I cannot think of anything more useless in the first stages of customer development than issuing feedback forms and asking your ‘customers’ to fill them up.
Many-a-time startups approached me to ask. How do I make a feedback form? How many questions should it include? What should I ask? Should I attach it to my blog?
My answer is always the same: Drop the idea altogether!
I have a series of reasons behind the seemingly abrupt answer and I would like to share it with you.
Forms are one of the most impersonal ‘forms’ of communication I can think of. You will not be able to convey your warm personality, lovely smile and caring attitude.
2) The majority of such forms usually end up in the bin. It takes time and effort to fill them, both of which are precious commodities. Therefore someone will not oblige you unless you offer something tangible. In fact, many large companies offer ‘gifts’ to those who answer. As your product is not yet ready or well known, I doubt you can offer something they will want.
3) It is easier for customers to lie in a form rather than in person. And you will never be able to find out the truth, too.
4) Questions on forms are notorious for ‘guiding’ the answers. They reflect the underlying views of the business owner and not the true views of the customer.
5) Forms, by nature have to be brief and to the point. However, in the first stages of customer development, you will be in desperate need of as many answers as possible. The answers need to be elaborate, deep and truthful.
6) Forms do not give you all of the characteristics of your customer. This process certainly has more gaps than any other.
Read here about Biz Mistake No. 2: Ask your Customers How to Price Your Products
and Biz Mistake No. 1: Do Not Take Into Account Economic Change
Denise Blackman
This is a great article. Many SEO and professionals push the “form” and “survey” means of gathering information way too much. I have to agree that you will NEVER get totally true information using forms and using forms to make major decisions in your business strategy is probably a mistake. However, using forms IS a good way to “gather” information about your customers and “would be” customers. It’s a great way to collect names, email addresses, phone numbers and even information about what that customer is interested in.
Although a person may not be totally truthful about what they think, like, or feel about your company, they WILL be truthful about what THEY are interested in! It would be a waste of their valuable time not to! The fact that they bother to fill out a form “requesting” information is a solid indicator that they are genuinely interested. So the fact of the matter is, using forms IS a useful practice IF they are used for the right reasons and I am in total agreement with the author of this article in that making major business decisions based on a form or survey is a huge mistake. There are plenty of other ways to gather information from your customers. Simply using a good analytics program will give you a wealth of information regarding what a person is interested in by following their path through your website or looking at other sites they have visited. The fact is, the numbers don’t lie! The information shown in your analytics is invaluable when it comes to fixing problems or gaining insight into what your customers like or dislike about your company or your website.
Use forms and surveys for the right reason and you can easily build lists of new customers and gain information about existing customers. Use analytics for the important decision making you need to do and to gain insight into what problems you need to fix regarding your website and how to increase your visibility and give your website visitors a better experience.
Great article. Thanks for sharing!
Denise Blackman
Owner / Operations Manager
LDJ Auto Body & Customs
http://www.ldjautobody.com
admin
Thank you for your detail feedback Denise. I could not agree more !