Friday, September 03, 2010

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Marketing you product online
Marketing online - finding out if the customer wants it
Market research for prodcut development
 
 
Find out who your target market is online
  
 
 
 
Online market research survey – what to ask

If you are conducting market research online using an online questionairre you have to ask simple, easy to answer questions. 

Don't ask too many questions or questions that are too personal.

Long complex online questionnaire forms are a turn off – so don’t waste your time with a form that asks more than 5 questions.

The online survey questions depend on who you are selling to – existing or potential clients. And of course it depends on what you are selling.



Asking for an online opinion from existing customers

When deciding on your online survey questions for existing customers you should also bear in mind what the desired outcome is  – i.e. what do you really need to find out?

You need to find out “are they buying more from me again?”

Here’s a typical set of simple questions…

a) What product have you bought from us. Give them a drop down list to make answering your survey easy.

b) How would rate our product? Give them an even number of choices but not too many - 4 sounds good. An even number forces a decision other than the middle option. Great/OK/Could be better/Disappointing
 
c) What did you think of the price? Same again - Great/OK/Could be better/Disappointing
 
d) What would make it better? Give them a drop down list of your current thoughts on new features and a free text box just in case.
 
e) When do you think you would replace our product? Again a drop down list - within a month/within 6 months/within a year/never.
 
Online surveys like this are easy to create and place on your website but you could also use the services of an online polling services, see the popular Survey Monkey website for ideas.


Online market research - new product research

Asking prospects in an online survey what they want from you is trickier than asking existing customers about existing products but again bear in mind what you are trying to find out -

“if this stuff existed would you spend a penny on it”.

Here are some example questions to help...

a) Have you ever bought an X? (yes/no)

b) Do you think X is worth the money? (yes/no/don’t know)

c) What extra features do you think X needs? Provide a drop down of your likely unique features.

d)  Do you think you’ll ever by an X?

e) What’s the next thing like X that you are planning on buying? Provide a drop down of related products and a free text area.

And you might want to include a tell us who else would like X that you know. A referred email lead is never a bad thing.

These questions assume that there is something in the market a bit like what you are hoping to release one day. If your product has no comparable offering out there then you’ll need to think hard on how to seek opinion.


Getting the online survey filled in

Once you have your target audience set up and your online survey questionnaire nailed you need to get people to fill it in. So how to do that?

Email the target audience:

1. Email the targets with a short compelling and ideally pretty email ideally an html email that looks similar to your website. Produce a suitably upbeat “we need your help” message. Use language your targets will understand – “we want to make product X better – tell us what you want!”

2. Include in that email a link to your online survey page (not the home page).

Advertise to the target audience:

1. Promote via pay per click on Google, Facebook etc

2. Have an obvious “we need your help” button on your home page of your website to ensure existing visitors are asked.

Reward your survey participants:

1. If you are in a position to do so offer a discount on their next purchase if they leave an email address.

2. Or offer them access to a report on the pros/cons of competitor products if they complete the survey.

3. Promise them access to insider information via a newsletter.


Online Marketing Scotland is a free to use resource with advice and tips for business exploring improved ways to market and advertise online. Online advertising and online marketing is a highly cost effective way to promote services and products of all kinds. We outline the benefits of search engine optimisation, email targeted marketing, pay per click, online surveys and online research. The benefits of adding e-commerce to your online presence is also covered.

The site is supported by webwisebusiness the website and search engine optimisation specialist team within software company Objective Associates Limited from Stirling, Scotland.
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