Over on Marketo’s B2B Marketing blog, Maria Pergolino has a good post about Benefits of Online Surveys for B2B Marketers.
As I’ve written here before, I believe that professional service firms can make good use of online surveys, but they should supplement, rather than replace, one-on-one conversations with customers and prospects. Here are three reasons you might want to consider keeping person-to-person surveys in the mix:
1. Filling out your survey is more work in my busy day – taking the time to talk to me shows you care. Our customers are every bit as busy as we are. They don’t need more homework from someone they pay to make their life easier. Being mindful of this, we try to keep our surveys brief (see #2), and customers tend to rush through the answers. Both of these make it more likely we could end up collecting data that doesn’t provide the insight we need.
2. The discussion is more important than the answer – Unless you are asking for feedback related to a recent transaction, it can be difficult to gain meaningful information from a brief survey. Getting the type of information that accountants, lawyers, and other professionals need to improve their business typically requires asking open-ended questions followed by probing follow-up questions. This is difficult to do in a survey (online or offline) but is the type of conversation professionals have all the time with customers.
3. The individual need can be as important as the trend. We love statistics and trends in business. One of the strengths of online surveys is they allow us to gather lots of data, easily compile statistics, and generate a plethora of reports. These tools can provide powerful insights, but if you provide professional services, you know that your customers are not interested in being treated as an average or a mean score – they want more personalized attention. When it comes to building relationships, it’s often the little things that make a big difference. For some of your customers, the fact that you picked up the phone may be that little thing.
Using online surveys and other automated tools can be great tools for gathering feedback from your customers, but don’t forget to pick up the phone once in a while if you really want to know what is on their minds.
photo credit: Kim Pierro via Flickr
