Do Surveys Really Work?

Do you like surveys? Heck, some of the information they ask for makes you wonder. Now be honest, have you ever been tempted to tell a little white lie on one? Would they really notice if you said you were under 18, born in 1964, have a family of seven, and make $200,000 a year?

Before we dig into surveys, let’s backtrack a minute. We’ve been talking about the value of honing in on a target market in order to increase the effectiveness and reduce the cost of advertising. Knowing who your consumers are, and having demographic information about them at your fingertips is powerful stuff!

Think about it… if you market business to business, and you’ve done your homework, you might know:

• The annual sales of the businesses
• The number of employees they maintain
• The types of businesses they purchase from
• The credit card companies they use
• The magazines they subscribe to

If you know that twice as many of your customers use Master Card, it would be a safe bet to buy ads to be stuffed in Master Card bills. If two-thirds of the businesses subscribe to Forbes Magazine, it’s a no-brainer. Forbes is the place to put your ad.

All of that is great, but now for the big question… how do you get the information you’re looking for? People aren’t likely to just hand it over randomly. Extremely busy business men and women are even less likely to spend time giving away information.

Here’s the key… ASK!

Now wait a minute… Who’s going to stop their busy schedule and tell you everything they know about themselves or their business?

Okay, okay… we might need to make it attractive. So let’s add a little bribe to the equation. Now incentives do work! Ask any youngster to do something and offer candy as a reward, and it’s done. We never outgrow our enjoyment of a good bribe.

Coupons, free newsletters, discounts, bonuses… The key to a good bribe/incentive is finding out what the consumer is interested in. Two sure bets are money and information (although a box of chocolates still sounds nice.)

*** Make an offer in return for those nuggets of information your mining for. ***

What about those little “white liars?” Sure, you’ll get a few clowns out for a laugh. Anonymous surveys are great cover-ups. You can cut down on the chances by making them state their name and address. If you choose anonymous surveys, you might want to do a little cross referencing to see if the answers are within reasonable bounds compared to their “named” counterparts.

Do you really know what you think you know about your consumers? Next time, we’ll find out…

Dedicated To Your Further Success.

All the best,

Allyn Cutts

PS To contact me via email, Click Here

About the Author

Allyn has spent over 24 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales to current customers.

Allyn consults personally with clients to design and deliver offline and online direct marketing strategies that focus on metrics and measurable results. You can learn more about Allyn Cutts at http://AmazingMarketingStrategy.com or you can call 610.437.4106 between 10 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time Tuesdays and Thursdays

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