Has your email list come to a standstill?
Unfortunately for some businesses, the marketing campaigns designed to grow their email lists don’t always work.
The methods grow stale, and businesses have trouble adding new subscribers.
If this is happening to you, don’t get discouraged.
I’ll show you how to add subscribers and increase engagement with customer surveys.
Focusing on customer surveys will be a great decision for your brand.
You’ll find out valuable information about their levels of satisfaction and buying habits.
Surveys can help alter your marketing strategy, products, or services based on the results.
Asking the customer for their opinion is a great way to show how much you care about them.
Nearly 70% of customers said they left a brand because they did not feel the brand cared.
Don’t let this happen to you.
Keeping your customers happy is a great way to add subscribers to your email list.
You can even send customers a survey through an interactive email.
In this post, I’ll show you how to use surveys to explode your email list.
First, come up with ideas for a survey
What’s your survey going to be about?
Before you can build a survey, figure this part out.
You can’t have a “one size fits all” questionnaire.
You’ll need to come up with a few different ideas here.
Here are a few examples to guide you in the right direction.
You can create a survey about:
- The shopping experience on your website
- A recent product purchase
- How the customer felt after visiting your store
- Their latest interaction with a customer service representative
Just make sure your questions focus on the customer experience.
If your customers are experiencing an issue with your brand, products, or process, a survey can help you identify these problems.
You can’t resolve an issue unless you identify it first.
Build your survey
Now that you’ve decided what your survey should be about, it’s time to construct it.
If you’ve never created a survey before, don’t worry.
It’s super easy, and I’ll show you how to do it.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to building a professional customer survey.
Step #1: Select a platform like SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is a top option, but it’s not your only choice.
I like it because it’s easy to use and it’s free.
You can also check out other sites:
All of these will get the job done.
But for simplicity and consistency, I’ll continue explaining how to create your survey on the SurveyMonkey platform.
Step #2: Sign up for an account
SurveyMonkey makes it easy for you to create a profile.
You can create a unique username or just sign in through your Facebook or Google accounts.
I think it’s easier to just click the Google button.
But it’s a quick process no matter which option you choose.
You can’t proceed until you create your account.
But again, it’s free, so you don’t have to give any credit card or billing information.
Step #3: Choose your template
You’ve got some different options here.
You can build your survey from scratch or choose one of the predesigned templates.
I’d go with one already designed.
It’s much easier to just plug in your questions into their designs.
But if you want to be adventurous, feel free to start one from scratch.
Step #4: Select “Customer Feedback” from the “All Templates” menu:
For our purposes, the templates in the customer feedback section are the most relevant.
Remember, we are designing our surveys to:
- Enhance the customer experience
- Grow our email list
This is the best spot to get started.
Step #5: Navigate to the “Question Bank” to add questions
After you select a template, you’ll advance to the “Design Survey” tab.
From here, you can customize your questions from the question bank in the left column.
You can use their existing questions, modify them, or write your own.
For example, take a look at the question in the above example.
I could change the words “our company” to “Quick Sprout” to make it less generic.
Step #6: Collect responses from your customers
Now that you’ve customized the survey, it’s time to distribute it to your customers.
Click the “Collect Responses” tab to proceed.
Now, the logical distribution method would be email, right?
Well, yes and no.
Here’s what I mean.
Yes, you want to send this email to your existing subscriber list.
That’s a no brainer.
However, this won’t necessarily help you build your email list.
All these customers are already subscribed.
Their responses are still valid, and you definitely want to hear them.
You’ll get more opens, clicks, and engagements by sending this out.
But remember, you’re trying to blow the top off your email list.
To do this, you’ll have to distribute the survey on all of your platforms:
- your website
- social media pages
- mobile application
I’ll explain how you can use different resources to grow your email list.
Share your survey on social media pages
You may have fans and followers on social media who haven’t subscribed to your email list yet.
You can target these followers by distributing the survey through social platforms.
It’s a nice change of pace from your promotional messages.
People will unfollow your page if you post only promotional content.
A survey is a great way to mix it up.
Your customers may have been waiting for a long time to tell you how they feel about your company.
This survey is an opportunity for them to voice their opinions.
Once they complete the survey, say thank you.
Now’s the perfect opportunity to get them to sign up for your email list.
Here’s how you do it.
Before they get started, offer an incentive to your followers to complete the survey.
They will be more inclined to share their opinions if they get something in return.
Here’s the twist.
To receive their free gift or discount, they need to join your email list.
Look at the way Blue Apron accomplishes this:
Your social media followers will be happy to join your email list if they are getting something in return.
Make sure the deal is worth it.
Giving them 5% off may not be enticing enough.
I’m not saying you need to give your products away, but the offer needs to be appealing.
Converting your followers into customers by sharing your survey on social media can do wonders for your business.
Take a look at the process. Consumer:
- takes the survey
- signs up for your emails to receive their discount
- activates the promotion and makes a purchase
Now, you’re growing your email list and generating revenue.
All because of your survey.
Social media is a great distribution method for your survey because customers are more likely to buy from brands they follow.
Targeting people for your email list who are more inclined to purchase from your company is an excellent strategy.
Leverage your survey results to boost your brand’s reputation
Let’s take this a step further.
You can use the results from your survey to grow your email list as well.
There are two main ways to accomplish this:
- make changes to improve the customer experience
- use social proof of concept to get subscribers
Let’s play out a hypothetical example here.
You’ve obtained some new information from your latest survey results.
Customers don’t think you’re running enough promotions.
They want more discounts than you currently offer.
Adjust your business model accordingly.
Make a point to give your customers a sale or promotional discount at least a few times per month.
How do they receive this discount?
By subscribing to your email list.
Start promoting more content that looks like this:
Your survey results may be telling you that your current sign-up strategy is inefficient.
What’s the current incentive that your subscribers receive for signing up?
If you’re advertising that they will be the first people to get notified whenever you write a new blog post, it may not be exciting enough to them.
Switch it up.
Give the customers what they want, based on how they responded to your survey.
You can also use social proof to leverage your survey results.
This is another great way to grow your email list.
Here’s how social proof influences decisions:
It’s power in numbers.
Use this psychological tactic to grow your email list.
In addition to surveys, you can ask your customers to write reviews for your company.
According to studies, 82% of customers conduct research online before they make a purchasing decision.
What information are they going to find about your company?
If you can encourage customers to review your company online, it will generate social proof.
Ask your customers to write reviews on platforms such as:
- Google Local
- Yelp
Obviously, you’ll want to see positive reviews here.
But don’t be surprised if you find some unfavorable comments as well.
The more people you can get to write reviews, the greater the power of social proof will be.
Here’s an example of Yelp reviews of some coffee shops in my Seattle neighborhood:
These places have 930, 755, and 1469 reviews, respectively.
When a customer is researching your brand online, seeing lots of reviews can influence their decision.
Reviews can also help grow your email list if they say something like, “I subscribed for weekly emails, and they always send me great discounts.”
Highlight surveys, and review results on your website.
Here’s a great example from Legal Zone:
They proudly display this information on the homepage of their website.
How did they find out this information?
By conducting customer surveys.
Sharing the survey results on their website will create social proof for the prospective customers conducting online research.
This information can help influence more people to subscribe to receive emails.
Conclusion
You should always be trying to grow your email list.
But sometimes the tactics that worked for you in the past just aren’t cutting it anymore.
It’s time to start thinking outside the box to add subscribers.
Customer surveys can make a huge difference in your subscriber rate.
Your surveys should focus on the customer experience.
It’s hard to make changes to the company if you haven’t identified any problems.
The survey results will help you see what areas of your business need improvement.
Build a survey.
Use a platform like SurveyMonkey, and follow the step-by-step guide above.
Distribute your survey on as many channels as possible, including your social media pages.
It won’t cost you billions of dollars to do this.
Social media is a great place to share your survey because your followers are more likely to buy from your brand. It’s only logical that you should target them to join your email list.
Offer a reward, prize, or discount to consumers for completing your survey.
That’s how you can add more subscribers.
To claim their reward, the customer needs to join your email list.
Your survey results can also grow your list.
Use the knowledge gained from the results to make the changes the customers asked for.
Offer these changes through your email list.
Leverage your survey results to add subscribers, capitalizing on the concept of social proof. Display the favorable results of the survey on your website.
When people see that other customers are happy with your brand, they will be encouraged to submit their email addresses to receive more content and promotional information.
What platform will you use to create a survey that will help you grow your email list?