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What Surveys Can Tell You—and Your Customers

December 2007.

What are you trying to accomplish with a survey? It's likely you're asking a series of questions designed to elicit valuable feedback for ongoing improvements of your product or service. But in a recent post at his blog, Seth Godin discusses the various ways a survey—and its results—can be used for much more.

One option is to use the survey question as a marketing tactic:

• "You can TEACH people with a survey," writes Godin, "simply by asking them questions that help them notice things they never noticed before." For instance, you might ask, "Do your prefer option A or option B?" when the real purpose of the question is to let the participant know that they have an option B.

Another twist uses survey results to influence behavior:

• Godin cites the marketing campaign for Trident, which claimed four out of five dentists recommended the sugarless gum to their patients. "Hardly scientific," he says, "but publishing the results made dentists feel better about recommending the gum and made people with teeth happier about chewing it."

The Po!nt: A survey's usefulness is not limited to gathering data—you might also find that it can be a useful marketing tool. So explore all the ways a survey can benefit your company.