Newsletters > Volume 2, Issue 1

Do you remember playing the card game "Go Fish" when you were a kid? 

You know what's great about that game? It's easy to get what you need. 

All you do is ask the other player, and if they have what you want, you'll get it. It's that simple ... the power of asking can be amazing ...

Then get a sneak peak into your customer's brain and play a game of "Go Fish" with your customers ... ask them through an online survey.

Okay, here's the deal ... for an incredibly affordable cost, you can really get that corporate finger on the pulse of what your customers want and don't want. And you don't need a whiz-bang web developer to set this thing up. (Keep reading and I'll show you how easy this really is.)

Now, studies have shown that an online survey can get the same response rate at 1/10th the cost of a phone or mail survey. But like everything in Internet Marketing, you've got to know what you're doing, or you'd be better off playing "Go Fish" with a bunch of 1st graders.

7 Secrets to Effective Online Surveys

So how do you go about creating an online survey to give you the greatest chances of receiving meaningful results? Here's the 7 key steps:

1. Why - Define the objective of the survey - what information are you trying to discover?

2. Who - Define the type of people you want to hear from  - remember, long-time customers, new customers and 1st time visitors are likely to answer your questions differently. Make sure you really target the audience that has that nugget of info you're looking for.

3. When - Define the time frame - define upfront when it's time to call it a game

4. What - Create your survey guide - construct your questions that will provide you with the information you need, and guide your participant logically through the survey.

5. Test the survey - get the bugs out and get some unbiased opinions on whether you're likely to get the info you really want.

6. Roll out the survey - If you send an email survey, you'll probably receive half of the responses within 1 day. By the 4th day, you've probably got over 90%.  And don't send an email asking your participants to respond on a Friday, or weekend. 

7. Measure and analyze - make sure you've got a statistically significant sample size ... at least 50 respondents in most cases.

Wait ... 
Before Your Start, Know The 5 Rules of "Go Fish" For the Internet

1. You gotta give to receive - Offer something for free - offer to email the results, or offer a raffle (make sure you link to the winning prize page and know your sweepstakes laws first). Offer a % off discount for filling out the survey ... then you get your info and a possible incremental sale also!

2. Make them feel comfortable - Keep it looking like it's from you - use your logo and same look and feel and include your privacy statement. Keep it simple and short. Tell them how long this will take (and it keep it less than 3 minutes).

3. Don't speak Chinese if your participants don't understand Chinese - make sure to use easy to understand and simple questions that are short ... avoid acronyms or jargon, and don't be condescending.

4. Don't try to cut wood with a hammer - Use appropriate question types - multiple choice, yes/no, open ended and numeric style - depending on what you're asking. And use the appropriate response icons - radio buttons, check boxes, drop-down boxes. Keep the open ended questions to an absolute minimum.

5. Use your manners - always include a thank you page at the end with instructions on how to redeem whatever you promised them upfront.

Still not sure it's worth the effort? Well here's more ways to use surveys:

• You can use surveys to evaluate packaging alternatives
• See if your branding efforts are paying off
• Get reactions to your product's name
• Ask for preferences for new product features 
• You can even in an anonymous survey find the age, income level, geographic location, sex, race, or education level of your potential customers. Then use this information to guide your product development, and target your marketing initiatives! 

Remember earlier I said you can do all of this with little expense? Check out any one of these companies ... they provide an easy plug-in for your web site at a very affordable cost. 

www.surveymonkey.com, www.zoomerang.com, www.perseus.com, www.askdatabase.com