2009 · 1 Comment

iStock_000006875088XSmallIt’s very hip in marketing circles to talk about customer experience.  Nailing down the critical ingredients that comprise a customer experience, however,  can get tricky and make it difficult to craft a system that delivers a high-quality experience for your customer — every time.

Experience is More Than a Story

You may have noticed that whenever there are articles or case studies that reference customer experiences, they take the form of a story or a report on what happened and how it make the customer feel.  We aren’t often treated to the mechanics of how the company actually designed or created this experience.  In fact, we’re often left with the impression that these experiences are somehow magical and serendipitous.  Yet, we all know that cannot be the case.  World Class customer service happens by design and not by chance.

Five Decisions Your Company Makes That Drive Loyalty and Customer Experience

In her new book I Love You More Than My Dog, Jeanne Bliss outlines the five decisions “beloved” companies make that not only attract customers, but built insane loyalty and love for the company:

  1. Decide to believe and to trust customers and employees
  2. Decide with clarity and purpose on what you are in business to do
  3. Decide to be real, authentic and human
  4. Decide to be there for your customers when and where they need you
  5. Decide to say I’m sorry when you are wrong

If your company uses this route to create and design a system around customer experience, then measuring your customers’ experience with you becomes a lot easier.  Now that your experience measures have been narrowed down to these five decisions, you can create simple questions around each attribute and measure your customers’ quality of experience.  Of course, don’t forget to add the all-important Net Promoter Question (How likely are you to refer [company name] to a friend or family member].

Four Attributes That Make Up Customer Experience

There are four elements or attributes that make up customer experience:

  1. Feelings. When measuring customer experience, be sure to give customers specific feelings to rate or note specifically what they are feeling at different points of their experience.  Feelings are difficult for most people voice, so be sure to give them a list that they can choose from.  You will be amazed at what your customers come up with.
  2. Body Sensations: This is an unusual attribute to note, but it is a critical component of your customers’ experience.  Perhaps the best way to get to this attribute is through focus groups or through observations of your customers around your product or service.
  3. Attitudes:  Your customers’ attitudes around your product or service are really habits of thought.  For example, Southwest Airlines projects an overall attitude of “Fun” that they want to create for their customers.  Lands’ End works toward creating an attitude of care and empathy around how their customers experience their products in terms of ordering, receiving and returning what they’ve ordered.
  4. Thoughts:  What thoughts do your customers have when they are experiencing your product or service?  The immediate example that comes to mind is Apple Computers and the advertisements they have that feature the thoughts that Microsoft customers might have versus Apple Computer customers have.

Customer experience doesn’t have to be this nebulous, magical chemistry that your company creates.  You can literally define, design, create and measure how your customers experience your product or service.  Use these points as a jumping-off point to begin measuring your customers’ experience.  Create questions around them and start adjusting your process in  a way that improves that experience and you will see your bottom line improve.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.

Categories: marketing strategy

Double Opt In vs. Single Opt In: Which is Better for Building Your List?

November 4, 2009 · Leave a Comment

iStock_000001831388XSmallOne of the reasons we do surveys is to try and figure out what’s important to our customers – so we can do more of the good stuff, and less of the stuff that irritates them.  In this months guest post from Patti Renner, That Landing Page Lady, Patti shares some recent findings on how customers like to receive information.  There’s been a lot of discussion about whether it’s better to use a single opt-in (where the customer simply enters their e-mail) or double opt-in, where the customer enters their e-mail, wait for a confirming e-mail and then authorizes you to send them more information.  Read on – the results will surprise you.

You have a nice website… a beautifully crafted landing page… a tempting free white paper report… and you’re ready for people to start handing over their email addresses so you can start marketing directly to them.

Hey, it’s working! People are signing up. Your list is growing….But how good a list is it?

Traditional online marketing often focuses on identifying a specific audience, then building a brand-based relationship with those people. One way to do this is by developing a “list,” which is a group of names and emails of people who have expressed an interest in what you have to offer.

When online marketing types say “The Money is in the List,” they’re really saying that it’s easier and more cost-effective to market and sell to the people who have requested information from you — usually with better results. Subscribing to your list (giving you their email information) is called the “opt-in.”

“Single opt in” means people simply signed up. One way or another, they gave you their email address and you have them on a list, ready to market to them.

“Double opt in” means that the people who gave you their email address received a confirmation email from you, asking them to confirm their email and request for information from you. It’s one more hoop for people to have to jump through, yet many online marketers seem attached to this concept.

Your list continues to grow. Like most conscientious marketing people, as you get into your campaign, you also start tracking the subscriber statistics from your contact-management service.

When you look at the numbers, you see that you have a nice click-through rate from your landing page where people sign up. But when you look at the same-day numbers of subscriptions, you notice you’re losing people when they’re asked to confirm their subscriptions via email. What the heck is going on here?!?

Can you afford to lose these people? Is there something you should be doing to keep them?

Confused? You’re not alone. The confirmation process — single opt in versus double opt in — is a constant source of debate.

After all, if the money is in the list, then does that mean you could be losing money (or future customers) simple because your prospects are not finishing the last step of the subscription process? On the other hand, how good a prospect are they if they don’t take five seconds to click through to finish the process!

All of this begs the question: Which is better… a bigger list (single opt in) or better list (double opt in)?

Which is right for you?

If your list is specifically for direct response marketing — asking people to take some sort of action at your suggestion — then the double opt in is the way to go. A better quality list is worth the wait.

Don’t take my word for it. Recently Daniel Levis in “The Total Package”  put single opt in versus double opt in to the test. Everyone seems to push the confirmation step as the best way to go, but he wanted real data to actually support the myth.

He found that of the 2,624 who signed on using a single opt in method, 0% converted into real customers (read: bought something) in a later mailing. Zero… nada… zilch.

That, compared to the 1,921 who took the time to double opt in. From that tighter list, he saw 41% more people who opened the later email… 46% more clicked through… and he got $773 in sales. $773 in sales from a smaller list of double opt ins — versus zero in sales from a larger list built by single opt ins.

Naturally, you get better results marketing to a better list. When you build that list online, it pays to go through that last golden hoop of double opt in confirmation.

Just a simple auto-responder email helps stack the deck in your favor, to weed out the less interested so you can focus on the people who actually want what you’ve got… to grow your online business better.

About the Author: Patti Kuhar Renner is known for her no-nonsense approach for effective marketing messages. A direct response copywriter, she specializes in helping small business perform better online. You can reach her atpatti@pattirenner.com.

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Categories: marketing strategy
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Search Engine Marketing Secret #1: Build Your Site With Search Marketing in Mind

November 2, 2009 · 2 Comments

iStock_000009672940XSmallIf you’ve already invested money in doing customer research on your web site, but you’re still not getting the results you want, you’ll want to tune into our on-going series with Leslie Caruthers, The Search Guru.  It may not be obvious at first, but your web site holds a wealth of data about your customers, who they are, what they like, where they’ve come from and so much more.

In my last article, we talked about what a critical ingredient search engine marketing was to your overall web strategy.  In this part of our series, I’m going to give you some insider tips on how to integrate search engine marketing into your web site and make a more powerful customer magnet.

The top 3 Search Marketing secrets:

1. Build your site in a search friendly way from the start – or get SEO friendly now.

This means working with a developer who really understands the search engines (not one who says they do, but one who REALLY does – they are rare). Or you hire a Search Marketing firm to partner with your web development company to add in the secret sauce Search Engine Optimization (SEO) knowledge.

Many developers don’t fully understand how search engines work and may have inadvertently made it more difficult for search engines to understand your site. Reversing this through search engine optimization on the site will make a huge difference for your business.

A few common problems:

  • Content Management System issues: most are not SEO friendly out of the box.
  • JavaScript navigation that isn’t crawlable
  • No h tags, or h tags used excessively/incorrectly
  • Duplicate content issues
  • Poor internal linking structure

Sign up for our newsletter for a free white paper on search engine friendly website design and share it with your designer and developers.

And don’t forget… While it is critical to rank well with the search engines, you must never forget it is the human customer that matters – search engines don’t buy your products, services or click on your advertisements; people do.

Next month, we’ll share secret #2 – keyphrase research: the foundation of any organic search marketing effort in the next post. You’re going to love keyphrase research – it’s like cracking open the skull of your prospect and watching them think!

This month’s opportunities:

Didn’t take on last month’s search marketing opportunities? Go back and start there – that’s your best bet – then move up to this list after that.

  1. Read the free white paper on usability and design from a search marketing perspective. You can get this singing up for our FREE monthly email newsletter at http://www.TheSearchGuru.com (right hand column).
  2. Bonus: read past blog posts: http://www.thesearchguru.com/blog/ and back issues of the newsletter here: http://www.thesearchguru.com/email-archive.asp to learn more.
  3. Register for Google Analytics if you haven’t yet: http://www.google.com/analytics/
  4. Register for Google Webmaster Tools http://www.thesearchguru.com/google-webmaster-tools.asp if you haven’t yet.
  5. Read through the Search Marketing Terms Glossary and catch up on basic terminology.
  6. Burning question or comment? Email me at Results@TheSearchGuru.com.

Leslie Carruthers is President of The Search Guru, a best practices full services Search Marketing firm creating breakthrough results for their clients since 2004. Leslie can be reached at 440-306-2418 or Results@TheSearchGuru.com.

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Categories: marketing strategy
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Can You Create Delighted Customers With Just One Voice Mail?

October 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

customer services representativeCan “being human” actually differentiate your business and  actually endear your customer to you?  Zane Safrit, the author of today’s guest post, gives a resounding “Yes!”  Check out his experience and see how you can tweak your customer interactions for the better.

Barb called me last week.  I was on the phone, so she left me a voice mail.  I started to smile almost from the start of her message.   Her voice was personal and conversational;  like a neighbor across the fence back when we had neighbors we knew and fences that kept us friends.  If she worked from a script it was a script she wrote. She got right to the point of her call: had I received her company’s mater ials.  She commented on Iowa; that she had a connection with Iowa and maybe we’d get to meet in person sometime. That told me she had prepared for the call by reviewing my profile.  She understood that there was a person behind that account number in their records.

I kept smiling as I listened. My wife asked “Who’s that?” I asked her to wait. I wanted to hear the whole message.  The next thing I knew,  I was laughing.  Her voice mail made laugh. Why? I was so happy to hear such a warm, personal and very professional voice mail.  ”Yes,”  I thought.  ”It is possible!”   Everything she said communicated not only her warmth but her confidence, and commitment, to her role and her company.  Barb and her message reinforced in a real and meaningful way the principles of her company.

Barb works for Kevin Eikenberry and the Kevin Eikenberry Group.  Her call in some respects was the standard follow-up call for a new customer.  I say ‘standard’ because good companies make this a standard practice.  But Barb and The Kevin Eikenberry Group transformed this standard tactic into something memorable.  I saved the voice mail.  It became something to celebrate.

How did they do that?  And more importantly, how can your company create this same kind of delight and enthusiasm with your customers?

It starts clarity.  Kevin is clear in creating and communicating his purpose with The Kevin Eikenberry Group.   That clarity makes it easier to hire people whose skills and talents, passions and strengths, align together.

Then the secret ingredient of great leadership is added: Trust.   Barb trusts that Kevin can honor his commitments. Kevin trusts Barb can honor her commitment.  Barb trusts herself.  She trusts what she says about her company. That’s why she can speak in her own words.  And maybe Kevin trusts Barb to add what only Barb can add; her great personality.

The Kevin Eikenberry Group is in the business of Leadership coaching.  And that might make you think that thsis type of phone experience is something they specialize in and that it’s just for those “fluffy” kinds of companies.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Leadership coaching is not a commoditized industry. Even if it were, The Kevin Eikenberry Group would stand out. They would remain a standout in their customer’s minds with the personal attention of Barb.

But what about your industry? How do you differentiate yourself from the hordes of competitors driving your industry into commodity-hell?  Consider what Kevin did.  He created a meaningful purpose, he communicated it clearly and consistently.  He hired ‘Barb’.  Barb provides the finishing touch, the personal touch that delivers customer evangelists who spend an afternoon crafting a blog post that celebrates their company and her voice mail.

About the author: Zane Safrit’s passion is small business and the operations excellence required to deliver a product that creates word-of-mouth, customer referrals and instills pride in those whose passion created it. He previously served as CEO of a small business. Zane’s blog can be found at Zane Safrit.

Categories: Branding

How to Set Customer Survey Objectives: Design Your Survey With the End in Mind

October 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment

iStock_000008258212XSmall

“Begin with the end in mind” is the number two habit of Highly Successful People for a reason: you want to focus your energy on actually doing what counts instead of counting what you’re doing.

My favorite way to begin any survey project is to bring the team into a room and say “In the next hour, we are going to be spending about $50,000 (this is the estimated cost of everyone in the room for that hour) to discuss our customer satisfaction survey.  Let’s pretend that the results are in and that we have been tasked with  improving the customer satisfaction measure from 3.5 to 7.5.  Based on this information, what should we do next?”

This opening remark usually gets everyone’s attention because it brings home two very important points:

  1. Pulling people in a room costs a lot of money – so we’d better not waste any time.
  2. If you’re going to pull people into a room at $50,000 an hour – you’d better have something more specific than “measure the level of customer satisfaction” as a survey objective.

How to Set Actionable Survey Objectives

The first step in setting actionable survey objectives is to stop and think about why you are doing the survey in the first place.  What decisions are you about to make where honest feedback will help you decide one way or the next?

  • If you’re launching a new product, how many customers do you need to “raise their hand” and say they will consider purchasing the offer you’ve come up with?
  • Are you considering expanding your customer service hours?  What hours are you considering?  How many customers have to say that they are interested to make this worthwhile to explore further?
  • What’s more important to your customer?  Would they rather see a sales rep to help them decide what they want or have the ability to place their order online with no sales support – but a lower price?

These are just a few examples of actual business decisions you may be considering, but may NOT have considered including as a part of your survey process.

Whenever we’re given the opportunity to ask our customers questions and find out what they think, we suddenly jump into a sort of frenzy around all the things we would just LOVE to know about our customers.  We imagine the day that the report comes back and eagerly rustle through the answers as if this report were a sort of slam book we sent around the room to see how people answered the question “Funniest Person You Know.”

Customer surveys are serious business.  Most people didn’t like taking surveys when the economy was booming, and chances are your respondents are more pressed for time than ever.  Make each question count and make sure that you will get answers that will allow your team to take action.

When you’re done constructing your survey, create random answers to each of the questions.  For example, if the question was “How would you rate your online customer service experience” and you received a rating of 5 out of 10, what would you do next?  If you are not sure or you are unclear as to how you would handle that $50,000 an hour team meeting, then you need to make an adjustment to that question.  Keep tweaking the question and testing the question by simply making up answers at different levels to see if you will actually be able to take action on the results.

So the next time you’re ready to do a survey, begin with your end actions in mind and you’ll not only get better customer feedback, you’ll get happier, more loyal customers when they see you implementing the feedback they gave.

About the Author: Ivana Taylor is CEO of Third Force, a strategic firm that helps small businesses get and keep their ideal customer. She’s the co-author of the book “Excel for Marketing Managers” and proprietor of DIYMarketers, a site for in-house marketers. Her blog is Strategy Stew.

Categories: customer research
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