Market Research – how to develop an effective customer survey

One of the best ways of gaining a better understanding of your customer and their requirements is by carrying out market research.

Market research is, in simple terms, the process of gathering, recording and analysing information about the market in which you operate. There are a number of reasons why your business might need to conduct market research. For example, you might need to determine the feasibility of a completely new idea, or perhaps see if there is scope to expand an old product range or service.

The crucial component of the early stages of market research is the survey. For the purpose of this guide, we have chosen to concentrate on customer research. Whether you are employing an external company to take care of your market research or undertaking it in-house, you need to always make sure that your research survey is as effective as it can be.

We have compiled a list of the most important points to bear in mind when compiling or checking over a customer survey.

Establish the purpose of your survey

Establishing the survey’s purpose and scope is probably the most crucial part of the survey design process. There are a number of questions you need to ask yourself before you begin:

•Who do you need to survey? It is vital to ascertain exactly who you want to survey. In this instance we want to survey our customers. However, you may want your survey to be more targeted and choose a customer that falls into a set category. For example, you may want to focus your survey on customers that bought or expressed an interest in a particular product.
 

•What is your end goal? If your goals are unclear then there is a strong likelihood that your results will be unclear. For example, as you are creating a customer survey then the goal should be to ascertain customer satisfaction levels and their opinion of your product. If you can make your goals more specific it will be easier to get good, usable results.
 

•What will the information gathered be used for? Usually information is used to evaluate, reflect and act upon. For example, should 50% of your customers express dissatisfaction in service then the company should evaluate why the customers were unhappy and what they need to do to improve customer service.
 

•Are you prepared, or able, to implement changes to your business or business processes as a result of the survey? This is a key point, unless you are prepared or able to implement changes as a result of the surveys outcome it makes the entire process a waste of time and resources.
 

Decide on a format for your survey

Deciding the format for your survey can often be tricky, especially given the increasing number of options available to you via new technology.

There are a number of elements you should take into consideration when preparing your survey:

1. Write clearly and concisely to ensure your customer understands the questions being asked. It is important to keep vocabulary simple and try to avoid using jargon that the customer would not be expected to know.

2. Where possible, try and use close-ended questions with a fixed number of response categories from which customers can select their answers. These can be better than open-ended questions as they maintain a particular focus. It also allows data to be more easily analysed after the survey has been completed.

3. An open-ended question is a written response, such as “If you do not think that our product is good value for money, then please explain why”. If there are too many open-ended questions included in your survey, it is unlikely you’ll get quality feedback from your customer. Remember, make your survey as approachable as possible, or risk losing your customer half way through the document.

4. Test the survey on willing participants before launching it to your target audience. This way you can discover any problems before you invest more time and money in your research. For example, one of your questions may be phrased awkwardly and cause confusion in a test run. You will then know that tweaks may have to be made.

5. How will you distribute the survey – i.e. by phone, direct, or online?

6. What are the benefits of each distribution method? 

• Phone interviews often serve well for complex and probing questions that demand interaction between the interviewer and the subject.

• Online surveys have proven to be very effective due to the speed of the responses – delivering real-time data that can be accumulated and collated with relative ease.

• Direct surveys are usually administered on the high-street and can prove particularly effective for high-street retailers as it captures an audience relevant to them.

7. Customer survey experts often claim that a written survey should take between 5 to 15 minutes to complete. Of course, this will also depend on the level of data you need to extract. Always be mindful of including unnecessary content.

8. Be fair in your expectations. Don’t suppose that you can always take 20 minutes of a customer’s time if you have nothing to offer them back. Many organisations will gain more time with a customer by offering small monetary rewards for the successful completion of a survey. A popular option is to offer free entry to a ‘prize draw’, as this can be appealing to the consumer and means that you have to pay out for one prize.

9. Generally speaking, the lower the number of questions you have, the better response you are likely to get. Many organisations recommend no more than 10 questions for a simple survey.