Making Surveys A Powerful Marketing Tool

Dictionary definitions of surveys are always about gaining information. Information about land charastice is the job of a surveyor. Looking closely at a person or thing is also called surveying. Asking a bunch of questions is a classic survey. But what if the way you ask questions and the questions themselves can motivate a client to do business with you. Wouldn’t that be worth learning about? 

Human nature is such that people like to be asked for their opinions, recommendations and feedback. That will generally make them feel appreciated and valuable. 

Keep in mind the wise words attributed to Henry Food that “If I asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses”. His point was people don’t know what they want until the options are clear. His cars were superior to horses and it was marketing that created the desire. So using surveys to present options changes them from information gathering to marketing.

Here are examples of “surveys” that generated business for the promotional products media representative/distributor:

1. An email was sent to existing customers asking them for their opinion on their choice of 3 items shown in an attached image. All 3 had the same cost. The questions were “which item would your customers prefer to receive?”, “which item has the highest perceived value?”, “which item is most likely to get a thank you from your customer?” The client was offered a 10% discount on their next order as a thanks for responding. The distributor followed up by sending a sample of the item most likely to get a thank you. They also included a coupon for the 10% discount. 

2. At a December Chamber of Commerce breakfast (60+ business people attending) people received a wall calendar that had a removable sheet with a series of questions. The sheet folded into a postage paid return mail piece and also had instructions for scanning and emailing. Questions were structured to draw attention to promotional calendars. Questions included: Have you received promotional calendars in the past? If yes, did you find a place to display the calendar? Have you seen retail sales of calendars in stationary stores and mall kiosks? The response sheet also asked if the customer/prospect would like a free sample of the next year's calendar when available.

3. An email was sent to a selected group of prospects asking for help with an opinion survey. 5 promotional items in the $6 range were shown. Prospects were asked to list the order from what they most would like to receive to least. They also asked the prospect to guess at the price of each item. The final question asked if the prospect has used promotional products in their marketing before. Prospects were offered a free sample of any of the 5 items they reviewed. Samples were hand delivered allowing for followup conversation.

Personal experience using surveys as marketing tools suggest keeping things short. 5 questions is easy to manage and requires little time investment  for a prospect to participate. Those that do respond and ask for their sample give you the opportunity to discuss how powerful promotional products media is - because they just experienced and responded to it! Additional tips include always asking for the prospect's help. When other than current customers, give the reason you have sent the survey. That could be that many similar businesses have used or received promotional products and their professional opinion is critical to your planning.

For existing customers your reason can be simpler - I always value your opinion and hope you will help me with this short survey.

A fringe benefit of survey marketing is that you will develop some useful data and that you can refer to a “recent survey” in your ongoing marketing. For example you might promote a mug as the “top pic amongst similarly priced mugs” as far as your survey revealed.

Considering Henry Ford’s quote, you still might want to include a comment option on your survey!

Gregg Emmer managed Kaeser & Blair’s marketing, catalog publishing and vendor relations for more than 30 years. Prior to arriving at K&B in 1991 he owned and operated a graphic communication company featuring promotional products and full service printing. Today Emmer’s consulting work provides marketing, public relations and business planning consulting to a wide range of businesses including promotional industry suppliers, venture capital and market research companies. If you are interested in growing your business (or privately commenting on articles) contact Gregg at gregg.promopro@gmail.com.