Nov 28, 2022

As a business, putting investment into understanding your customers better is hugely beneficial.

Knowing who they are and why they are a customer is essential to being able to communicate with them effectively and provide products and services which will meet their needs.

You might be looking to validate your next product idea, or make sure your positioning and marketing is on point for your next launch. Maybe you’re looking to identify areas of the business which offer the greatest opportunity for growth.

What ever the reason, customer research is a fantastic way to get the insights you need to grow your business.

So, you need to start with the customer, right?

In a word, no. Before you even think about contacting your customer you need to ask yourself and your business some questions first.

Here’s the 5 questions you need to ask your business before even thinking about contacting your customers for their feedback.

1. What do I want to achieve with my customer research?

We start with the most important question. If you haven’t yet asked and answered this question, then contacting your customers for feedback should definitely not be happening any time soon until you know the answer to this.

What are you looking to achieve by contacting your customers?

Do you want to know what their experience of a specific product has been? Or perhaps you want to understand how they perceive the service they’ve received, or your brand overall?

There are many reasons for wanting to contact customers and if you dive straight into it without thinking about your reasons and desired outcome, you’ll come away with vague insights which have no meaning or value to your business.

Plan your research objectives thoroughly to ensure you get the most value out of your customers.

2. How do I know what to ask my customers?

Start by looking at your internal processes and how they impact on the customer experience.

Invest time in doing the internal research to find out your customer pain points and what really matters to them when they engage with your business.

Make sure you’re asking your customers about specific things which will benefit your business and have a direct impact on your customer experience.

Perhaps you are already aware of an internal process or service that causes your customers frustration, and you want to fully understand it from their point of view. That’s a good place to start because their feedback will enable you to improve that process or service and, as a result, not enhance the customer experience, but cause your customer to feel valued through asking about a specific experience.

So be clear about your intentions for contacting customers before contacting them. Otherwise, if you’re not sure what you’re looking to achieve, then your customers won’t be either.

3. How am I going to contact my customers?

How do your customers like to interact with you, if at all?

Do you have good relationships where you’re constantly engaging with them?

If not, you may find it more challenging than you realise to get information out of them. You may need to put in some groundwork beforehand.

Asking for feedback from customers out of the blue can rub them up the wrong way. You’ve not been in contact with them for ages, if ever, and now you want something from them. Always put yourself in their shoes and think about how you would feel.

If you haven’t got time or resources to put in the groundwork, then it’s wise to make sure you’re contacting them in a way that will get the best out of them and make them feel valued as a customer.

The last thing you want to be doing is bowling up to them and asking for something when they hardly ever hear from you.

Put some effort in first and make sure they customer is clear as to why you’re contacting them and that you’re doing it in a way that is convenient for them. Just because you want their feedback, doesn’t mean they will want to provide it.

4. How much have I got to spend on my customer research?

Sending out some emails to your customers might sound like a cheap endeavour, but it’s not. If you’re going to be emailing your customers to ask them to complete an online survey it’s advisable to ensure you’re first compliant with GDPR, and second to be collecting performance analytics. Otherwise, you might as well print your emails on paper and throw them into the wind hoping someone will pick them up and read them.

Marketing and commerce providers such as mailchimp have this all sorted for you and provide everything you need to ensure the communications you send out to customers will provide valuable analytics into the performance of your message. They will also show you if your email list needs updating.

Prices will vary depending on your needs, but it is an extremely worthwhile investment to know who is opening and reading your communications and when. It also provides the opportunity to test your contact and tone of voice, seeing what most resonates with your customers.

If you’re not sending emails, you might want to get some qualitative feedback in the form of one-to-one interviews or conduct focus groups with particular customer types.

These are all fantastic ways of getting genuine feedback from customers provided you have a healthy budget to entice customers to provide their valuable time and feedback. Mostly, focus groups offer a financial incentive to participants as a thank you for their time.

If you’re intending to interview 10 or more customers, those incentives can start to add up. So be clear as to your budget at the start.

5. How long do I think this customer research will take?

Getting feedback from customers can be a lengthy process. Not all customers are going to engage straight away, requiring some chasing to even get them to open your communication and read your request, let alone respond to it!

If your requirements are for a quick response, it may be necessary to engage a professional research agency which will be able to contact and obtain responses in a shorter space of time due to the resources available to them.

Again, this will come down to your budget and what you’re aiming to achieve.

 
Whichever way you decide to contact your customers, it’s essential to think realistically about the timeframe for your research and allow sufficient time for your customers to engage and respond.

Always put yourself in your customers’ shoes and contact them in a way that you would want to be contacted. This way, you will get the most out of your customers, and further strengthen your relationship in the process.

If you’re looking to get closer to your customers through research but you’re not sure how to go about it, get in touch with Calm Blue for a free, no obligation 30 -minute consultation, and we’ll find the right outcome for you.