Surveys are\u00a0going to be a very important tool in your marketing arsenal. \u00a0Problem is, many people don\u2019t use them to their full effectiveness.<\/p>\n
At the basic level, surveys are used to get feedback on things. That\u2019s pretty obvious. But there are actually some other ways of looking at your usage of surveys that we are going to talk about in this guide.<\/p>\n
Coming up in this guide, we\u2019re going to discuss things such as:<\/p>\n
- \n
- How to phrase your questions in order to pull out valuable and actionable material you can use in your blogging and marketing<\/li>\n
- How to pull out emotional responses<\/li>\n
- Different usage applications for surveys<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So, let\u2019s dive right in\u2026<\/p>\n
How do you actually run a survey? I am not going to spend too much time on this because\u00a0it is actually pretty darn simple.<\/p>\n
There are commercial tools out there you can use. Personally, I think they\u2019re rather expensive and for that reason most people won\u2019t use them. SurveyMonkey<\/a> is one of them.<\/p>\n
There also the Google Forms\/Spreadsheets approach. Built right into your Google account for free as part of Google Drive. Essentially, you would design a form for people to fill out and the responses for that form would be entered into a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n
My preferred method is to use a forms plugin for WordPress and do the whole survey right in-house. This is the digitally sovereign<\/a> way to do it. <\/p>\n
Personally, I would use Fluent Forms<\/a>. Plus, as a user of FluentCRM<\/a>, this means I can even use the survey responses to add segmentation to a subscriber\u2019s CRM profile. That\u2019s pretty handy.<\/p>\n
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<\/figure>\nOne thing to keep in mind, too, is that you don\u2019t have to use a special survey tool to call it a survey. Remember, a survey is essentially any feedback medium you are using from your audience.<\/strong> For instance, your own blog comments would be an informal method of survey (if you are using blog comments<\/a>). You could also put a question form in place of your comments as I do on this blog. Every response is a form of survey.<\/p>\n
Another method is to use simple email. Ask your email subscribers a question and ask them to answer your with a simple email reply. This is something you could do in any email you send to your list. Plus, when they reply back to your emails, it helps email deliverability<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Preferred Question Type<\/h2>\n
You\u2019re going to have the option to use many different types of questions as you design your survey. You\u2019ll be able to use radio buttons (for single-choice questions), checkboxes (for multiple choice), rankings and much more. You have a lot of options.<\/p>\n
The most informative \u2013 and preferred \u2013 question type is the free-form answer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Ask them a question and give them a textarea where they can type in any response they want.<\/p>\n
The other question types can be useful when you just want to put respondents into nice little groups\u2026 or to collect segmentation information. It is much more automated that way. However, the freeform entry can give you far more real data.<\/p>\n
Open entry questions allow them to answer you in whatever way they want \u2013 in THEIR OWN WORDS<\/strong>. And that is a very important thing when it comes to marketing. You want to find out how<\/em><\/strong> they communicate their reactions. And when you couple that with the emotional questions that you are going to ask them, you got yourself a powerful combination.<\/p>\n
You will use the WORDS<\/em> they use in their feedback to:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Learn their emotional tone on the topic (important in marketing)<\/li>\n
- Learn the phrasing that THEY use to communicate these things to themselves (their vocabulary on the topic may be very different than your\u2019s)<\/li>\n
- Learn answers you would have never thought of.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The whole purpose of the survey is to learn what is on their mind. A pre-written answer where all they can do is pick confines them to what\u2019s on YOUR mind. Except for certain applications, that completely defeats the point of the survey.<\/p>\n
Lastly, knowing the language and emotion they use to communicate the answers is important for matching your content to them, positioning future offers better, etc.<\/p>\n
Using Survey To Gain Content Ideas<\/h2>\n
One of the most common uses of survey is to get content ideas. This is the kind of survey that is good to always have \u201con\u201d. You could run it to your existing subscriber-base as a one-time event, but it is more useful when it is set up to be evergreen and the responses just come in as a steady flow.<\/p>\n
Some ideal survey locations would be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- On the \u201cthank you\u201d page immediately after somebody opts into your email list. This is a superb place to find out why they subscribed and what they\u2019d like to see from you. This will help you deliver more value to your email list.<\/li>\n
- On your autoresponder sequence. So, in one of the automatic emails your email subscribers get, you could email them a survey.<\/li>\n
- On the \u201cthank you\u201d page after somebody BUYS something from you. A great place to find out what made them buy, how they found you, what they most want to achieve from your product, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The beauty of those placements is that the survey takes place after the person has done something (subscribed, purchased, etc.). And psychologically, people are way more likely to do something if they\u2019ve taken the first step already. In other words, they are more likely to give you meaningful feedback BECAUSE they have done a meaningful action first.<\/p>\n
Some sample questions (obviously phrased toward my own market, so you can adjust accordingly):<\/p>\n
- \n
- What are you most looking to get from me by being a subscriber to my list and my blog?<\/strong><\/li>\n
- Why did you subscribe to my blog?<\/strong><\/li>\n
- What would you like to learn about blogging and online business next?<\/strong><\/li>\n
- What would you like me to write about for YOUR benefit?<\/strong><\/li>\n
- \u201cWhat is your biggest fear or frustration when it comes to online business and blogging?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
- \u201cWhat are you trying to get most out of this?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
- \u201cWhat is your ideal outcome?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The first two questions are pretty to the point. You just want to find out what they want from you in the future. And then you can obviously deliver upon that.<\/p>\n
If you have a lot of people asking a similar concept and\u00a0you\u2019ve already written about it, then you can use that as feedback as well. For instance:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Create even more content about it. In other words, elaborate.<\/li>\n
- Take the content you\u2019ve already written about that topic, expand upon it, then leverage it into new content types like lead magnets, videos, podcast episodes, etc.<\/li>\n
- Build new emails into your email followup sequence which highlights your existing content on the topic.<\/li>\n
- Group content on that topic into a GUIDE page on your blog and link to that guide in your blog\u2019s sidebar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In other words, if people are asking for content that you\u2019ve already made, then they either want more or they don\u2019t know about it. So, fix that. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Now, the last two questions are pretty much going for emotions. Question that use emotional language can get emotional reactions. Words such as \u201cfear\u201d, \u201cfrustrated\u201d, \u201cexited\u201d, \u201clove\u201d are words that can be used to get how people feel<\/strong> about things.<\/p>\n
Using Survey To Gather Feedback & Testimonials<\/h2>\n
You always want to collect as much feedback from your customers and audience as you can. You want to be basically a \u201csponge\u201d for feedback. This means you want to be asking for feedback in all of the places where it would make sense to do so.<\/p>\n
So one of the things that you can do is\u00a0place surveys into your products \u2013 even free products after they have been consumed.<\/strong> You can place surveys at the end of courses, inside of your lead magnets, in your newsletter\u2026 anywhere that makes sense.<\/p>\n
The survey could be specific to what they just finished or it could be something general such as \u201cHow am I doing?<\/em>\u201d or \u201cIs there anything else I can help you with?<\/em>\u201d It could be very informal but this type of feedback is really powerful and you can get a lot of great information.<\/p>\n
One of the benefits of using a WordPress-focused forms plugin (like Fluent Forms) is that you can build hidden fields into your survey form that contain the exact location where that form was embedded. This way you always know the context of their feedback and what it was about\u2026. even if you\u2019re using the same form in multiple locations across your site.<\/p>\n
RELATED READING:<\/strong> 9 Tactics For Autopilot Social Proof: How To Get Testimonials On Automatic<\/a><\/p>\n
Gathering Actual Testimonials<\/h3>\n
Simple feedback is one thing. Testimonials are quite another.<\/p>\n
The thing about a testimonial is that you want it to be very clear, rather succinct\u2026 and basically you want it to be ready to be published and used in your marketing. Even the people who have the best things to say about you and your business will often not voluntarily offer testimonials. Or when they do, they are just rather long and laborious and not ideal to be published.<\/p>\n
You can use survey forms to gather testimonials. And when built right into your products (as a course unit, or as an automatic email which goes out to customers after a period of time), you will get testimonials.<\/p>\n
They key is to provide\u00a0guidance<\/strong>. Now, what do I mean by that?<\/p>\n
In plain language, you are giving them sample testimonials to go by. You present 1 or more great testimonials that are written in the way that you want them and you provide them right inside the survey for the respondent to go by. It obviously doesn\u2019t mean they have to copy it, but it accomplishes two things:<\/p>\n
- \n
- It shows that they are not alone in leaving you great testimonials and feedback. It is a kind of bandwagon effect.<\/li>\n
- If shows them how best to write their testimonials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
You will get much better testimonials in your surveys this way.<\/p>\n
You can even use conversational forms<\/a> in some cases for testimonials. Fluent Forms supports conversational forms. They are like \u201cfill in the blank\u201d forms where you give them some pre-written statements and they fill in the parts specific to them. This is another method to provide guidance on how to write an effective testimonial.<\/p>\n
Now, what if you don\u2019t yet have any testimonials? Well, you can write them yourself. Literally just write what you think would be a great testimonial for your own product. The very obvious caveat here is to NEVER, EVER<\/em> claim that the testimonial is real. You are simply providing it as a template. A lot of people just don\u2019t know how to write usable testimonials, despite their best intentions. You\u2019re giving them a guide.<\/p>\n
Using Survey To Find Out Why They\u2019re Leaving<\/h2>\n
It is a fact of life on the Internet that people will sometimes want to get a divorce, so to speak. In our own context, this could mean they wish to unsubscribe from your list, cancel a membership, or request a refund.<\/p>\n
And knowing WHY they are leaving is insanely important. It might not always do much to float your ego, but it is data you NEED to improve what you\u2019re doing and raise your game.<\/p>\n
They key here is to ask them to fill out an exit survey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
There are many ways you can ask people to fill out an exit survey, such as:<\/p>\n
- \n
- A screen they\u2019re redirected to when they cancel their membership.<\/li>\n
- An automatic email which goes out to them after they\u2019ve canceled a subscription.<\/li>\n
- An auto email which goes out if they receive a refund.<\/li>\n
- In some email CRMs, you can even ask people why they unsubscribed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It is important to remember that just because somebody cancelled or received a refund doesn\u2019t make them NOT a buyer. They still bought it! But, now they\u2019re leaving. You definitely want to know why so that you can find areas for improvement.<\/p>\n
My suggestion is to tag people as \u201cCancelled\u201d or \u201cRefunded\u201d when this occurs. Then, set up an automated email sequence that directly sends them an exit survey.<\/p>\n
The questions for this kind of survey are quite straightforward.<\/p>\n
- \n
- \u201cWhy did you cancel your subscription to XXXXXX?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
- \u201cHow can we improve?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
- \u201cWhat could we do which may get you to consider re-joining us some time in the future?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
My personal recommendation: Don\u2019t use the survey as a sly means to try to convince them to change their mind. They\u2019re already leaving. You just want to know why.<\/p>\n
Also, I would make the page which embeds your exit survey friendly and welcoming. You may possibly even record a quick video to encourage them to fill out the survey. Make it feel welcoming and never make them feel wrong about cancelling or requesting a refund. Your job is to leave a good impression on their way out the door.<\/p>\n
Using Survey To Get Product Ideas<\/h2>\n
The key to any product selling well is product\/market fit. You need the thing being offered to be tailored to what the target market needs and wants. If there\u2019s a mismatch, it isn\u2019t going to sell well at all. All the cute conversion tactics in the world on your sales page isn\u2019t going to matter at all if there\u2019s a fundamental problem with product\/market fit.<\/p>\n
Surveys are a fantastic method for finding out what people need and want. <\/p>\n
I highly recommend that you begin using surveys as early as possible on your website. You don\u2019t want to waste your time crafting offers for products nobody wants.<\/p>\n
But, how can you create a survey that is basically asking people what they want to buy? It feels awkward, right?<\/p>\n
Need To Be A Little Strategic<\/h3>\n
You do need to become strategic on how you approach this or they may not give you a straight answer. For instance, you sometimes see the following:<\/p>\n
- \n
- People will see that you\u2019re surveying in order to make a paid product and they\u2019ll just clam up. They\u2019ll be thinking:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t really care because you are just going to try to extract money from my wallet for this answer\u201d<\/em>.<\/li>\n
- People will SAY they\u2019re interested in a particular product idea. You then go and do the work. Then, when push comes to shove, they don\u2019t actually buy the thing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The first thing here is that we need to survey them in such a way that the price barrier is REMOVED from their thinking. We want product ideas without the money barrier coming in at this point. The right offer is a far more important thing than the price point. With the right offer, the price tag is a lot easier to determine.<\/p>\n
Secondly, always keep in mind that the ONLY true measure of interest is them actually TAKING ACTION. When it comes to a paid product, the only true measure is whether or not they\u2019ll actually give you money for it. Take any survey feedback that says \u201cOh yeah, I\u2019d buy that!\u201d with a grain of salt. The only true survey feedback in that regard is whether they actually do buy it.<\/p>\n
Now, of course, we don\u2019t want to spend a lot of time making something they won\u2019t buy. So, we need to think about the process for this. And that\u2019ll involve some survey as well.<\/p>\n
The Questions For Product Idea Surveys<\/h3>\n
A really good question might be:<\/p>\n
What free product would you love for me to create just for you?<\/em><\/p>\n
Free, you ask? Yes, the point there is simply to remove the price barrier from the equation. You want them to just tell you what they\u2019d simply LOVE to have, but without tainting it with any emotion about price.<\/p>\n
Other questions could be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What is your biggest fear or frustration when it comes to ______?<\/em><\/li>\n
- When it comes to getting ______, what is getting in your way?<\/em><\/li>\n
- What would be your perfect outcome?<\/em><\/li>\n
- What would change for you if you were able to _________?<\/em><\/li>\n
- What tools or shortcuts might you find super helpful if they existed?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Remember, you will get your best feedback with these questions with free-form entry questions that allow them to type whatever comes to mind. I highly encourage you not to have them select from options you wrote for them. That defeats the point.<\/p>\n
The Co-Creation Process<\/h3>\n
A great process to find out what your people need and want \u2013 and verify it as you go \u2013 is to use a co-creation process. The idea here is that you\u2019re creating a product in baby steps and then going back to your people for feedback along the way. In this way, you are almost partnering<\/strong><\/em> with them to create the perfect solution that they<\/em> want.<\/p>\n
You want to start this off by removing all price considerations. Start off with an email or a blog post which simply states that you\u2019ve been meaning to create something to give away and you could really use their input on it. You\u2019re essentially saying:<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to give you something for free\u2026 I have some ideas but I want to really just make sure I have got it right so I am asking for your input.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
From a marketing perspective, this builds tremendous goodwill with your readers.<\/p>\n
Now, in those requests for free product ideas, you begin to look for common answers, ideas and topics. Summarize them and then decide on your top option.<\/p>\n
Next, before you create anything at all, you go back to your audience and VERIFY. Essentially, survey them again. Say something like:<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, thanks for the survey; I got a lot of great input from you guys. I think what it is you guys that most want is __________. Is this correct? And if not, let me know.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Doesn\u2019t have to be those exact words, of course. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
The response from this verification survey will accomplish two things:<\/p>\n
- \n
- You\u2019ll have their help in really fine-tuning the idea so that you are REALLY pin-pointing what they want.<\/li>\n
- You\u2019re getting them to take a proactive role in the CREATION of the product. And from a marketing perspective, this makes them FAR more likely to take you up on the real product down the road.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The next step? Be a man (or woman) of your word and make that thing for free. Yes, for free. Now, the key here is that you\u2019re not making a full-on product. This won\u2019t be some multi-module course or anything. This free product should indeed be something very valuable to them, but not so much that you are screwing yourself over by making it and giving it away.<\/p>\n
Now, give this freebie to them. They asked for it. And, you sit back and gauge the reaction to it. Make them opt in for it using a squeeze page.<\/p>\n
If the reaction is proven, then you have the makings of a paid product right there. That is a form of verification. So, now you can proceed with making a more complete solution and that\u2019ll be one you offer for money. And, ideally, I would PRE-SELL it. Offer the more complete solution with a price point and see what percentage buy. If the numbers are good, go make it. That\u2019s the ultimate verification right there. If the numbers don\u2019t justify it, then use survey to go back to them and tweak the offer again.<\/p>\n
In the end, NEVER create a product to sell without verification that there\u2019s a demand for it and they want it.<\/p>\n
You need to be using survey for this.<\/p>\n
Using Survey To Figure Out Your Price<\/h2>\n
Figuring out your price for your product is usually a touchy subject. You could just throw a price tag out there and see what happens. But, you can use more direct surveys to get some indication of price point. It isn\u2019t as difficult as you might think.<\/p>\n
Now, you probably don\u2019t want to come right out and ask, \u201cWhat would you be willing to pay?\u201d<\/em>. It\u2019s just too blunt. Their shields go up really fast. Plus, it doesn\u2019t mean very much anyway, since the only true test would be them\u00a0actually<\/em>\u00a0paying what they said.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019d prefer to do is get at their price tolerance through some strategically worded questions. Two examples might be:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \u201cWhat would you expect to pay for this?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
- \u201cIf you were offering this product yourself, would would you charge for it?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The idea behind these questions is to have them talking price while trying to remove themselves as the one doing the buying. To have them think objectively about it.<\/p>\n
A completely different approach would be to ask them questions to gauge their personal buying habits on other products. The point is to get an idea how liberal they are with their money. For instance\u2026<\/p>\n
How many times do you eat out during an average week\/month?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
You could ask the same on other non-essentials a person may buy (i.e. Starbucks). The point would be to get a gauge of their level of spending. Plus, you can equate your price point later to these items that are very real to them to put it in perspective (i.e. \u201cthis product will only cost you the average cost of one meal out\u201d.)<\/p>\n
Another option would be based on what is called Van Westendorp\u2019s Price Sensitive Meter, which is a marketing technique created to determine price sensitivity. Questions would be on the order of:<\/p>\n
- \n
- At what price would you consider the product to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it? (Too expensive)<\/em><\/li>\n
- At what price would you consider the product to be priced so low that you would feel the quality couldn\u2019t be very good? (Too cheap)<\/em><\/li>\n
- At what price would you consider the product starting to get expensive, so that it is not out of the question, but you would have to give some thought to buying it? (Expensive\/High Side)<\/em><\/li>\n
- At what price would you consider the product to be a bargain\u2014a great buy for the money? (Cheap\/Good Value)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- At what price would you consider the product to be priced so low that you would feel the quality couldn\u2019t be very good? (Too cheap)<\/em><\/li>\n
- \u201cIf you were offering this product yourself, would would you charge for it?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \u201cWhat would you expect to pay for this?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
- When it comes to getting ______, what is getting in your way?<\/em><\/li>\n
- People will SAY they\u2019re interested in a particular product idea. You then go and do the work. Then, when push comes to shove, they don\u2019t actually buy the thing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \u201cHow can we improve?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
- \u201cWhy did you cancel your subscription to XXXXXX?\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n
- Why did you subscribe to my blog?<\/strong><\/li>\n
- What are you most looking to get from me by being a subscriber to my list and my blog?<\/strong><\/li>\n
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