How to Effectively Survey Your Clients

Branding, Marketing

THE ANSWER IS OUT THERE, BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

How to effectively survey financial clientsWe have all experienced a negative experience while doing business. Whether it was a lack of response to our e-communications, not having important options available or feeling like we were not valued. We have also all told someone about these experiences. The goal of regular surveys to your clients is to ensure that you are the sounding board for all their frustrations, as opposed to a friend, potential client or online for the world to see.

Frequency. It is essential when surveying clients to not be a burden, while still receiving timely data. It is also important to ensure that you leave enough time between surveys to correct any areas of concern before you distribute another survey. For new clients, less than one year with your company, consider surveying them quarterly. This will help ensure you nurture and strengthen your relationship in its new development. After that time, you should have a better understanding of their needs, and then survey your clients on an annual basis.

Workload. Creating, conducting and responding to surveys all take time. If your number of clients greatly outnumbers your available staff, you will need to adjust your survey plans accordingly. One way to prevent staff from being overwhelmed is to distribute your annual survey in place of a monthly newsletter. This will give your team the opportunity to focus on the survey without impacting the services delivered to your clients. The quarterly surveys can be very simple and can be easily incorporated into automated email marketing software.

Distribution. Email or online surveys are the most cost-effective option, depending on the email-marketing platform that you use, there may even be free options available to create a simple landing page with survey questions. It is important to consider your client’s preferences when distributing your survey. If your target demographic is not technology savvy, it might be better to invest in direct mail or telephone surveys to prevent them from getting frustrated.

Timing. Although delivering surveys through an automated system is the simplest, it will still require a personal touch. The best time to send a client a survey is not going to be the day before they have a big event or the day before you have a meeting scheduled with them. Build in a reminder within your automated system to review the survey a week before it is scheduled to send to help improve your customer service and your client’s willingness to complete the survey. October and November are also great months to distribute surveys so you can analyze any results by the end of the year to implement responses in your annual planning. If you meet with your clients for regular reviews or events, these may be great opportunities to easily collect survey data.

Customer service is critical in the financial services industry. The long-term success of your company depends on building strong, lasting relationships with your clients. Customer surveys are an essential to create positive buzz, prevent bad reviews before they start and capture key feedback for your company’s marketing strategy. Surveys can also uncover noteworthy industry or client trends. Take an hour with your team and determine the best distribution, timing, frequency and workload distribution to streamline your surveying process and make it beneficial for your organization and your clients. If you need help creating your first survey read ‘How to create high-impact surveys.’

Surveys for professionals in the financial sector can help create a more targeted and effective marketing strategy. If your company’s marketing strategy could use a review, call AdvisorPR today at (866) 888-5333 or email us at Info@advisorpr.com.

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