Introduction
Surveys are a great way to collect information from your customers and potential customers, but they can also be time-consuming and expensive. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, efficient way to gather data about your target audience (and get feedback on your products or services) consider using surveys that are directly focused on the needs of B2B buyers. This post discusses how you can use surveys effectively for B2B market research — including why asking random people on the internet isn’t as helpful as it might seem at first glance!
The problem with the ‘survey participants’ approach.
Let’s say you’re a plumber. You want your customers to be happy, and you want to know what they think of your service. You could send out surveys asking them how happy they are if they’d recommend you to others, and so on. But there’s a problem with this approach:
- It doesn’t tell you what problems they’re facing or how they think those problems could be solved
- It doesn’t tell you if the solution is something that would work for everyone or just specific people
That’s why we recommend carefully sourcing B2B survey respondents. Some of the ways to do this are through social media. Have a look at profiles on Twitter, Facebook, etc., and do your research!
Ask an expert (or two) to check your survey.
Ask an expert (or two) to check your survey. If you are not an expert in the field, it is important that someone with expertise read your survey and provide feedback. You can ask a friend or family member who knows about or has experience with surveys for help as well.
Will customers actually take your survey?
Asking people to fill out your survey can feel like asking for money, but you need to remember that you’re not just asking them to give up their time. You’re also asking them to invest in your product or service. So if you want results, you should make sure they get something in return.
For instance, if your survey is meant to help you improve a product or service and then sell it at a higher price point, let customers know that! In fact, try giving them a discount on their next purchase as an incentive for taking the survey. This way they know there’s the real value behind the questions asked of them—and it will help keep their interest throughout the process of filling out the form.
Additionally, it’s important to make sure that your survey is easy-to-follow and easy to understand so that users don’t get frustrated by having too many questions or being asked things they don’t understand.
Keep your survey short and simple.
While it’s tempting to ask as many questions as possible, you want to make sure that your survey is easy to complete and doesn’t take too much time. Keep in mind that most people are busy, so they’ll want to be able to answer your questions quickly and move on with their day. To do this, avoid asking too many questions at once or requiring respondents to provide lots of detailed information about themselves before answering any of the questions in the survey itself.
Don’t just go asking random people on the internet to fill out your surveys; instead, carefully create a survey that will actually help you!
- Asking any respondent to fill out your surveys usually doesn’t work. The reason behind this is that surveys are created to match a certain demographic. If anyone can fill out your survey, then you won’t get actionable data from it.
- Make sure you’re talking to the right people. This is where it’s really important not to be lazy or reckless with your research. If you’re trying to understand what B2B buyers look for in an enterprise software solution, don’t just ask anyone who happens to walk by your office. You should talk directly with those who have already bought something similar from other sources.
- Use a survey tool like Google Forms so that you can effectively collect feedback from respondents quickly and easily with minimal effort on their part
Conclusion
These are just some of the ways you can conduct B2B market research. However, it’s important to remember that no matter how great your survey is, it won’t get results if people don’t take it! So, before you start designing your survey, think about how you can make sure that people actually see and fill out your survey.
You might also want to consider talking to customers one-on-one so they’ll feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with you directly instead of sending an email response or answering a question on a forum somewhere else online where they might feel anxious about saying something they shouldn’t be saying.
We hope this post was useful for you strat with your B2B market research project!
