Article Directory :: Internet Marketing/Online Business Articles

How To Build Loyalty By Running Customer Service Surveys On Your Website

By John Baril

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 15Jan2009 Word count: 552 Viewed: 334 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

In the midst of a financial crisis and subsequent recession, a lot of Internet marketers are looking with trepidation at declining sales and a shrinking customer base. They are probably wondering whether or not their online businesses will survive the torrid times that lie ahead.

My message to you if you are one of those anxious Internet marketers is, take heart! The dreadful clouds of recession are silver-lined with bountiful opportunities!

You have doubtless heard about how relationship building is the key to online success. Some Internet marketing experts talk about the process that leads to a closed sale as the "sales funnel"; I prefer to call it the "trust funnel" because sales only come where there is trust.

Now in a recessionary atmosphere, trust becomes an even bigger issue because the perception that money is tight permeates through the whole economy and people become less willing to splash their money about.

But the good news - the silver lining in the billowing clouds of recession - is that online businesses that focus on and respond to the changing needs and perceptions of their target market are the ones that are most likely to build newer or deeper relationships of trust and enjoy a new period of growth in spite of the recession.

The great thing about the Internet is that it offers website owners many opportunities to engage in dialogue with customers or potential customers. Examples of this interaction can be found in the blogosphere, on forums, via email exchanges and so on.

One other effective way of interacting with visitors to your website is through customer service surveys which can be set up and run for less than a dollar a day via websites such as Onlinesurveywizard.com, Surveypro.com or Surveymonkey.com.

Online surveys can be set up to seek feedback about the products or services you offer. On the other hand, you could run a focused survey to find out about the customer's concerns and desires.

Whatever the theme of your survey may be, be sure to give it a clear focus and consistent theme all the way through.

One way to smooth the path through the survey for the survey taker is to ask closed-ended questions that invite clear yes/no answers. Open ended questions can be set within the limits of a multiple choice a-b-c-d format, with four answers to choose from.

Assuage any worries the survey takers may have about the security and confidentiality of their private information.

When you have collated and analyzed all the data, post a report on your website or blog and invite your visitors to leave feedback.

The whole survey taking process should be viewed as a trust-building exercise between yourself and a segment of your customer base.

Done well, customer service surveys will reveal a lot of useful information about your target market. Don't let it go to waste, but act on the results by bringing to the market goods and services that answer to the current needs of your target market.

That kind of responsive interaction with your market that online customer service surveys provide is much more likely to win the kind of trust and loyalty that you are going to need from your customers if your business is to grow during the recessionary cycle.

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here

More articles by John Baril

Free Report!
Ten Essential Secrets Of Article Marketing ... Grab Your Free
Copy Now:

Need Content?
Regular Top Quality Content for your Blog, Ezine or Website ...
Delivered Direct,
For Free!
Click For Details