The key to customer surveys

One of the most read articles I’ve ever written was on Killer Customer Surveys however it’s just been brought to my attention that I’ve missed a vital part of it.

Now that it’s been pointed out to me – it’s so clear!

Let’s say for example, you’re asking people to rate your:

• Website
• Customer service
• Newspaper advertising
• Phone manner

You get an average rating of 9/10 for website and newspaper advertising and a 7/10 for customer service and phone manner.

Most businesses would be fairly happy with this overall average of 8.

But! What if you add an extra portion to your customer surveys that also asks them to rate how important each of those items are to you.

From there you may get a totally different picture.

What if people still love your website and newspaper advertising but it’s not at all important to them. The customer service may be all the client cares about – and rates this as very important – and you’re only getting an average of 7 in this area. The 9s you’re getting on the other two items which aren’t important then don’t contribute to an overall rating of 8 – they’re simply not important.

One simple addition to your survey could shed a whole new light on your customer’s wants and needs.

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is ‘Retired at 27, If I Can do it Anyone Can’) and a passionate entrepreneur who started at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21. Currently Kirsty heads up www.reallysold.com the premium online copywriting site for real estate agents and is a co-director of Elephant Property www.elephantproperty.com.au Launceston, Tasmania’s only boutique real estate agency purely for investment property owners. Kirsty’s other ventures are outlined at her website www.kirstydunphey.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.

For more Gen-Y Millionaire blogs, click here.