User experience is everything. So why not just ask users what they want? But as you know, one customer does not make a business. If you want your startup to make it, you need to survey the end user. While it is a valid objective to increase your customer base, it is critical that you keep your existing customers happy. With user surveys, this has never been easier. Just ask customers what they want. Ask your customers! User surveys give you the leverage to become an authority and thought leader in your space When you conduct user surveys, you immediately set yourself apart from thousands of businesses. User surveys allow you to stack your wins so your startup has a fighting chance As this point, you’re well aware of all the benefits that user surveys can contribute to a startup.
Numbers are the language of business.
There’s no greater sin than not knowing the key metrics that drive growth for your business.
Customer acquisition cost, ROI, and customer lifetime value are a few critical numbers that come to mind.
If you ask anyone who has ever successfully scaled a startup, they’ll tell you the same thing.
Any entrepreneur who’s worth their stuff needs to have a solid grasp of the numbers that are central to their businesses.
These metrics tell you what you need to know to become cash flow positive.
And as you know, cash is oxygen to a startup.
Yet 29% of businesses go broke before they’re fully established.
But there’s something more important that you should be aware of.
These numbers don’t give you a complete picture.
It doesn’t matter how accurate your analytics are. You will never get a holistic view of your business from numbers alone.
That’s the bottom line.
How do I know?
Business is about people, and people are markedly complex.
It’s why I get a bit weary when entrepreneurs don’t place as much emphasis on qualitative research as they do the numbers.
60% of users are open to survey requests, and only 15% are currently receiving those requests.
How then can you know why the numbers are the way they are?
Why did they go up? Why did they go down? Why are they stagnant?
The answers to these crucial questions lie with your end users.
That’s why user surveys provide a powerful opportunity.
Let’s briefly define what a user survey is.
It’s a means to collect information about your users.
You do this by going directly to the source.
Ask users about their interests, experience with a particular product, preferences, and so on.
GoDaddy prompts users to take a survey immediately after a purchase.
If done right, the intel that you collect can be absolute gold.
You can use the data to increase engagement, provide better solutions for your users, boost conversions, and much more.
In this article, I’ll cover 10 reasons why user surveys can make or break your startup.
Ready? Let’s get started.
1. User surveys allow you to take control of the user experience (UX)
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway.
User experience is everything.
Neglect it and every aspect of your business will be hurt.
Your SEO will suffer.
Your conversion rates will go down.
And that’s just the surface.
Don’t believe me?
Take a look at these UX statistics:
What is user experience, anyway?
Here’s how Nielsen Norman Group defines it: “User experience encompasses all aspects of the end user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products.”
You may have heard of the terms “usability” and “user interface.”
Both of these have a part to play in the UX.
All your user interfaces should be easy, efficient, and satisfying for the end user to navigate.
The most effective way to ensure that happens is to survey users to find out how they interact with your website, products, software, services, and so on.
Let’s say you want to optimize user experience on your website.
Ask people what gets them excited about your site as well as what ticks them off.
It’s as simple as this:
Use that feedback to tweak your user interface to improve the experience.
Can’t you improve UX without user surveys?
Sure, you can split test different elements, analyze user behavior on your website, and make some changes.
But guess what?
It’s going to cost you time and money.
For startups, you already know that time and money are among your most valuable assets.
So why not just ask users what they want?
Combine the analytics you track with feedback from surveys, and you’ll be equipped to provide the best experience for your audience.
2. User surveys can tell you a customer’s first point of interaction with your business
Why does this matter?
It’s important that startups map the channels where their ideal customers can be found.
This way, you can project what share of each channel you can capture to achieve your growth objectives.
With specific numbers in mind, you can reverse engineer a plan to grow at a rapid rate.
Can’t you look at direct traffic to your site?
You can, but that traffic does not tell you where website visitors first found your business.
A customer can hear about your business via word of mouth.
Considering that word-of-mouth recommendations lead to 20 to 50% of all purchase decisions, that’s not so farfetched.
They can then plug in your website URL directly into their search bar and purchase your product.
Alternatively, they may go to your social media profiles first and then go to your website.
That website visit will register as a referral from your social channels.
Do you see how that can be troublesome?
And these are just a few paths that customers can take.
The danger here is that you can end up overvaluing your direct or social channels and make critical business decisions based on that.
The simple solution is to survey users and ask them where they first found your business.
This way, you can have a more accurate picture of the profitability of each channel.
3. User surveys can help you validate a product or business idea
I’ve said this before, but I’ll repeat it.
The ultimate validation for a product or business is a sale.
If you can get someone to pay you real money, you’re well on your way.
But as you know, one customer does not make a business.
If you want to achieve massive scale and ramp up your revenue, you need to make sure there’s a market to tap into.
Out of all the reasons that startups fail, no market need is at the top of the list.
An excellent way to gauge market need is to…
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