"Survey says!" If you want to know what your customers think, ASK them
By Andrew Mallory

[Ed. note: Andrew Mallory is one of our top Internet Entrepreneur Club experts. To learn more about the Club, please visit: www.marketingtips.com/internetentrepreneurclub]

One of the most useful business tools out there is the good old-fashioned survey.

Surveys offer you direct access to your customers' minds -- so you can discover exactly what they think about your company and your products, as well as other products and services being marketed to them.

Here are just a few of the ways surveys can help you with your business:

• Product development: If you have a product, you can discover exactly what your customers like about it, and how they'd like to see it improved.
  
  If you DON'T have a product, you can discover what your customers think about the products currently available -- what's good about them and where they're not meeting their customers' needs.
  
  Then you can come up with new products that target needs that aren't being met by existing products, and virtually guarantee your success before you even get started!
  
  
• Salescopy: You can discover which features and benefits are most important to your customers, and feature them more prominently in your salescopy. You can also discover more about the language people use when describing these features and benefits, so you can make sure your sales message speaks to people in their own words.
  
  
• Price testing: You can use surveys to discover how much people are willing to pay for different products and services. Just be aware that what people say and do are often different things, so you'll need to do some actual price testing to confirm whether the price people say they're willing to pay is what they're actually willing to pay.
  
  
• Market research: Do you actually know who's buying your products? (How old they are, where they live, what their income and education levels are, etc.) Surveys are a great way to find out! Once you know who you're selling to, you'll find it far easier to create a sales message that really speaks to their needs.

The great news is, there are lots of different free software programs available online you can use to create a survey in 10 minutes or less. Our favorites are: Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) and Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com).

However, in order to create a meaningful survey -- one that provides you with truly useful information -- there are certain rules you need to follow:

Survey rule #1: Keep your survey SHORT. Internet surfers are busy people -- most won't stick around to do a survey that takes 15 minutes to complete. Ideally, they should be able to complete it in 5 minutes or less.

Survey rule #2: Compose your questions carefully. You have to know exactly what what you're asking and how you'll be able to take action on it. Don't ask questions simply because you think the answers will be interesting. They have to give you information that can be applied directly to your business.

Survey rule #3: Ask the easiest questions first, and the hard ones later on. Once they've invested the time answering the easier questions, they'll be more likely to stick around until the end.

Survey rule #4: Put your most important questions first. This may seem to contradict the previous rule, but it doesn't. You just have to phrase your most important questions in a way that's easy for people to answer. If someone exits the survey after answering only three or four questions, you want to make sure they've given you the information that'll helping you grow your business.

Survey rule #5: Structure all your questions in the exact same way. Don't mix multiple choice questions with ordering questions with open-ended questions, for example. You'll force your survey respondents to shift gears mentally, which takes a lot of effort! They shouldn't have to think about anything other than their responses.

Survey rule #6: Ask only ONE thing at a time. This helps eliminate confusion and ensures the answers you get are detailed and useful. This may seem obvious but you'd be surprised how many surveys I've seen that have questions that say things like, "Do you use product X? If yes, which of the following statements do you agree with?"

Survey rule #7: Avoid asking leading questions. You won't get quality information if your questions are loaded with assumptions or lead people straight to the answer you want them to give! (This may work for political surveys, but definitely not for marketing ones.)

Survey rule #8: Make your questions value neutral. Be sure to use politically correct language so all of your respondents feel comfortable answering your questions.

Survey rule #9: Test your survey before you run it. Make sure at least eight other people READ the survey with red pens in their hands and mark up anything that's unclear to them.

Survey rule #10: Test different survey formats. Once it's up and running, try reversing the order of the answers to see if that has an impact on the ones people choose. Sometimes people will just click on the first option just so they can complete the survey quickly.

Once your survey is up and running, you can drive people to it through your newsletter or a special email to your list. If you don't have an email list yet, get the word out by visiting blogs, forums, and chat groups where your target market is likely to hang out. Be sure to include a link in your signature block that goes straight to your survey.

You may also want to offer people a valuable free gift in order to encourage them to fill out your survey. A special report, free product, or entry into a contest for a valuable prize all make good enticements.

After all, the information the survey respondents give you is truly valuable -- show them you appreciate it by giving them something of great value, too!