- Danish Proverb
Now that the holiday 2009 dust is settling it is time to put away the decorations, crunch revenue numbers, take a deep breath, and prepare for next year. This might also be a prime time to get feedback on your holiday email and marketing programs. Sure you can pour over at the numbers, talk to your customer service groups, and check on returns to see how everything went. But don’t make the mistake of forgetting to check with the people who helped make it all happen – your customers. Beyond thanking them for opening their wallets to you, ask them how they felt about their purchasing experience with you, and solicit honest feedback. One of the best ways to gain insight of your subscriber base is through a survey.
Surveys can engage and entertain your email subscribers, but more importantly they allow you to obtain direction for and improve the relevancy of your emails. You can survey your subscribers on product preferences, popular offers, preferred shopping days, overall purchasing experience and the list goes on and on. Surveys also allow a great opportunity to update your subscribers preferences.
Surveys can come in many different shapes and forms. Here are a variety of examples from different verticals. Some of the emails main focus is the survey, while others incorporate a survey as a banner in a more comprehensive marketing message. Be sure your survey fits your brand and your customers – and have fun!
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I would say it depends on the company and industry sector it operates. Would you, for instance, recommend an airline or tour operator to ask their subscribers what their preferred class of travel is, or their preferred destination, or their preferred travel time? Many do that, but in my opinion it's not wise. These preferences tend to change fairly frequently, and subscribers won't update their profile or answer the survey a second time. A better option would be to send emails based on observed user behaviour.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments Francesco. In regards to airlines and surveys, an airline might consider sending a survey asking how a flight was, or if there were any unresolved problems. Take a look at this post concerning Southwest Airlines. They sent me a survey after a flight.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.emailmoxie.com/2009/11/southwest-airlines-updated-email.html
Fantastic example of a good airline survey. Thanks very much, Jordan!
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