Service businesses are deeply personal, and consistency can be challenging. You need to understand your customers and what they value in their service, in order to develop systems that support consistency.
Here’s why surveys are a great place to start:
1. Surveys are low cost.
Cost effective and resource effective. You can run quick surveys with multiple questions using the free version of most tools. Even if you need something more robust, it still isn’t going to cost much.
2. Surveys are ubiquitous.
Almost everyone has taken a survey before. They know what to expect, which makes it an easy ask.
3. Surveys are anonymous.
As a service-based business, you often will have a direct relationship with your client. That can make it difficult for your client to share their honest feedback with you, but with a survey you can make it clear up front that their responses will be anonymous.
4. Surveys quantify service experiences.
Don’t worry - we know coming up with questions to include in a survey is the hardest part!
Here’s some great survey questions to get you started:
- Can you tell me about the first time you knew you needed to hire [specific service] for your business
- Can you tell me about the last business decision that you agonized over?
- What made the decision so agonizing?
- How would you rate the following aspects of our service? Provide the service aspects you want feedback around (ex. Proposal / Quote Clarity, Onboarding, Responsiveness, etc.)
- If there was anything you could change about our services, what would you change, and why?
- How much do you agree with the following statement? This service is [fill in a relevant adjective to your service business here, ex. innovative].
Ready to survey your clients?