Go on...survey your list

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on April 30, 2007

The three scariest moments of my marketing life:

> Standing in front of a huge multinational client to explain that our expensive focus group research project revealed the astonishing insight that "hearts are a good shape for Valentine chocolates."

(They loved the presentation...the lesson being that much market research is commissioned to confirm existing opinions and not to actually discover anything new.)

> Dumped by a taxi driver on the wrong side of the Bosphorus in Istanbul with just five minutes to my meeting. Cue the classic Hollywood pose of a hot and lost Englishman waving his pasty white arms in front of dozens of Turkish street traders going, "Does anybody here speak English?"

(One did...thank goodness other countries don't share the British attitude to foreign languages.)

> Surveying my email list.

Feedback? Who wants feedback? They might tell you things you don't want to hear. Ugh. That's almost as bad as testing.

Last week I invited newsletter subscribers to complete a short feedback survey set up using SurveyMonkey. Scariest and best thing I ever did.

There are plenty of obvious reasons for soliciting feedback...information, intelligence blah blah. Here are three others:

The positive feedback you get is incredibly motivating. Many newsletter publishers operate in a relative vacuum. Campaign reports are all very well, but not exactly warm and fuzzy. When was the last time you spontaneously wrote to a newsletter to give them praise? (As readers, perhaps we should do that more often.) A survey gives your satisfied readers a chance to express their satisfaction. We all need a bit of reader love.

The critical feedback knocks you out of your comfort zone. One reader gave me 4 out of 10 for trustworthiness. That was a body blow, believe me. A real kick in the stomach. That kind of response, even though it was an exception, is the motivation to redouble your efforts. Priceless.

It's the final incentive to do the things you know you should do, but...ahem...never get round to doing. I always suspected the newsletter needed shortening. Now I know it needs shortening because that's what people tell me.

Of course there are all the usual disclaimers about reading too much into survey results. For example, the email marketing topics cited as most important in the survey are not the same ones that people actually click on in the newsletter.

So there you are...scary, but useful. Go for it.

Useful link:

Three good reasons why you should survey your email list

More on email newsletters | Tags: email marketing, feedback surveys, email surveys

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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2 Comments:

Cab drivers in Istanbul are driving locals like me crazy too. I am curious, what were you here in Istanbul for?
By necati, on 15 November, 2007

I was in Istanbul, Ankara and Adana looking at the markets for agricultural inputs. A few years ago now. Came away with a very positive impression of Turkey, especially the kindness and hospitality of all those I met. (A shared love of football helped.)
By Mark Brownlow - Email Marketing Reports, on 15 November, 2007