Small businesses benefit when they measure the opinions of both their current and prospective customers. Whether you are the owner of a production microbrewery, small bakery, or transportation service, your small business can benefit from surveying to gather information and gauge customer likes and dislikes, wants, and expectations of your business.
One of the best ways to gather survey data is through an online opinion survey, like through Valued Opinions™. Mobile technology (i.e. smart phones and tablet computers) and the availability of hosting sites make creating and managing a survey easy to do. But how do you garner interest in your online survey in order to elicit feedback and gather the data you want? Here are some ways to help you attract survey takers and get the information you desire.
Offer Incentives for Taking the Survey
One of the easiest ways to get people interested in taking your online survey is by incentivising customers to go online and take the survey. Place notices on your company’s website and around your business alerting customers of the importance of their participation and feedback. You can offer a discount on future purchases for all customers that complete the survey by providing a discount code. You can also create a contest that gives one (or several customers) a reward, future discounts or other incentives for completing the survey. Make sure that any contest you conduct meets the rules of the jurisdiction where your business is located.
Provide Links to the Survey Across the Web
You should make the survey accessible to a wide audience. Simply placing your online opinion survey on your website or social media page may not be enough to attract the diversity of opinions you are looking for, or any potential new customers. Find blog posts and websites that are similar to your business and that provide space for you to add a link back to your survey. Email links to your customers in order to give them instant access when viewing your survey.
The more links you place to your survey online, the more opportunities you have to attract willing survey-takers. You need to attract a large quantity of people in order to yield the number of participants you need to validate the survey and its results.
Follow-Up to Encourage Others to Access the Survey
Ask for email addresses in the survey and follow-up with people immediately to ask that they forward the survey to people they know. You should also include a call to action in the online survey form. You may consider offering some type of incentive to encourage your survey-takers to forward the survey along, but it is not necessary. Remember that saying “Thank you”demonstrates appreciation to your customers for the time and effort they put in.
