QuestionPro Blog

About the Webinar: Ryma’s April 7th webinar will be presented at noon ET by Esther Rmah and Kathryn Korostoff. Regardless of whether your planning your first market research questionnaire or your 10,000th, this webinar is for you if you ever see yourself considering a customer survey again.

The 10 steps for a stress-free customer survey process will contain bits of information that is a result of decades of practice. Esther and Kathryn will be discussing a simple process to write a successful survey, and basic tips when using an online survey tool to ensure data reliability.

Register for the 10-Point Checklist Seminar or Sign up to receive announcements about upcoming seminars.

About the Presenters: Kathryn Korostoff is a market research professional with a special interest in how organizations acquire, manage, and apply market research. Over the past 20 years, she has personally directed more than 600 primary market research projects and published over 100 bylined articles in trade magazines. Currently, Kathryn spends her time assisting companies as they create market research departments, develop market research strategies, or otherwise optimize their use of market research. Prior to Research Rockstar, Kathryn completed the transition of Sage Research–an agency that she founded and led for 13 years– to its new parent company.

She is the author of “How to Hire & Manage Market Research Agencies“,

Esther LaVielle is currently an Account Manager at QuestionPro and Survey Analytics, which was started in 2002 in Seattle and is now one of the fastest growing private companies in the US. Prior to her adventure at QuestionPro she spent 3 years as a Qualitative Project Manager at the Gilmore Research Group.

I first met Prasad Thammineni a couple of years ago.  He asked me to write an article about his new company (then called Pixily).

The Interactive Portion of the Article: (Grab a piece of paper)

Before I tell you what kind of company Pixily is, why don’t you take a few seconds and think about what kind of product or service a company named Pixily might provide?  Write those down. When you’re done reading the article, tell us what you thought that Pixily did and what you think of the new name.

About Pixily

Prasad saw an opportunity for Pixily as soon as he got out of graduate school.  He was saddled with all kinds of papers, documents and research – boxes and boxes of it – and simply didn’t feel like carrying it around with him.  He wanted the information digitized and that meant scanning.  Purchasing a scanner wasn’t expensive.  But the mere thought of sitting there for hours scanning documents by hand wasn’t really appealing.  He could purchase a high-speed scanner.  But that was expensive and when he was done – what would he do with it.

And Pixily was born.  It wouldn’t be too hard for you to imagine the value of having a document scanning service – just like big companies do.  Imagine no longer having to route through those moldy file boxes in your basement for valuable documents, health records or income tax records.  What if you could ship those away in a recyclable safe container, have them scanned and secure online?  Even better, what if you could search and have access to these documents on demand – no matter where you are?!

That was Pixily.  An online document scanning and storage service just for the small office and home office markets.

What’s in a Name?

There was only one problem.  People liked the name Pixily – but they didn’t associate it with the service.  Pixily just didn’t say small business or home office.  Not only that, it didn’t really explain what the company did.  There were other companies that started with the prefix “Pixi” and the poor Pixily people were getting lost in the shuffle.  Potential customers kept thinking Pixily was a video editing company.  This name just wasn’t working.

How We Said Goodbye to Pixily and Hello to OfficeDrop

For the nitty gritty details on the name changing process, I spoke with Healy Jones, OfficeDrop’s head of marketing.  “Pixily, as a company loved its name.  There were quite a few Pixily customers that loved the name too.  But we knew they had to make a change.” He said, and this is how they did it.

Healy gave me a virtual step-by-step of how Pixily became OfficeDrop.  No expensive consultants were used to develop this new brand,  just a lot of common sense brainstorming, crowdsourcing and customer contact.  Here are my notes from our conversation.

1. Sit down and get everyone on the same page about what’s wrong with the current name you have.  “In our case, we intuitively knew that having people who love your name, misspell your name was a problem”
2. Set goals around the attributes of the new name.  “We wanted our name to be easy to spell and easy to remember.  We wanted the name to reflect what we did, be between 10 and 12 letters and be easy to type on a keyboard.”
3. We did some brainstorming internally.  We created a list of 90 names, then we took that list and checked it against what domains were available using the WHOIS directory.  After that process, we were left with about 30 names.
4. Next we created a survey on Google Docs.  We created a survey that took the 30 names and created 3 groups of 10.  Then we asked employees to force rank them.  Our goal was to get to a final group of 7 names.
5. We selected a group of trusted customers and talked to them about the short list of names we had come up with.  You could call these in-depth-interviews.  We simply had conversations with them.  Showed them the names, asked them which they liked and why.  We got some interesting feedback from those and were able to eliminate some from the short list just from that feedback.
6. Finally, it was time for our HUGE survey.  We did an e-mail blast to our list of several thousand customers and got several hundred responses.  Now we had something statistical.  We asked people what they thought of each name and gave them a space to write down their responses.  I grouped the responses in positive and negative groups. And finally, we had OfficeDrop that came out as the overall best name for us.

You can see that this process was fairly straightforward and yielded good results for very little money.

Here is a summary of symptoms for a name change and some resource ideas if you’re contemplating a name change.

Symptoms of a Pending Name Change

• People misspell your company name.
• Customers are confused about what you do.
• It’s holding you back from reaching new customers.
• Marketing your company is expensive because what you provide isn’t intuitive.
• People think you provide one thing and you actually do something completely different.

Tips and Resources For Name Changers

• Brainstorming: The OfficeDrop team simply got together and used sticky notes and index cards to come up with their 90 names.  You can try some of these brainstorming sites and articles to kick start your session.
• Survey Tools:  The OfficeDrop folks developed their internal survey on Google Docs.  Then they used Constant Contact’s survey tool for their large survey blast.  QuestionPro has forced ranking questions that makes tabulating this information easier.

Tell Us What You Think

• So, tell us what you thought that Pixily did and what you think of the new name- Office Drop.
• Has your organization gone through a name change?  What tips and resources can you offer and share?

Last month’s blog post focused on the basics of optimized copywriting – text that uses relevant keyphrases to attract increased targeted traffic to your website.

This month, we’ll delve more deeply into how to write persuasive text that helps to convert prospects into buyers. We’ll focus on the differences between writing about features of your products and/or services and the benefits of those products and/or services – and demonstrate how compelling benefit statements draw in prospects.

Features of Products and Services

Product example: Let’s say that you’re selling access to a web app that allows companies to get quick snapshots of their current cash flow positions.

The features of your product might include tools that allow for fast easy entry of data and for the creation of reports that organize your information in helpful ways.

Service example: Maybe you own a professional organizer business. An important feature of your service package may include a follow up consultation with your clients to reinforce new organizational habits in them.

What’s next?

Take a step back to think about why someone might be interested in your product (cash flow web app) or service (professional organization).

• If your company markets the web app, prospects might like the fact that getting a cash flow report is now faster and easier.
• If you’re the professional organizer, your prospects might feel that they’ll get more work done and manage their time more efficiently if they can master organizational strategies.

Benefits of Products and Services

Now, let’s get to the heart of the matter: how purchasing your product or service can benefit your prospects!

Product example: When someone purchases access to your cash flow web app, he or she will definitely save time; but he or she will also have nearly immediate access to valuable data about the business’s cash position. This means that your prospects will be able to use the time saved – and the incredible information gathered – to make quality decisions that can help grow their businesses.

Which headline would get your attention more?

Features with minor benefit: With the ABC cash flow web app’s new and improved tools, you can finish your reports more quickly!

or:

Benefits focused: With the ABC cash flow web app, you’ll have vital information right at your fingertips, allowing you to make the best decisions for the growth of your business.

Service example: Let’s now look at the professional organization consultation. With your seminar feature, your prospects can discover organizational techniques, which will certainly make for a neater office – but, more importantly, these techniques can free up time, which could be used to pursue personal and business goals and dreams.

Again, which headline would grab your attention?

Features: Learn organization techniques with Sandra’s seminars – and receive a follow-up consultation!

or:

Benefits: Free up your time to pursue the dreams of a lifetime with Sandra’s organization services and her personalized one-on-one consultations.

Something to Think About

Take a look at your own website. Are you sharing the features of your products and/or services – or the ways in which prospects can truly benefit from choosing your company? If you’re spending too much time on the features, how can you edit the text to bring the incredible benefits of your products and/or services to the forefront?

Next month, we’ll share part 3 of our successful copywriting series – giving you more information to help attract targeted traffic (sales leads!) to your website.

This month’s opportunities:

Knowledge is power – this month, you’ll be filling any gaps in your understanding of SEO copywriting.

1. Read through the Search Marketing Terms Glossary
2. A few quick reads about blogging:
   1. Discover how to create an editorial calendar for your site’s blog.
   2. See how corporate blogs really do influence buying decisions.
3. Read about how to create effective landing page copy on your site.
4. Discover what questions your prospects are asking – and then answer them on your site.
5. Bonus: read back issues of the newsletter here: http://www.thesearchguru.com/email-archive.asp to learn more.
6. Burning question or comment? Email me at Results@TheSearchGuru.com.

About the Author: 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 orResults@TheSearchGuru.com.

You can’t be all things to all people. Surveys can double as valuable tools to identify specific market niches to grow your business. When you’re trying to glean valuable feedback and data upon which marketing decisions are made, “speaking the language” of each niche will also give you better results. Here’s how…

To get survey data you can actually use, it helps to start with an understanding of who you’re actually hearing from (or who you should be talking to). Then you can process their responses with their unique qualities in mind for stronger results and better decisions.

And it gets even better…

Those same qualities may also reveal a new niche for your business. And once you establish customer preferences based on actual data (instead of hunches and coin tosses), it’s far easier to strategically market to them and grow your business. When you need to “speak their language,” first you need to establish what that language is.

Now, “speaking their language” in this case has nothing to do with Spanish, English, etc. It means communicating the way your target does, building trust and interest so they actually respond to your query. No response, no data — which means the right wording is paramount.

Of course, a survey is only as good as the quality of questions asked. You know the common tips, like using simple language, asking closed-ended questions, keeping it short and interesting, etc. But there’s more to it if you want to encourage response.

For starters, forget what your English professor taught you! Instead, phrase your questions in simple conversational style and “talk” the way they do. Adapt your style to the audience. Experienced biomedical engineers will require a different style than retired senior citizens. Know your list well enough to phrase your questions in a way they can understand. Make it a pleasure to respond by the words you choose.

In addition to having an idea about who it is you’re asking, keep in mind which opinions are most valuable to your project. Once established, frame your questions around those people. Is there one group over another you value more, such as a physician’s opinion versus their office manager, or a purchasing director’s ideas over those of a business owner? Let your questions and answer options reflect their language skills and lifestyle preferences.

To give additional perspective to you responses, consider including questions using OPM (other people’s marketing) to do the work for you. This can also add a bit more pleasure to the survey experience.

For instance, if you’re polling “female professionals” and want to understand “Who is this person?” consider using fun-to-answer questions that reveal a deeper dimension without digging. For instance, if you’re trying to establish the socio-economic background or “status” of a female professional, you might ask their favorite place to purchase clothes for their work, and how often they shop there. “Talbots” or “Nordstrom” tells a different story about that person than “Wal-Mart” or “JC Penney’s”. Use some questions to fill in the blanks about background.

NOTE: Now, I don’t want to get into a big debate about the dangers of stereotypes and assumptions. But if your project is more “survey” than research, go ahead and put those stereotypes to work for you. If you can’t afford to make assumptions, then go ahead and ask the extra 12 qualifying questions (at a risk of people feeling “probed” and leaving the survey before completion). You know your business best. Do what makes sense for your project.

Certain questions will help you establish specific niches and needs for your marketing. One strong niche can be a goldmine for your business. It’s all about sifting through the data to uncover a niche within your market to grow your sales. Surveys are a valuable tool to help you do just that.

Think “soccer mom.” Instead of going after a broader market segment of “middle class families,” the attributes of the “soccer mom” create a much stronger marketing target. Use your survey tactics to establish who they are, identify their preferences, and use them to your advantage. When your surveys focus on a single specific niche, even poor results will tell you something.

Finding the right words for your survey questions can do more than give you valuable feedback about your business. The results can also uncover unique market segments to help grow your business.  Your questions can reveal more than just simple preferences. Use them to discover trends, data to guide you as you create fresh products, reposition existing offerings, and expand your business. It’s easy, once you speak the right language.

What is the One Percent Difference?

Einstein once said “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

What that suggests is that we must take input from others and look at the problem with a fresh set of eyes, with Zen eyes. Stated differently, we must look at the problem with a beginners mind. In a beginners mind there are no preconceived notions about how a problem can be solved; there are just possibilities, without judgment, that can be used to solve a specific problem.

That begs the question of how do you change your level of consciousness to experience the beginner’s mind?

I believe you can do that through The One Percent Difference.

If we define The One Percent Difference as one new thought that enters your consciousness that change how you think, and hence how you act, you have experienced the One Percent Difference and created the beginner’s mind. This One Percent can make the difference between success and failure.  Over time that small change in thinking can change your life in a very big way.

Massive changes are not needed. Just simply changes. We are looking to achieve a simple One Percent difference in how we view a specific problem so that we can look at it the problem as Einstein suggested, with a new level of consciousness.

How do we achieve this One Percent Change in thinking? It is not as hard as you think. Two areas that work for most people are getting feedback from our trusted advisors and continuous education. I find my advisors to be essential in thinking differently about my problems and understanding that none of us are without problems.

From our peers we can experience great change safely. This is because multiple minds and multiple experiences allow for a new way of looking at things. This results in better decisions and safer decisions. The other area is via ongoing education. The best tool I found is www.ilearningglobal.tv. I was so impressed with it I signed up to distribute it. My clients love it. To learn more go to www.ilearningglobal.biz./ronf.

Frankly it does not matter what tools you use, you must act on what you learn. Being part of a great group do no good if you do not act. Having access to the greatest minds is useless unless you apply what you learn.

Try to look at each situation with a beginners mind and make no assumption or judgments about a give situation. Learn from others who have been there either via your mastermind group or a more structure learning environment.  Most importantly take action!

About the Author: Ron Finklestein is an author and success coach.  His company, AKRIS works with entrepreneurs and business owners who want to build their business and balance their life.  Ron is called “Your Small Business Success Expert” by his clients because of his passion for their success and his knowledge of business.