The success of a business depends upon the perceptions of the audience. They are the sole decision-makers determining whether a company will succeed, thrive or fail. Do you have a marketing campaign? Are you thriving in a competitive market?

It is likely that you have put in a lot of effort, time and money in various marketing campaigns, targeting new customers or trying to retain the existing ones as well as figuring out to squeeze some additional profits from some of your best clients.

This may be exhausting, but it is absolutely necessary to thrive in the market. To be successful, you need to determine two important factors:

• What are the needs and requirements of the customers?
• How can you provide them with what they need and require?

But the question is, how are you going to understand what your audience needs? Well, the answer is simple: you need only ask them.

That’s right! Asking your customers for their feedback directly can allow you to make amendments to accommodate their requests. Doing this can lead you to better exposure, ultimately resulting in a better flow of revenue.

Surveys and interviews are the best options to help you get accurate information about your audience and learn about their concerns, or get their praise and criticism. Besides that, it shows your customers that you care about their opinions to make your business better.

However, if you have never created a survey before it is fairly easy to create one. There are many tools present on the internet, using a survey maker can help you create a simple review. Make sure that it is interactive and simple, so your customers are interested in filling out your surveys.

While your company is undoubtedly the top priority for you, taking this survey won't be on every client’s top priority list. Here are some ways in which you can interest them in taking a survey.

1. Interest them with incentives

As said above, taking the survey is not necessarily everybody's top priority, but they can’t be blamed for being interested as well. Sure, providing the companies with their survey is going to make their experience better, but the customers do not have to acknowledge this fact. Some may even think of it as a demand for their valuable time which they can spend on doing some important work.

However, a little motivation from your end can influence them on taking the survey. Influence their decision by giving them an incentive on taking the survey for your company. For example, you can offer a 20% discount to a customer for taking the survey or offer them a gift card for your services.

Acknowledge the time of the customers making sure that the incentive is worth their trouble. The key to being successful is finding the middle ground where what you offer is beneficial for you as well as the customer.

On the other hand, in-depth interviews that happen in-person or over the phone, offer an incentive that is more valuable for their time, such as gift cards or free products. It is always worth giving away products to get insight from your customers.

Make sure that you get as many responses as possible to achieve optimum accuracy in your results. If only twenty people respond to your survey, bear in mind that they don't speak for all of your customer bases.

2. Always Stick to Your Goals

The questions included in your survey must be related to one another just like your goals. What goals are your surveys trying to accomplish? Consider an example of a design agency providing services, including creative designs and video animation. Their survey must specifically be related to their services.

It is sent to the customers who asked for video animation services. These questions must be worded accordingly. Let's say they wish to generate more revenue. Their question could be related to their quality of animation and the time they asked for the final product.

Maybe they wish to improve their work efficiency and can ask the customers for step-by-step feedback on the process to become better at what they do. Either way, the questions still center around particular objects and goals, which can help them get better.

3. Establish a Comfortable environment during an interview

Interviews are tricky! Unlike simple surveys having multiple choices for answers, interviews are more in-depth. It is best to use an interview when you need a response that is more than a “satisfied†or “unsatisfied†answer.

Interviews are more suitable for people having a brick-and-mortar store than an online shop. A survey conducted by the Harvard business review suggests that people are 34 times more open to giving a face-to-face response than through an emailed questionnaire. You can ask your customers for five minutes of their precious time to get interviewed.

Bear in mind that you need your customers to be comfortable during the interview to get accurate answers. One of the significant problems of in-person interviews is that you might take some of the responses with a grain of salt.

One factor that may affect the answer of the customer is their psychological tendency, also known as the social desirability bias. It means, the customer you interview may not be thrilled by every aspect of your business, but they are satisfied enough to continue purchasing at the store. Their answers may not be 100% truthful during the interview for they wish to continue their journey at the place. This is why they will tell you what you want to hear rather than say what they feel.

Social desirability bias is something that you want to avoid when interviewing your customer. This can only happen when your customers are comfortable enough to answer truthfully so you can make the right improvements. Let them know that their opinion is valued and you want to hear your criticism. Ensure that you won't be offended by their evaluation of the product and services. Create a bond that doesn’t change the result of your analysis.

Conclusion

If you want to generate more revenue, you must figure out what your customers want. With the help of surveys and interviews, you can find the expectations and requirements of your potential and work your way to meet their expectations.

Surveys and interviews are useful tools that can provide you with insight into where you need to improve. Not just that, conducting surveys and interviews can help in showing your customers that you value their opinion and increase their loyalty to your brand.

You need to make sure that each survey and interview you conduct must be focused particularly on your business objective and goals. Keep them short and simple, so they are interested in taking the survey. Make your customers comfortable saying what they feel so you can be accurate to understand what they need.

As the responses come in, evaluate them and make changes to your services and products. Positively respond to each feedback to show your customers that you value their insight. This can help you to get the most accurate results for your surveys. Measure results to make the most of these tactics.

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