Ever wondered what our life could have been without peanut butter?
That’s what I feel about marketing without customer feedback!
In all my professional life, while working with PAAS, media, agencies, and now SAAS, all I’ve craved is authentic and valuable feedback — from our consumers, from the team, and even from the critics. That has been my peanut butter.
One thing that helped me immensely in building up and getting these useful feedback was using surveys.
Now, I’m not talking about creating google docs, forms, or spreadsheets and collecting answers. I’m talking about surveys where we filter our customers into different categories based on their personas and behaviors and then ask them relevant questions about their experience.
While a lot of businesses I’ve seen prefer doing this exercise on their own — my personal experience has taught me that using survey panel providers to get access to this feedback is much more effective.
Why so?
Panel providers are companies that collect and manage groups of people who are interested in taking surveys and participating in research studies. These individuals are selected based on their demographic profile, interests, and other information, allowing them to participate in and respond to surveys that are relevant to them.
Using a survey panel helps you add much-needed precise filters to building your surveys — leading to more precise feedback and data, helping you make better decisions.
Do you know that around 90% of Americans use customer service to decide whether to do business with a company? While at least 92% of consumers agree that a positive customer service experience compels them to make another purchase.
That’s a lot!!
And this is why every business, no matter which industry they belong to, should and must focus on improving their customer service using feedback.
Now, coming back to utilizing survey panel providers. Before you decide to go with one, there are a couple of checklists that must be ticked off. Let’s get on to that.
Which survey panel provider is right for you?
Tough question? Easy answer!
Study your options
When selecting a panel provider, comparing and finding one that meets your needs is essential. Consider factors such as panel size, participant demographics, and cost.
Understand and evaluate their recruitment methods
This will give insight into the type of participants available for your survey. Inquire about participant screening, data collected, and any specialty niche groups they have experience recruiting.
Focus on control measures
Focus on the measures they take to maintain the quality of their panel. This includes measures to prevent fraud, such as IP and device tracking, as well as ensuring that participants are engaged and motivated to provide accurate and meaningful feedback.
Check for integration capabilities
Go for a panel provider that integrates seamlessly with your existing survey tools and data management systems. This will ensure that your data is collected, processed, and analyzed efficiently without the need for manual intervention.
Look for accessibility
This will ensure that you have access to a wide range of participants, which will increase the validity and representativeness of your survey results.
Do not miss on the customer support
While looking for customer feedback for your business, do not miss out on the support your potential panel providers give to their customers — especially if any technical issues arise during the course of your survey.
What kind of surveys are right for your customers?
As important as it is to run a survey with an amazing panel provider, it’s equally important to understand which one goes right for you.
Focus on the kind of surveys mentioned below that can be for your customers:
Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey
By calculating the percentage of customers who will recommend your business, you can quantify customer loyalty using an NPS survey.
Post-Purchase Survey
Use it to obtain immediate feedback following the conclusion of the entire customer cycle and a sale.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Survey
Use CSAT surveys — a brief questionnaire that is emailed to clients after each interaction — to ascertain whether your company is meeting their expectations.
Customer Effort Score (CES) Survey
The amount of effort a customer needs to execute a certain action is indicated by a Customer Effort Score (CES) score.
These are some of the most used & common types of surveys that help create an impactful customer satisfaction experience.
How to improve your surveys with panel providers?
Choosing the right panel provider and doing adequate research isn’t the only thing you’ll need to succeed in doing impactful surveys.
So, what will?
Here are a few tips you can give a try to create the most efficient & impactful surveys:
Talk, talk, and talk!
Communicate with panel suppliers who have an in-depth understanding of both their research procedures and their panels. If you and your panel providers have a thorough grasp of the scope of your study, you may more accurately assess the amount of success of your online survey.
Examine both attempted and completed surveys
Both categories of respondents who have either given up or finished your surveys and the ones who did not meet the requirements for your study should be taken into account. An incidence rate check is essential in this situation to ensure that your panel provider has contacted the appropriate respondents and to lessen distorted results.
Plan in advance
If you intend to use the same panelists for follow-up studies, you must notify the panel supplier in advance. The same panelists will be accessible to panel providers, but they will need to be made aware of the strategy and have a system in place to properly identify and validate them.
Other than these, you can consider the following mantras:
- Integrate qualifying questions to identify relevant participants and ensure accurate responses
- Avoid ambiguous questions; provide enough context and background information
- Personalize survey templates to make them more engaging and increase participation
- Test the survey before releasing it to your panel provider and get feedback from a small sample
- Keep surveys brief to consider respondents’ time
- Encourage participation with incentives such as gift cards or cash prizes
- Utilize psychological principles, customer-centric framing, relevancy, and urgency to increase response rates.
Having the right panelists is one of the most crucial aspects of online surveys, right next to designing surveys, because the quality of your market research study depends on your source of information. You will need to do your part in learning more about panel providers to get the perfect fit.
Final words
Customer feedback is one of the main pillars of building a business, and working with panel providers can be a great way to build this pillar on strong grounds. However, there are pros and cons, measures, and a lot of things that you must keep in check.
With the right panel provider and an effective survey, you can gain valuable insights that will help guide your research and business decisions — investing time and effort in selecting the right provider and building a good relationship with them can lead to a successful survey research outcome.
Remember, peanut butter is amazing, but not every brand selling peanut butter would be amazing.!
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash