There’s no better way of knowing your customer’s thoughts than by asking them directly. Do you have specific products sitting stagnant at your shelves? Why don’t you turn to your shoppers to know how they see those products to understand their behavior towards it? Still don’t know how to do it? The answer is simple; surveys.
You can survey your customers either in-store or online. Doing this properly will lead you to a supply of precious customer data on their experience which can help you on your next business decisions.
Check out some of the things that you have to do to properly conduct customer surveys and assess your store operations so you can improve your services:
Know the Right Questions to Ask
None of this would matter if you don’t ask the right questions, regardless if you have all the right instruments. You have to make sure you relate it to your customers’ in-store experiences because this will show you the flaws that you have from the perspective of the shoppers. It is what will give you guidance on how you can improve the image of your brand. Aside from their experience, you can also ask your customers about specific products, and other sensory elements within your business.
Make Sure Your Survey is Interesting and Encouraging
You won’t have the data you need if your customers are uncooperative. So, sometimes you have to adjust to them and find out what could motivate them to be more open in providing their feedback; whether its through setting up devices in your stores or through email so it can be easier and faster to access.
Time is also a huge factor on this, no matter how they value your survey, there will come a time that they’ll get bored of it so do not make it too long. Keep it as short and as comprehensive as possible because know that customers only spend less than a minute in answering each question and expecting them to spend hours on your whole survey is too much. So, if you are seeking highly-detailed responses to open-ended questions, then limit the total number of your questions.
Invest on Staff Training and Marketing to Promote Your Survey
Being successful on gathering important data also comes with a cost. Promoting your survey is also necessary as some people will not be willing to take it without an extra push. But, with highly-skilled staff, it would be easier to encourage them to take it. This is crucial if you are gathering open-ended answers along with ratings. This leads you to repeated comments which require you to take a specific action.
As you go on with your survey, changes will have to be done on the questions based on the information you collect. You may soon notice what questions are too vague or misleading as part of survey implementation and review.
Establish a Reward System to Encourage Your Customers to Complete Your Survey
Using discounts, promos, and other rewards, you can give an extra encouragement for your shoppers to complete customers experience surveys. Knowing that they will be rewarding for it will make them more willing to give valuable information that can help you and your business succeed.
Understand and appreciate the value of doing customer survey. This is one of the important and worthy investments that you can make in your business and you can benefit from it big time as long as you have the right strategy to gather useful information.