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February 17, 2005
Listening to Your Prospects and
Customers
I was speaking with a colleague recently, trying to explain why I'd been out
of touch. I'd been on whirlwind US tour doing focus groups, those unique
experiences where you sit in a dark room for hours spying on people (well, it's
not quite as odd as that makes it sound). In the case of this client, we were
watching people poke around a pre-launch version of a Web site we're building.
All of a sudden my colleague got it -- "Oh. I understand. It's always great to listen to your customers."
Exactly.
It's nice to work with an organization that can afford to send teams of consultants and staff to exotic places like Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Boston and New York to do it. But there are some more affordable and just as valuable ways to open that dialog. Here are a few I've used in the past.
Advisory Boards
If you have long term customers and they like your brand, advisory boards
can be a great way to get feedback. I used to create an advisory board of 15 to
20 customers a year. Most were local, so we'd do a lunch or breakfast meeting 4
times a year. I'd also call on them in between for phone conversations or
smaller coffee meetings.
What came out of it? New ways to market our products, new products we could launch to fill a market need and, in general, a better understanding of where we fit into their work life. The cost wasn't much, the benefit great.
Surveys
When in doubt, ask. I've gathered some great learnings for clients out of
surveys. You can do them offline, but it's so easy and much more cost-effective
to do them online. I've embedded surveys in e-mails (you need an Email Service
Provider that supports that) and used
SurveyMonkey (silly name for a great product) which you can link to from an
e-mail, Web site or pop-up. It's a great way to get fabulous information on your
customers.
Email
I always recommend that clients include an e-mail address in every e-mail
newsletter or other communication they send out. Often there's a concern that
they'll be bombarded with feedback. Doesn't happen. Even if you encourage people
to let you know what they think. But often the people who do take the time to
e-mail you will have constructive thoughts on what you might do better. Again,
there's no cost -- and a huge potential upside.
Free Form
Not into structure? You can informally get the same kind of feedback. If you
have your customer's e-mail addresses, send a few of them a personal note.
Introduce yourself and ask if you can speak with them via phone or, if they're
local, over coffee to discuss your products. You should have some questions you
want to ask or something specific you want to start with (how do you like the
new Web site?) and let them know in advance so they don't feel put on the spot.
That's it for this issue. As always, I'd love to hear from you -- whether you have a comment on this publisher's note or are looking for outside help to make your e-mail marketing more effective. Email me!
Best,
Jeanne S. Jennings
Consultant, Marketing and New Product Development
Publisher, The Jennings Report
Columnist, ClickZ.com
mailto:publisher@jenningsreport.com
Phone: 202-333-3245
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The
Jennings Report
