Monday, March 05, 2018
5 tips to motivate your customers to respond
Today, you're probably one of the 85% of companies that take the pulse of their customers by conducting satisfaction surveys*. As a result, you need to stand out from the crowd if you want to win the favor of highly sought-after consumers and get a response from them. So what are the best practices for motivating your customers to respond? Here are our 5 tips.
Aim just right
Are you interested in your customers and want to find out more about their level of satisfaction? We can only congratulate you! But be careful not to miss your initial objective. Before you start sending out a survey, think carefully about your target group and, therefore, your panel. It's essential to ask people who have recently had contact with your brand: information requests, website visits, purchases, deliveries, complaints, etc., and avoid appearing irrelevant.
In addition, it's important to target customers on subjects that are relevant to their experience. For example, don't ask a customer to comment on the welcome they received in store if they placed their order on the e-commerce site. If you don't have the possibility of segmenting your customers, imagine disqualifying questions to filter out the "good" from the "bad" profiles.
Choosing the right time and place
To capture your customers' attention and motivate them to respond, you need to make their lives as easy as possible. That's why it's a good idea to think ahead about the different devices on which they are likely to respond, and to design forms in responsive design. And don't forget to think about when you're going to ask them: a hot survey (post-purchase satisfaction or post-contact with customer service) takes between 30 minutes and 24 hours. A cold survey (satisfaction with the use of a product, for example) can be sent up to ten days, or even several weeks, after the experience. Furthermore, if you have several channels at your disposal (SMS, e-mail, website, telephone, IVR, etc.), remember to use them wisely. The choice of each of these criteria will really depend on the purpose and nature of the survey you wish to administer.
Careful presentation
To convince customers to respond, it's essential that they understand the ins and outs of the survey. First, introduce yourself and your brand logo and visual identity, so that people can immediately identify you. Next, explain the reasons for your survey; for example, to improve service and adapt it to customer expectations. Eventually, explain why you've selected your recipient; this is a good way of personalizing your message.
The more customers feel their participation is valued, the more they'll want to take part. Specify how long the survey will last, and whether it will be anonymous or not. Finally, specify whether the results will be available, as well as the closing date. And of course, don't forget the thank-you note! Customers take up their time for you, so this is a must.
Imagine a scenario
It's great when a customer agrees to take part in a satisfaction survey, but it's even better when they follow through to the end! To avoid this, there are several criteria to take into account, starting with the length of the survey. Limit yourself to a certain number of questions, and consider the possibility of skipping certain stages if they don't concern all respondents.
If you want to cover several topics, organize the questionnaire by theme, so as not to lose customers. And don't exceed two or three topics. Start with general questions, before moving on to more technical and precise considerations. Imagine your questionnaire from the respondents' point of view, so that there's a logical flow from start to finish. Another point: don't overuse open-ended questions, which require more effort. Finally, don't impose any compulsory answers, as this could discourage customers before the end!
Maintaining the link
If you want to keep your customers motivated to respond the next time, nurture the bond you've created. Send them a message some time after the survey to give them an overview of the results and thank them again for their participation. You can even go one step further and inform them of the actions you intend to take to improve the points highlighted in the survey. In short: keep in touch!
* easiware Customer Services KPI Benchmark (2016)
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