subject: Online Survey: New Profit Channel for Your Business [print this page] Online Survey: New Profit Channel for Your Business
A carefully constructed survey can be a powerful tool for striking up a personal conversation with your customers to learn exactly how they feel about your company, products, and services -- valuable insights that give you the opportunity to turbo-charge your profits ... all without the typical costs associated with offline surveys, all within a matter of a few days (or even a few hours)!
Of course, writing and distributing surveys has become a bit of a science. Questions need to be carefully worded to avoid biasing the respondent. Formatting issues need to be addressed before you can start writing as this will affect the layout of your questions. And questions of how you will distribute your survey need to be carefully researched to avoid some dangerous (and potentially costly) pitfalls.
Before you launch your survey on a wide scale, do a small test to a handful of participants to make sure all your questions are understandable and not offensive in any way. If the wording or layout of any questions need to be tweaked, it's better to find this out before you send your survey to your entire opt-in list.
Then, once the results are in, don't let this valuable information sit idly, gathering dust on your desk. Use it as a guide for improving the vitality of your business. Now is not the time to be sensitive or offended if some of the answers appear overly critical or unreasonable. Take deep breaths and make objective decisions about whether or not there are areas of your business that could be improved.
Even small changes to your sales copy, your packaging, your web site design, etc... Can make a BIG difference in the sales you close. Use this competitive intelligence to stay on top of how your customers and subscribers are feeling about your offer and your business. And then use this information to prosper and grow!
