Customer Profiling Surveys Best Handled by Telephone

There are many ways to determine if a past customer is just that, or shows promise of becoming a repeat customer. One effective method to determine the status of customers in your database is to conduct client profiling telephone surveys.

Each year, businesses spend a great deal of time and money marketing to customers in their databases who show very little-if any-promise of becoming repeat customers. By cleansing your database of these customers, you can focus your resources on quality prospects.

Surveys can also help you to find out why certain customers have decided against working with your business again. Perhaps it was a customer service issue. Or maybe they need a product that you do not carry or that they have found at a lower price somewhere else. Discovering the reason a customer has not worked with you again can help you resolve these issues and maybe even lure them back.

While many companies choose online surveys for client profiling, it is in most cases best to perform these surveys over the telephone. That’s because online surveys are missing a human component and don’t allow for any back and forth exchanges.

What follows are some other advantages of conducting customer profiling surveys over the phone:

1. Telephone surveys yield faster results than other types of surveys because you don’t have to wait for people to respond.
2. Skilled interviewers are able to elicit longer and more complete answers. Further, interviewers can also ask for clarification if an answer is unclear.
3. There is increased quality control because interviewers can make sure respondents are properly answering questions. Further, if a number of respondents are confused by a particular question it can be brought to the attention of the survey creator.
4. Telephone surveys allow for a degree of anonymity while still providing a more personal experience than an online survey.
5. It is easier to delete an email or online survey than to turn down a person calling to ask for a few moments of a respondent’s time.
6. Respondents are much less able to skip questions – whether by accident or on purpose.

If you are contemplating conducting a telephone customer profiling survey, it may be in your best interest to find a telemarketing firm that is experienced in such surveys. After all, the key to conducting the most accurate surveys is to make sure they are administered as professionally as possible.