The most successful companies share 2 secrets: They communicate well with their frontline employees and they listen well to their customers. Marketing myopia is a corporate disease that plagues even the biggest companies. Brand managers and company executives think that their product is the best thing since sliced bread, and that they don’t need to spend on communications or research because people will buy them anyway.

Actually, companies don’t need to spend a lot in one go if they just make it a point to regularly check on their consumers. This allows brand managers to maintain the brand every day instead of coming up with an action plan when a problem surfaces.

1. Unbiased consumer insight

An effective and economical way to keep in touch with your customers is through paid surveys.

When you hire a research group to conduct street surveys or group discussions, your respondents, as part of human nature, could most likely hide something, or be a little untruthful—especially with sensitive questions. From a psychological view point, their dishonesty or uneasiness stems from the fact that they see other people around them, making them conscious of what they say.

On the other hand, paid survey respondents answer surveys in the confines of their own homes, at their own time. This allows them more time to think about each question. Moreover, the insights they give will be less biased, making them more valuable for you.

2. Consumer’s behavior towards your category

Design your paid survey questionnaires such that the respondents talk not only about your brand, but also about their experiences with competing brands.

Paid surveys are one of the few unbiased and honest sources on how you fare against others in your category. Don’t compete head on. Find a need that your competitors don’t address, and attack from there.

3. Keyword generation

Instead of giving a set of choices for every question, leave a lot of room for respondents to type in their answers, using their own words. This will help you understand howand in what language your consumer speaks. This is a goldmine for keywords you can use to optimize website content so you can attract the most relevant niche of your target market.

Regular updates through paid surveys make sure your site is optimized for your market, no matter how much their behavior changes. Stay on top!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Paid Surveys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.