Constructing your survey

While it is far more preferable to do a customer visit interview, customer surveys offer an opportunity to poll your users and potential customers on questions that might otherwise go unanswered. But to be effective, it is necessary for you to have a plan as to how to get the best out of your surveys. The following are some of the suggestions I have found to be effective at developing robust and meaningful customer surveys.

Think about your target audience—Who are they and where/when/how will they respond to your survey? Is your ideal survey respondent an executive concerned about the bottom line of his/her manufacturing plant, or is it someone who is interested in making his or her life easier or more enjoyable? Will they respond to your survey on a PC or on a phone? Grid questions work well on a PC, and you are better able to present a slightly longer survey. Mobile phones, on the other hand, do not support grid questions very well, and the expectation is for a...