Research: Do-it-yourself surveys "listen" to your customers
David C. Kistle, ABC - Senior Vice President, Padilla Speer Beardsley

As every captain knows, navigating uncertain waters can only be successful with the right tools - map, compass, sonar and the weather report. The same is true in business. Keeping an open line to listen to customers can be the difference between reaching your destination and drifting off course. But, just like the captain, you need the right tools to mark your position on customer satisfaction, customer expectations, and other contributing factors if you're going to reach your goal. One of the most valuable and readily accessible customer feedback tools is the online survey.

Like the do-it-yourself, big box home improvement center, online survey software gives you the right tools to do simple, straightforward customer research yourself. Web-based survey sites like SurveyMonkey and QuestionPro, are available free or at a very low cost.

While these software platforms are not suited to complex research projects better left to professionals, they are excellent for getting a "snap shot" of your current position and tracking your progress. In other words, they provide the right information to keep you on course or signal a change in direction. In business terms, the online survey allows to you benchmark, monitor, allocate resources, and plan.

Online survey software products come with easy-to-use templates that include the most common customer feedback topics - satisfaction, intent to purchase, and recommendation to colleagues, among others. They also allow you to personalize and customize questions unique to your organization or industry. These templates provide a variety of formats as well - open-ended text boxes, rating scales, and multiple choice questions.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of do-it-yourself customer surveys:

• Make sure the questions you ask support your business goals
• Ask questions that are specific to your customers in your industry
• Send the survey to the right people - the ones whose feedback matters most
• Personalize the invitation e-mail to identify your company - this adds credibility
• Offer an incentive to motivate participation
• Survey customers at regular intervals - annually, quarterly, bi-monthly
• Track specific questions that drive your business and customer satisfaction

Just as home improvement projects expand beyond what you can do yourself, so does customer research. Think of the online surveys you do yourself as supplemental to projects requiring advanced analysis, segmentation, large respondent pools, or complex survey design. These are best left to professionals.