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![]() How to Survey your Print Customers For Mutual Benefit and Continued Successes
By Margie Dana, Freelance Writer
With the availability of inexpensive online survey tools, there's no excuse for not polling your print customers.
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In this article, I'll discuss the value of doing a print customer survey, the top methods for a customer survey (and their differences), general guidelines for customer surveys, and tips for ensuring that your customer survey is worth your time and effort.
Where's the Value of a Customer Survey? Similarly, you could uncover weaknesses that you weren't aware of, which presents an opportunity to correct them. It's generally more comfortable for customers to air grievances about you anonymously. A survey lets them do that. There's no emotion all wrapped up in their negative comments. Surveying customers shows an interest in what they think. There's inherent goodwill built into this. Feedback given to one's sales or service rep often isn't enough. There's a sense among print customers that your comments just "sit there" and fail to move up the corporate food chain. But when you send a survey to all of your customers, it's a new and different opportunity for them to tell you what's on their minds. Sharing honest feedback with a company, without being face to face with a rep is just easier. Two additional reasons to do a survey: To refine your customer service procedures, and to find out what your customers want from you, their printer. By carefully developing the survey questions, you can easily get insights into both of these areas.
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How Do I Survey You? Let Me Count the Ways
2. Survey customers by phone. Years ago I conducted customer surveys by phone for printer clients. The best thing about this method is that customers who have a lot to say will share everything on the phone. The key is having a third party make the calls to your customers. They're much more likely to open up to someone who's not affiliated with your company. I recommend telesurveys if you're having specific problems with customers and need more detail. You still need to create your own list of questions - no generic customer survey will do. Phone surveys might be particularly beneficial if you've recently merged with or acquired a new company. Speaking with customers by phone gives them freedom to tell you more than they might in an online or printed survey. The other benefit to this method is that it allows the person conducting the survey to dig deeper if the conversation warrants. (Make sure you hire someone who is familiar with the industry, making it more likely he or she can ask meaningful follow-up questions during the phone call, thereby gathering valuable feedback.) This method is, however, the most expensive, as it involves hiring someone or some company to conduct the survey for you. 3. Send a customer survey with your deliveries. Some printers regularly include short printed surveys in their deliveries to customers. These tend to be more of a "How are we doing?" feedback card. You can use them effectively to get a pulse on a customers' satisfaction with your business. Again, as with any printed survey, you have to deal with capturing the results and analyzing them. That's a lot of work, and if you don't do it thoroughly and consistently, this kind of survey will be a waste of time. 4. Send your customers an online survey. Bingo! Sorry if my preferences are showing, but as a business owner who has conducted online surveys, I can't help but give this method two thumbs way up. There are different online tools available at great prices these days, and the products are excellent. Online surveys are easy to create, test and distribute, and it's easy to compile the results. I use Surveymonkey.com for a low monthly fee, but there are many others out there, including Surveygizmo.com, Polldaddy.com and Constantcontact.com. These online tools do all of the heavy lifting, especially when it comes to gathering responses. When I have a survey to distribute, I customize the URL on Surveymonkey to better reflect my company, and send it out numerous times via email, my weekly e-newsletter, my website and social media (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn). You can create charts (different styles, even!) from your data and export them. I can't say enough about these online survey tools. They let you customize your survey template so it reflects your company, too.
General Guidelines for Your Print Customer Survey
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Making Sure Your Customer Survey Is Worth Your Time & Effort The data you collect will provide a detailed picture of what your customers think about your company, as well as examples of what they love about you and what could be better. I guarantee you'll learn things that will help you serve them better. You'll also get information you can use to help promote your company. When you download or otherwise compile and categorize your survey results, share these with management as well as sales and service employees. These are the "front line" with your customers, and they need to know how customers feel. You might even share the results with all of your employees - I can't think of a good reason to not. The critical thing post-survey is to do something with the information you've collected. What can be fixed, if it's broken? What did you learn about customer perception that surprised you? What additional service or product offerings might you consider? Has your company's "brand" been better articulated by these customers? Once you have made changes recommended by a lot of customers (trends will surface, trust me), let them know. Get back in touch by email and/or in a blog post to inform your customers that you respect their participation and comments and that you've made changes accordingly. Award the prizes you promised. Extract any and all testimonial-type comments you collected and decide how, when and where to use them. Contact any respondent who's asked to be contacted personally. Follow up is key - you've invested a lot of time in this survey, so make sure you take advantage of all you've learned and all the good will it's generated for you. That's it: A guide to conducting a print customer survey. Make it an annual commitment, asking many of the exact same questions. In that way, you can chart just how far you've come, and hopefully, you'll see negative comments dwindle away into oblivion. Long regarded as a print buyer expert and trade writer, Margie Dana launched her new business in 2013 as a marketing communications strategist with a specialty in printing and print buying. She's as comfortable working in social media as she is in traditional media, and she works to help clients build customer communities through carefully crafted content. Dana publishes her popular Print Tips newsletter. For details on all of her services and to sign up for her newsletter and marketing blog, visit www.margiedana.com. This article appeared in the SGIA Journal, November / December 2013 Issue and is reprinted with permission. Copyright 2014 Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (www.sgia.org). All Rights Reserved.
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