As a website owner, small business owner, marketer it is often so very very easy to get wrapped up in interpreting “what your client wants” that you forget to access the best resource to answer that question: the client!
Bottled at the Source!
You’ve all done it…you stare at your Google or Raven seo analytics trying to figure out why your bounce rate is so high. You follow the click paths, create client funnels, follow referral sources, and pour over charts and graphs until your eyes bleed but you STILL can’t figure out why the client left the page. ..You’re missing the most obvious source of feedback! The purest source you can ask for is your client! They have a usually have a “pretty good grasp” on why they would want to visit your website, what they’d like to have as a feature, what web content they’d like to read and why they might not like your current site! So how do you tap this reservoir of recommendations??
All You Gotta Do Is Ask Her Nice
Here’s my recommended tactic that you can use to get feedback from your clients to discover problem areas, services you don’t offer and type of content people are looking for. A simple interview. First, Jot down a set of questions like:
- What would you expect to see on a site for (insert industry here)
- Is there any services our business can do for you online that would make you more likely to be our client? Like Schedule appointments?
- Do you have any unique ideas that would be neat to see on our website?
Second, is to set the client at ease first after approaching them for the survey. Perhaps a cup of coffee or a soda or if you’re a restaurant treat them to a free meal (you’ll definately make a bigger return on the investment of a single meal).
Lastly, make them feel like they’re special, and that their feedback matters deeply(which it should!). The benefit from this tactic is that beyond drawing out some possibly new ideas, or reinforcing your current methods, it will make an impression on that person! That additional level of contact could lead to word of mouth advertising as they tell their freind about their experience. If your lucky, and the person is web-savvy then you could even garner a Yelp review, a blog post, tweet, facebook post or myspace comment about it as well!
Have you used this method to get feedback? Do you have some tips to making it go smoothly? Please feel free to share!
7 responses so far ↓
Andrew // August 18, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
Those are tried and true ways to get information from your clients. I usually like to include questions like, Why would I want to move to (fill in the area)? If I was in the market, what is in (their area) that would make me interested in living there? Are there any historical landmarks? What is there in the way of entertainment? Are there clubs and events for my small children , if I had any. Sometimes its easy to forget that marketing[, especially marketing in the sphere]Real Estate [sphere] often goes beyond price and how long the agent has been an agent. I found that if you take it down to a personal level with the cs. It makes them feel that;
1 you take an interested in what they have to offer, and that you feel personally responsible for their site and results (not just interested in keeping them paying for a marketing), and
2. more importantly that you are going to get them results, they will be more willing to work with you and give the time necessary to see improvement in their website traffic and search engine ranking.
…that’s all I have to say about that.
mattlambert // August 18, 2009 at 10:33 pm |
I’ve used http://www.4qsurvey.com – it can be configured to pop up and ask web visitors, or every 5th visitor, some simple questions. There should definitely be an open question in there.
I found out what the general consensus was, and then switched it off, as I thought it was a bit intrusive to run all the time!
Very useful tool
jeremypenguin // August 18, 2009 at 10:54 pm |
That’s not a bad idea to occasionally sample your visitors- but I also agree that it can be intrusive- I know I’m annoyed by them…so i imagine most other visitors would also be bothered.
Andrew // August 19, 2009 at 5:13 am |
What will become of page rank if Google’s new algorithm start to consider phrase ranking in higher regards. Funny how thew powerhouse that is Google has influence enough to completely change the way that keywords and phrases will be used when future websites are generated.
http://www.seoresearcher.com/googles-new-algorithm-to-rank-pages-and-detect-spam-phrase-rank.htm
Only the future and Google will tel (or not)l whats in store for SEO .
jeremypenguin // August 19, 2009 at 2:19 pm |
I hate to point it out, but that article is from Jan 2007
Carazoo // August 19, 2009 at 5:29 am |
Thanks for sharing this nice information. Will definitely try it.
Geno Prussakov // August 19, 2009 at 7:58 pm |
This was precisely the idea behind my “Online Shopping Through Consumers’ Eyes” book. Client feedback is truly invaluable (especially when you ask open-ended questions).