If you don’t have a great product, nothing else matters.
Why spend the money and effort to market something that at the end of the day will let your customers down? You may see a spike in sales with your efforts, but it will be nearly impossible to see long-term growth through repeat customers and brand loyalty.
How do I know if my product is great? Simple! Ask your customers. Feedback is a wonderful gift!
There was this local restaurant that opened up in my town a few years ago. As a transplant, I craved decent Mexican food but just couldn’t find it. Finally, a small family-owned restaurant opened and it was pretty good. For sure the best we could find, and we enjoyed it. Fast forward a couple of years, and another local restaurant opened nearby. It wasn’t just good. It was great. Oh man, finally a place that knows how to make a delicious chorizo street taco. Is it lunchtime yet?
What’s the point? If the first restaurant asked me my feedback through a few simple questions, they would know where they were falling short. While they experienced decent traffic, the new restaurant had such a great product that not only were repeat customers the norm, but word of mouth kicked in, and then any marketing spend was backed by quality.
Your first step toward your marketing efforts should be to ask for feedback, respond appropriately, and ensure you have the best you can offer.
Now, I’m not suggesting you have to be the best at what you do in the world. But, you should understand what your customers want and how you can best meet their needs.
Getting Feedback
Who likes answering 50-question surveys in their free time? Not me. Not anyone. My approach—keep it simple. Here are the questions you should be asking your customers on a regular basis:
How was your experience with [Business Name] today? 😃 🙂 😐 😕 😫
What’s the one thing that we did best?
What’s the one thing that we could do better?
That’s it. That’s all you ever need to ask. Don’t make your customers do a ton of work. Just take a pulse. And don’t ask every customer every time. Get a sampling throughout the week to get a pulse. Don’t over complicate it. If you have an email list, there are some great free ways to conduct this survey. You could also simply print it out on a small card if your customers are face-to-face.
💡 You can use any type of survey service, but honestly a Google Form gets the job done. Plus, you can have it saved to a spreadsheet for easy reference and analysis.
💡 Want to get a little more sophisticated over time? Check out Net Promoter.