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What are you doing to understand your customers?

cheat sheet by dave goldberg

What are you doing to understand your customers?

Do you think that the vast majority of your customers are totally satisfied with your company? Are you assuming they are in fact happy

customers? Do your sales show that the level of customer satisfaction your company engenders is high?

The thing is, “satisfaction” is not enough in today’s highly competitive marketplace. You have to know your audience, and they need to feel

personally validated as such.

This CHEAT SHEET comes to you courtesy of Dave Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey. This lesson is all about listening to customers and learning

to use what they tell you to delight them.

With this CHEAT SHEET, you’ll learn the right questions to ask to better understand your customers and grow your business by building loyalty.

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InsIghts In thIs ChEAt shEEt:1. Ask to show you care

2. Ask the right questions

3. Listen… because you want to

4. Listen… and show that you’re listening

5. Embrace the bad!

What are you waiting for? Grab a pencil and let’s go!

Watch the video

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What is the nOt-sO-FREAKY UnIVERsItY?

It’s a library packed full of resources and courses. But unlike many other membership sites for entrepreneurial business owners and operators, the NSFU is dedicated to instruction. It is about providing the steps needed to achieve an outcome. The biggest barrier to achieving any goal is knowing where to begin. NSFU courses solve that problem, by providing a clear and repeatable path. Why the unusual name? We focus on the topics that freak out even the most seasoned business operators. We simplify technology trends, online marketing, leadership principles, raising money, boosting cashflow, pitching, presenting, productizing, starting a new business or re-engineering an old business to start again. Change is relentless. Myopia will kill you. We isolate the freaky in business and un-freakify it.

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01.AsK tO shOW YOU CARE

Have you ever had a one-sided conversation with someone who only talks about his or her self? Not so fun, right?

Is your company conducting its self in a one-sided manner?

If you’ve held back on conducting customer surveys because you don’t what questions you should ask, or because you feel that it’s your job to “tell” them what they need to know, you’re approaching customer relations from the wrong angle.

Your customers want to know that you care what they think. That’s why customer surveys are increasingly important.

The questions you ask in surveying your customers need to reflect your understanding of your target market.

What problems does your ideal customer face? What questions should your ideal customer be asking? What issues could you resolve that your nearest competitors can’t?

The questions that stem from that line of thinking are the ones that will most effectively demonstrate to your customers that you care about their opinions.

What’s stopping you from asking your customers the questions that will help you get to know them?

ACtIOn stEP:What are you afraid of?

Write it down! Are these real risks or perceived risks?

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02. AsK thE RIght qUEstIOns

When the time comes to ask your customers questions, you need to ask questions that strike

at the heart of the matter.

Often, business people are advised to ask “open ended” rather than “closed ended” questions.

So asking, “How will you use this product?” is better than asking “Will you use this product?”

because the latter results in a “yes” or “no” answer and not much else.

While that logic often holds true, especially in face-to-face selling, you need to go one step

further in surveying your customers. You need to be specific by asking questions that give your

customers a chance to convey their feelings.

“How likely are you to recommend this service to a friend?” is a common question that you have

probably seen before. That’s a question that is designed to get a real reaction, rather than a

glowing response. It’s a question that makes business personal and gathers qualitative data,

which is the most valuable to your business.

SurveyMonkey has put together a bank of questions to help you elicit specific answers from

your customers by asking exactly the right questions. (See “Links” at the end of this CHEAT

SHEET).

ACtIOn stEP:Check out the sample SurveyMonkey questions.

What questions could you use that delve into feelings?

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Click to watch the video

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03.LIstEn… bECAUsE YOU WAnt tO

Since “listening” in the digital space involves surveying your customers, but you shouldn’t be

doing it just because someone says so.

Customer survey data is telling you to do something, or to change something. If you’re going

to survey your customers, ask questions that you are prepared to take action based on the

answers you receive.

Be objective, and make your customer surveys count by asking questions that you will take

action around.

ACtIOn stEP:Ask a friend to help you analyse feedback on the answers you receive in response to survey questions.

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04.LIstEn… And shOW thAt YOU’RE LIstEnIng

Once you’ve asked questions and received answers from your customers, you need to show

them that you’re really listening.

Even if you cannot possibly fulfil the customers’ most common requests, you need to tell them

why. That way, they’ll know they are being heard.

Share what you’ve learned. Even if you cannot immediately implement what the majority of

respondents have said, let them know that you have heard them and that you will work on

what they have told you.

If you do that, the next time you have to ask for survey data, your customers will remember that

you were responsive to their concerns, that you validated them, and, ideally, that you acted

on their requests. Going forward, your customers will be all the more likely to provide more

feedback.

More importantly, they’ll be more in love with you brand because you have acted on their

feelings.

ACtIOn stEP:What are three survey outcomes that would interest your target market? Write down all three. If you are not sure, you can always survey your customers!

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05.EmbRACE thE bAd!

Embracing the bad is the hardest action of all!

If you have a product that is doing well, great. If there is something needing to be fixed, you

have to ask that survey question.

Being willing to ask the hard questions and react to them is the best way to earn loyalty from

your customers.

Your customers, as you know, are immersed in social media, a place where feedback – good or

bad – is immediately sharable. Your business needs to be as reactive as social media.

Complainers are customers who care enough to tell you what they think. You have to be fully

prepared to handle bad feedback from customers promptly and professionally.

ACtIOn stEP:Write down the areas of weakness and doubts that you suspect your customers are feeling. Ask your audience for feedback about the specific issues.

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dave goldberg is the CEO of SurveyMonkey. Dave joined the company in 2009 and he has since helped build it into a billion-dollar business with more than 300 employees. Before coming to SurveyMonkey, Dave founded Launch Media, one of the first online music companies, which Dave helped take public before selling to Yahoo!

Click to watch the video

NSFU members clicK here to view the Survey Monkey Customer Feedback Guide