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Essential Surveys |
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Click on the following links to read about other surveys we conduct. The first question we ask: "What do you need to know?" → Surveying Your Own Customers or Clients → Surveying Markets or Market Segments → Surveying a Geographic Market → Surveying the Public or a Segment of the Public |
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Surveying Your Own Customers or Clients Customers are the ones who've road tested the products or services you have to offer. They can tell you what they like and don't like, why they favor you with repeat business or why they take their business elsewhere. They can also tell you about the quality of customer service, sales skills, atmosphere, hours, telephone service, and dozens of other aspects of your operation. You may think you "know" your customers. But how many do you really know? Today, with larger operations and a population that frequently relocates, it's difficult for business owners to get to know their customers well, and those you do know may not represent your market. Business owners who want to really understand their customer base rely on customer surveys to gain insight into what motivates customer shopping habits and decisions. Not all customers are retail customers; companies, and even departments within companies, are someone's customers. |
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Surveying Markets or Market Segments A "market" is the collection of customers or likely customers that use the type of product or service you offer or are developing. Market research surveys people (or businesses) that meet certain qualifications (a certain income range, certain shopping behavior, certain lifestyle characteristics, etc.) Businesses will conduct this type of research to better understand a particular market and identify segments of the population within the market as it relates to their product or service. What you think is "cool" about your product may not be the feature that sells it to customers. Understanding the market will insure the design or marketing of a product or service is aligned with the needs and interests of potential customers. |
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Retailers survey households in a geographic market around their store to find out how many in their marketplace have shopped at their store and how often they do so, and how many drive past their store to shop the competition, and why. Retailers can find out how they stack up with the competition on quality, price, service, atmosphere, and may other decision factors. Property developers and site developers for corporations may conduct similar research to better understand shopping patters in a geographic area as part of a store location determination. This research can also help them and existing retailers refine the mix of products, services, or types of retailers that will work best in a geographic area. |
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Surveying the Public or a Segment of the Public Public surveys usually include a combination of three question types: demographic & lifestyle questions, behavior questions, and opinion questions. They may be based on a random sample of the general public or a specific segment of the public, such as voters, homeowners, low-income households, or those with a particular hobby or interest. Demographic & lifestyle questions are asked to better understand the composition of the public within a geographic area like a city or county, or within a segment of the population, such as those in a certain income group. In some studies, in-depth questions are used to explore a topic in great detail. Behavior questions ask people what they do and what they have experienced, for example: how often they use transit; origin and destination; routes used; satisfaction with service; complaints; etc. Past behavior helps to predict future behavior. Behaviors and experiences are also used to segment the public in ways that help to interpret opinions and attitudes; for example, analyzing attitudes about transit funding by frequency of using transit, or attitudes about healthcare by degree of involvement with healthcare providers. Awareness questions, frequently used by advertisers and consultants is another type of behavior question. Opinion questions include evaluations and questions about preferences, attitudes, and personal values. A city might want citizens to rate satisfaction with city services or provide ideas & preferences about future projects. Consultants might want to know what the public thinks about a particular issue and how united or divided the public is on the issue. Preference questions must be carefully worded to minimize question bias. |
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Surveying Businesses or Business Leaders Everything said above about public surveys applies to business surveys except the respondents are businesses (Officers or Department Managers) and the questions are about business demographics, behaviors, and opinions. A government or economic development agency might survey business leaders in their area to ask about the business climate, expected hiring trends, materials purchases, attitudes about education, transportation, or any of a number of topics. A business trade association might survey businesses in their industry to ask similar questions as well as opinions on issues of importance to the industry. A city might survey businesses in the city to identify ways to improve the business environment. |
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Surveys can be conducted before, during or after an event: A pre-event survey is used to gain input to help plan the event and maximize attendance and participation. Questions to likely attendees can cover interest/preference for issues and speakers, topics for workshops, preference for event locations, preferred social/networking opportunities or entertainment options. Short surveys can be conducted during the event itself. In this situation, the survey is not about the event, it is about the issues or topics that are the subject of the event. While so many key people are together in one place, why not ask them to complete a short survey? In some situations, the results could be ready to present by the end of the event and create a take-away. Immediately following, or soon after the event, attendees can be asked to complete a questionnaire in which they rate each seminar, workshop, social event or entertainment they attended. They are asked what made the event worthwhile, and what would have made it better. Results are used to evaluate the event and to improve future events. |
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You want employees who are fully engaged, take pride in their work and move the organization forward. Employees want a workplace where they have a sense of belonging and a feeling of accomplishment; where they enjoy coming to work and feel good about what they do. But the wishes of employees and the good intentions of management are not enough to create the finely-tuned workplace. Of course the workplace is more difficult to tune than any machine. There are all the tasks that constitute workflow, there is the bureaucracy, the various levels of employment and management, and there are the "human factors"; the attitudes, feelings, and aspirations of all the people involved. Our employee survey looks at the multiple factors that affect the workplace environment and employee performance. |
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Some of the factors that can be examined in an employee survey:
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To be effective, an employee survey should be anonymous and conducted by an outside independent firm. |
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Essential Surveys |