Surveys are useful for gathering all kinds of marketing data, and when they're completed they make great birdcage liners.
Oh, did you want clients to provide you with useful data? Forget it -- that's not what they're good for. Unless you mail a bajillion of them results are unreliable.
Most surveys don't work because they aren't designed well. Information requested is too much, too personal, or just plain unnecessary. The survey winds up being eight pages long and one person in 10,000 fills it out correctly and sends it in. Problem is, you never know which one.
Solution: Use the "hidden objective" survey technique. In the hidden objective survey, success is not based on the answers. The real objective may be to inform or actually advertise a new product.
Another favorite: the "key question" survey. This is where we hide one or two important questions. Most questions are fluffy and don't matter, but one or two are the specific, revealing questions that make the survey relevant.
Both hidden objective and key question surveys are actually slick pieces of advertising, designed to look like a survey. Most people don't consider a survey for this purpose. My own hidden objective as a direct marketer is usually to generate a phone call or have people raise their hands and ask us to call them. Send something in the mail, the phone better ring.
Suppose you have recently struck a deal to begin offering surf and turf entrees at your dinner seminars, and you know this should (and needs to) pump up attendance. Suppose an LTCI carrier offers a new product that includes coverage for massage therapy, and you'd like to introduce that product.
So in the letter you send with the survey, you ask the reader for a moment to take a quick, five-question survey. A better way to increase response is to tell the recipient you'll share the survey results with them. Voila -- instant permission to call, fulfilling our objective.
"Did you know the Jeff Dobkin agency offers long term care including massage for your loved ones?
[ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Please call
We just want to inform clients of this new product and service that we offer, and we do it in the form of a survey. Surveys get high readership. Clever, huh?
We continue our survey, and turn it into an actionable key question survey:
Have you planned for good care of your grandfather in his later years?
[ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don't know
Are you worried about your grandparents' care as they get older?
[ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Please call
Key question: You can see we are now asking a key question that if clients answer in a certain way we can take action.
The rest of the survey? Who cares. It may not matter, because if this question is checked "yes" or "please call," it worked. We call them -- which makes this survey 100 percent successful: it generated a phone call and a warm contact.
But since I have one question left, I'll ask:
How long has it been since you have had your insurance policies reviewed?
[ ] One year [ ] Three years [ ] Don't remember
This seemingly innocent question is really a super actionable key question -- and it kind of gives us a reason to call if ANY of the boxes are checked, doesn't it? I'd toss in a few more innocuous questions just to make it look more legit, and your survey is complete.
So, if you're designing a survey, first decide on the objective; then design the survey to fulfill the objective. If the objective is to call or be called, insert just one or maybe two relevant "key questions" that you can act on. Make the rest of the questions easy.
*For further information or to contact this author, please use the forum below.
From the January 01, 2008 issue of Senior Market Advisor • Subscribe!
