In today’s business atmosphere with all of the “big data” information floating around, it is still important to make sure that you are asking your customers for their opinion on matters and, most importantly: asking the right questions. Customer surveys can be an excellent tool that can complement, and in some cases be just as, if not more valuable, than the raw data you collect. The MarketingProfs outline four common mistakes made when conducting marketing surveys.

 

  1. Forgetting to consider context: The first common mistake with marketing surveys is failing at considering the context of your survey and its delivery method. Knowing your audience is key. Survey recipients likely need to be segmented since different demographic features might very likely influence the answers. Another aspect of why it is important to know your audience is understanding the mode in which they prefer to be contacted. That means you should know how they want to receive a survey, it could be on social media, email, online, on paper, etc.
  2. Failing to put mobile first: The second common mistake when distributing marketing surveys is ignoring the importance of mobile. Your survey should be accessible via mobile, easy to read, and easy to complete on any size mobile device. Mobile internet access is increasing and mobile marketers can certainly take advantage of that mobile phone addiction phenomenon that is very real.
  3. Overlooking the customer journey: The third common mistake when sending marketing questionnaires out is failing to consider where each customer is at within their customer journey. Customer journey is increasingly becoming recognised as an important part of marketing. Segmentation can help you decipher the differences and account for different answers. Segmentation also helps you shorten surveys if you already know that certain questions are not applicable to someone in a certain phase of their customer journey.
  4. Overcomplicating survey content: The final common survey mistake we will discuss today is making the survey too long or complicated. Simplicity is the key with surveys. If a survey is too long, there is less chance of getting completed responses. On the other hand, a short survey with complicated questions can also scare of respondents. Let participants know at the beginning how long the survey is and have an indicator of how much is left of the survey.