How To Use Customer Surveys As A Tool For Growth

Smart business owners know that happy customers mean a happy business. With them, you have the gifts of strong retention and steady, if not increasing revenue. Without them? You have nothing. But how do you know if your customers are truly happy? When it comes to getting feedback, many owners don’t know where to start. Here are some tips for using customer surveys to help you better satisfy your clientele, make strategic business improvements, and grow.

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Getting Customer Feedback

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There are a number of ways that you can collect customer feedback, but one of the easiest and most informative is through surveys. Two common options are Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys.

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While these are useful to an extent, conducting customer interviews is an even more valuable method. It might not be as scalable as automated surveys, but both are important if you can do them.

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Who To Gather Feedback From

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In B2C companies, we recommend sending surveys to any buyers you have in your system. After all, these are the consumers. But, B2B businesses are different. These organizations often make purchases by way of a buying committee, which can include numerous stakeholders. If you have an idea of who they all are, try to survey someone from each role. You’ll get different feedback, and all of it matters since they all influence the ultimate purchase.

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What To Ask

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One of the benefits of using a simple survey like CSAT or NPS is that respondents are more likely to offer their feedback since they take very little time to complete it. However, their limited nature also brings with it, well, limitations. Ideally, you should aim to cover a wide range of topics when you survey customers, from their feelings on your product to your customer service, delivery, pricing, and beyond. This is also why it’s incredibly important to do interviews via the phone (good) or in-person (better). You can dig into each of these areas and learn more about what your customers really need.

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What To Do With It

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The only thing worse than not getting customer feedback at all is getting it - and then doing nothing with it. When customers take the time to share their thoughts with you, you must act on it. Sure, you can’t implement every new idea, but you still need to sit down to thoughtfully consider what you’ve learned and decide how you can incorporate the learnings into your operations. Customer surveys can be a wonderful way to get customer feedback and then make business improvements accordingly. Also consider conducting customer interviews, to really get the most from this practice.

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Want to work with a team who prioritizes customer feedback and loves putting customers first? Give us a call!