How to Write a Customer Survey Email

Let's say you have a small online business. You're making sales, perhaps more during the holidays, and you know your X&X product is your most popular. But do you know who your customers are, how most of them found your website and what other items or services they'd like to see you offer? The best way to learn answers to such questions is to write a customer survey email.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Determine the purpose of your survey before doing anything else. Perhaps you're trying to learn from what ad you're getting most of your customers. You may be seeking suggestions from your customers or trying to decide whether to add or discontinue certain items or services. Whatever your reason, be clear about the purpose of your survey so your customers won't consider completing it a waste of time.
2. Select an email survey software that enables your mailing to be user-friendly for your customers and results-oriented for your company. Send yourself a test email to work out any kinks in wording or process. There's nothing more frustrating when taking a survey than not understanding a question or finding a dead link at the end of the "submit answer" button.
3. Pose questions to get a yes or no answer, such as, "Does XYZ Co. offer sufficient seasonal discounts?" Then ask short follow up questions such as, "If no, what other discounts would you like to see?" This will give the customers a chance to elaborate on whichever answer they provided.
4. Make sure your questions aren't biased for--or against--your company or group. An example of a biased question would be, "Most customers think we offer just the right number of seasonal specials. Do you agree?"
5. Give the survey an easy to read format and use everyday vocabulary. If a question is worded in a fashion that confuses you, it will probably confuse your customers. Perhaps ask a friend to give it a "readability" test. And be sure to use spell check before hitting the "Send" button on your email program.
6. Entice customers to complete the survey by telling them you will be adding their names to a box from which you will draw one to win a neat prize, such as a goodies basket. Provide details about the contents of the basket and give the contest an expiration date, perhaps two weeks from the date you mail out the survey.
7. Decide what to do with the results of your survey. Since you will have allowed for plenty of comments throughout your survey, you should have a more than adequate amount of suggestions about your website and its offerings to make necessary adjustments. It's good to let your customers ideas help grow your business.

Tips & Warnings

• Type "customer surveys" into your favorite search engine and review a few results to get a general idea of commonly asked questions.
• You'll risk having your message deleted before your customer reader reads it unless you learn to think like a spam filter and not use words and phrases like "free," "act now" or "buy here."