Text surveys provide one of the most effective ways to reach out to customers. Phone numbers constitute one of the most direct opportunities for outreach – and as more products and services move towards app-based models, it’s information that’s probably readily available from your customer databases anyway.
But as with anything, there’s a right and wrong way to conduct surveys. And having incorrect information can be more dangerous than having any information at all. But following these steps can help you launch a meaningful and actionable text survey campaign.
Consider the Data You Want
It sounds easier than it is. Even political polling operating on the most professional global level often makes mistakes with polling, and one of the biggest causes for this is inaccurate questioning.
Weeding out bias in polling can be difficult even when you’re not trying to skew the perspective of your polling group. Try to make your surveys as fresh as possible. Short and direct questions without leading language will help prevent any confusion between you and the reader, and it will keep them more directly engaged with the survey.
Target Your Messaging
Fresh data is the best data as far as surveys go. The closer you can hear the perspective from a customer after they’ve received a shipment visited your physical store, or interacted with a customer service representative, the more accurate it’s going to be to their lived experience. There are steps you can take to improve that targeting, but the most effective will automate the survey process.
Think of critical points of interaction with your clients, and automate surveys targeted to that experience. Coming up with a streamlined process for delivering your messaging allows you to learn more on both a macro and micro level. It will enable you to do more by just tweaking your existing templates to accommodate a wider demographic variety of situations.
Make Use of Short Codes
Finding out more information about the customers you already have is vitally important, but you should be conscious about not neglecting prospective customers.
Shortcodes offer one of the best opportunities to reach out to audiences you might not otherwise consider. Shortcodes pair together with a message and a five-digit number, and they allow customers to text directly with a business without having to make use of a complicated number.
Since it’s automated, it doesn’t increase the labor significantly on your business’ end, and when advertised in the right markets, it can bring fresh voices to the survey discussion. Shortcodes work best when used in conjunction with other marketing formats like email newsletters, print media, radio, and more recent social media platforms. A concise and catchy keyword – ideally paired with a freebie or perk that’s hard to refuse – can quickly spread your message virally without extra investment on your part.
No One Survey Can Do Everything
You aren’t going to find out everything about your customers in a single survey. In part, that’s because that amount of time investment simply isn’t feasible, but it also comes down to the fact that no customer base is a homogenized mass. With that in mind, be aggressive and expansive in your thinking of the role text surveys play in your business model.
Treat the text message survey as an interrelated element within your larger marketing schema and take advantage of short and targeted surveys to reach only the customers you want. They can be one of the most intelligent forms of information gathering around.
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