There’s an interesting comment in the Wall Street Journal this morning.   The author of an article on the bailout plan noted that an underlying cause of the credit crisis is that “bankers, governments, investors, and customers simply have lost faith in the lending system on a number of fronts.”

That quote reminds us how critically important trust is for all business relationships.  You can certainly make a good argument, as the WSJ author did, that a breakdown of trust–or maybe a lack of trust in the first place–did a lot to get us in the mess we see today.

So it’s a good time to think carefully, as business owners, about what we can do to increase the bond of trust with our customers and clients.

We don’t have to look far or think hard to come up with a way to do that.  The simple fact is that one of the best ways to build trust is to talk with people.  And surveys provide one of the best ways to carry on a conversation with our customers and clients.

Here are a few examples of how surveys can help us build trust with them:

• We build trust with our customers by asking their opinions.  By using surveys to ask our customers what products they want or how satisfied they are with our services, we build trust by demonstrating interest in them, respect for who they are and what they want.
• We build trust with our customers and clients by rewarding them for taking surveys.  The “incentives” or “thank you gifts” we provide show them that we value their time and expertise.  That makes them much more likely to trust us.
• We build trust with our customers and clients by doing surveys well. Crafting surveys that are clear, that are well-organized, and that are efficient gives us another way to demonstrate our expertise and professionalism.  This will not only increase their willingness to provide the information we need but also increase their respect for, and trust in, our expertise.
• We build trust by using the information we get from surveys well.  When we “report back” to our clients and customers on survey results and act on the information, we build a bond with our customers that makes them feel “invested” in our businesses.
• We build trust by protecting our customers’ information.  When we do a survey, we should always use a web survey program that encrypts their data.  We should also protect our customers’ confidentiality.
• We build trust with our customers by showing them our stuff  works.  Surveys let us do that by generating systematic evidence.

Take advantage of these critically important ways to use surveys to build trust with your customers.  Doing so could help you profit from these troubled economic times.

One of our clients, who was using Survey Monkey to adminsiter his survey, asked whether he should use the setting that allows respondents to “back up” in the survey, to review or change the answers to prior questions.

That’s a great question, because it CAN affect the pattern of responses.

When we construct surveys, it’s critical to ensure that any question that might affect another is placed AFTER that other question, not before.  So, if you were asking a client about (a) his or her post-coaching outcomes and (b) the situation pre-coaching, you DON’T want to ask about the outcomes before you ask about the pre-coaching situation.  Doing so could “contaminate” the response to the pre-coaching questions.

I you have a situation like that in a survey and you’ve carefully ordered the questions to avoid contamination effects, you might decide that your settings should not allow a respondent to “back up” in the survey.  However, if no such situation exists, I see no problem with allowing a respondent to review or change his or her responses.

Back in “the old days,” programming a survey was a monumental task–IF you could afford the expensive software to do it.  As a result, doing surveys often lay beyond the financial reach of small- to medium-sized companies. Now, however, inexpensive, easy-to-use survey software programs ensure that even the smallest company can integrate surveys into the systems and processes of its business, which means they can “get inside their customers’ heads” as well as a Fortune 500 firm.

That means EVERY entrepreneur should be thinking about how to integrate surveys into his or her business.  Here are some tips on places to target:

• Write surveys to evaluate customer satisfaction with your major products.  Send a suvey link to EVERYONE who purchases the product, within 2 weeks after purchase.
• Periodically survey your customer base to get ideas for product creation.
• Survey your list regularly to gauge their satisfaction with your communications–newsletter, e-mails, etc.
• Use surveys to generate evidence that your products work.
• Use surveys to generate referrals.
• Use surveys to elicit testimonials.

These are just a few of the ways you can integrate surveys into your business.  Online survey software packages can be obtained for as little as $200–which means if you’re not doing surveys in your business, you should start doing so, right away.

Start integrating surveys into all aspects of your business and watch your profits soar.

A:  One of our clients asked this week whether he should limit a survey to one response per IP address or permit multiple responses.  With few exceptions, it’s generally best to set a survey restrictions so that it accepts only one response per computer.  This ensures that a given respondent won’t try to “load” the results.

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