Yes. Survey your customers, because without it you are only guessing how your customers think and what they base their decisions on. And in most cases, do it online: an online questionnaire is the fastest and cheapest form of survey, respondents fill it in within days and the answers are evaluated automatically. It suits almost everything, except in depth interviews with a few people or respondents for whom you have no e-mail address. In this article I explain why getting to know your customers pays off, compare three forms of survey and show how to run an online survey in five steps.

In a nutshell

  1. Knowing your customers is a treasure map: the better you understand your market, the more precisely you target your offer and communication.
  2. People have not changed, the environment has. The way they take in information and make decisions is different today than it was a few years ago.
  3. You can run a survey in person, by telephone or online. Each form has its place.
  4. An online questionnaire is the cheapest and fastest, you recognise the respondents and the answers are evaluated automatically.
  5. Online is not suitable for in depth interviews or for people without e-mail. There, complement it with an interview or a phone call.
  6. Start with a small survey from a template and use the answers right away in an offer or a campaign.

In short: what you find out, who it is for, what your options are and what is at stake

  • What you find out: how customers think when they buy, what motivates them and what holds them back, why they buy from you and why they leave for the competition.
  • Who it is for: any company that is preparing an offer, a price list, website copy or a campaign and wants to know rather than guess.
  • What your options are: interviewers in the streets, a call centre or an online questionnaire sent by e-mail. Online is the fastest and cheapest, interviews go deepest.
  • What is at stake: marketing without knowing your customers is like skating without ice. It can be done, but it is terribly hard work and the result is not worth it.

What has changed since this article was published: The article was published in December 2015. The reasons for doing a survey still apply unchanged. What has changed is what online questionnaires can do: in Quanda they now offer 22 question types including NPS and satisfaction scales, branching by answer, tags by answer and automatic follow up campaigns, see The new generation of surveys in Quanda. We have therefore added a comparison of the three forms of survey, advice on when an online questionnaire is not enough, and a five step procedure.

The desire to know more

The desire to know more, to understand life and the people around us, is as old as mankind itself. We are interested in every new thing and our desire to know is often without limits.

Especially in recent years, information has become one of the most valuable and sought after commodities. Knowing how our customers think, what they base their decisions on, and who influences those decisions and how, can literally be a treasure map for your business.

The better you understand your market and your customers, the more effectively you will communicate with those customers and the more precisely you will target your offer.

Jan Spáčil, CEO QuandaJan SpáčilCEO Quanda

People often ask me what has changed in marketing recently. Why what still worked a few years ago is a hopeless activity today. I answer that not that much has changed if we look at it as a whole. People are essentially still the same, products are if anything better and more refined. What has changed radically is the environment we live in: the internet arrived, mobile technologies, social networks and today also AI assistants that people ask instead of a search engine. The way of receiving information has changed, the way of making decisions has changed and in many areas the whole way of buying has changed. All of this affects us, whether we stand on the side of buyers or sellers.

Why knowing your market and customers is the key to success

A customer survey is a way to rely on what customers themselves say instead of assumptions: how they think when they buy, what motivates them, what bothers them and why they chose you. Trying to do effective marketing without thorough knowledge of your customers and your market is like trying to skate in summer at an ice rink with no ice. It can be done, but it is terribly hard work.

If you better understand how your customers think at the moment they want to buy your product, you are close to a great success. Understanding their motivations or objections precisely points you towards a solution. Towards improving your product, phrasing your offer better, configuring your product more precisely or setting the right price. All of this then makes your customers say "Yes, this is exactly for me!"

Everything you can learn from a survey is shown in twelve examples in the article How surveys turn B2B marketing from guesswork into certainty. If you want to start right away, take the ready made Customer satisfaction survey from the Questionnaire library.

Three ways to run a survey

Today you have several ways to carry out a survey. You can print out questionnaires and head out into the streets. It is fun, and I recommend trying it yourself. I did hundreds of polls this way and learned a lot from it.

Another way is to use the services of a call centre and carry out the survey by telephone. That also has its charm, especially in speed. But take care to choose a call centre that will do your survey honestly and quickly.

Another option for carrying out a survey is online questionnaires. Online questionnaires are questionnaires that respondents (the people filling in the questionnaire) fill in on the internet. You can simply send the invitation to such a survey by e-mail. Advanced systems for creating online questionnaires let you do this as part of a single system. Really good systems today provide many advanced features, especially in the area of data analysis.

In person, interviewers in the streets By telephone, call centre Online questionnaire
Speed Days to weeks depending on the number of interviewers Days, depending on operator capacity First answers within minutes, most within days
Costs Interviewers, printing, transcribing of answers Operators, call charges, transcribing of answers Only the tool, no transcribing
Depth of answers Greatest, the interviewer asks follow up questions and sees reactions Medium, the operator asks follow up questions according to a script Smaller, the respondent answers alone without follow up questions
Who answers Passers by or invited people People whose phone number you have and who pick up People whose e-mail you have or who come from a link
You recognise the respondent Yes, the interviewer writes them down Yes, by the number Yes, when you send the invitation from Quanda. Anonymous from a public link
Evaluation Manual transcribing and processing Manual transcribing and processing Closed questions are evaluated automatically, report in PDF
Suitable for Discovering topics, testing prototypes, sensitive topics A quick check with selected customers Satisfaction, NPS, evaluation after a job, market research with a larger group

Source: Quanda's experience from surveys for customers and the features of the Surveys module.

Online questionnaires are clearly among the cheapest forms of carrying out a survey. But it is also true that this online form is not suitable for every type of survey.

Jan Spáčil, CEO QuandaJan SpáčilCEO Quanda

When to choose an online questionnaire and when not to

Choose an online questionnaire when:

  • you need answers from tens to thousands of people and want them within days,
  • you have an e-mail address for your respondents or you reach them with a link on your website and on social networks,
  • you are asking about satisfaction, evaluation of a job, NPS, preferences or reasons for buying,
  • you want to link the answers to customer data and follow up with a campaign,
  • you want to repeat the survey and compare the development over time.

Choose an interview or the phone when:

  • you are still working out what to ask and need to ask follow up questions,
  • you only have a few key customers and every one of them matters,
  • it is a sensitive topic that people will not answer without personal contact,
  • you do not have an e-mail address for your respondents or they are not usually on the internet.

Tip: The two forms complement each other well. Start with five to ten interviews to discover the topics and wording, and only then send an online questionnaire to a wider group to find out how many people see it that way.

If you decide on the online form, you will be surprised how quickly you learn things from your customers that will help you keep them with you longer, sell to them repeatedly and not let them "run away" to your competition. The seven reasons why it works are covered in the article 7 benefits of online surveys.

How to survey your customers online in 5 steps

  1. Write down the goal. What exactly you need to find out and how you will use the result, for example to adjust your offer or pricing. Without a goal you end up with questions whose answers you will not use.
  2. Choose the respondents. Existing customers, prospects or partners for whom you have an e-mail address. An invitation from a specific person the customer knows works better than a mass e-mail from the company.
  3. Build the questionnaire. Take a template from the Questionnaire library and ask only what you need for the decision. More people will fill in a short questionnaire. Detailed procedure: 6 steps how to create a survey.
  4. Send the invitation in an e-mail campaign from Quanda. You will know who answered and can remind those who did not. Guide: Distribution.
  5. Evaluate and follow up. In the Analysis of answers, filter the answers by questions and by contact data, compile the final report and follow up with critics and satisfied customers with another campaign based on a tag, see Automation in a survey.

Checklist before your first survey

  • I know what decision I want to make based on the results.
  • I know who I am asking and I have an e-mail address for them.
  • The questionnaire only has questions I need for the decision.
  • The first page says what I will use the answers for and whether the survey is anonymous.
  • I have read the questions to a colleague and they understood them the same way I do.
  • I know what I will do with critics and what with satisfied customers.

In conclusion

So yes to a customer survey, and in most cases online. You stop guessing, start knowing, and use the answers straight away in your offer, your prices and your campaign copy. If you are not sure how to approach your first survey, get in touch with us. We will help you choose the questions, prepare the questionnaire and set up what Quanda should do with the answers. And you can also go through the whole procedure in the online course Working with questionnaires and collecting feedback, which is free.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you!