How Customer Surveys Can Help Your Business Thrive.

How can you find out where your customers came from?

Ask them. 

If you're not measuring anything else, start measuring this.  

With a simple customer survey, you can know (roughly) what efforts are working and what aren’t. Find where your customers came from, find out how much it cost you, and divide. While it isn’t perfect, this will elevate you past 70% of advertisers. The quality of the data is determined by the quality of your survey.  

Here are some tips to make sure you’re getting good data:  

✅ DO: Ensure the questions are objective and easy to understand. For example, few people know what a display ad is.

✅ DO: Make sure it’s not too long. You likely only have 10 or 15 seconds to get your answer.

✅ DO: Make sure you get a good sample. Asking only people who read the back of their receipt will give you skewed results.

✅ DO: Randomize the order of the questions. This helps reduce bias in the answers.

✅ DO: Understand there is noise in the data. 2 to 5% error – or more – is common. Make note of how much

❌ DON’T: Ask your customers when they could be rushed or irritated. This can give you inaccurate data.  

These numbers won’t be perfect, but it will help you as a business owner better understand where you are making money and where you are wasting money. This is the most basic approach to gathering data about what advertising and/or business development efforts are working.