Online Surveys Allow More Personalized Service

Jennifer Barley is an idea person, the type of quick thinker who can come up with a barrage of inspiring thoughts in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. That's one reason why people have lined up to work with the certified life coach since she first opened her business in October 2007.

Jennifer started this business so she could transition from being a Weight Watchers group leader to helping people one-to-one. "My mission is to work with people one-on-one to help them have the life they want to live," Jennifer says. "I like helping people achieve goals and seeing people change their lives — and I get to do that on a daily basis."

Challenge: Better Tailoring Services to Her Customers

In a personalized business such as Barley's, meeting the needs of customers is crucial. If she's not able to help them reach their goals, they're likely to discontinue working with her. So Jennifer needed to find a way to make sure customers were satisfied — and if they weren't, to find out how to adjust her services before it was too late. But also, many of her clients required similar advice and assistance. If she could determine that her customers were interested in working in a group setting, she might be able to extend her services.

Solution: Using Online Surveys to Determine Customers' Needs

Jennifer began working with Online Surveys from Constant Contact early in 2009, electing for the free trial. "After 100 responses you have to pay," Jennifer says, "and I got 100 responses in the first 40 minutes." As a result, she fell in love with the service instantly.

In fact, she found the Online Surveys tool to be one of the most valuable tools in her arsenal. If you want to find the pulse of your customers, and be able to meet their needs, the survey is the quickest, most efficient way to get that done. "If you want to find the pulse of your customers, and be able to meet their needs," she says, "the survey is the quickest, most efficient way to get that done."

"I love everything about it," she says. "I love the fact that you can see who responds to the survey. I love the fact that it gives you downloadable reports so you can see people on an individual basis as well as a group setting. I love that you can create your own questions — any way that you want to — and you really get to customize it to pinpoint exactly what kind of information you want to walk away with."

Results: Programs Designed Around What Her Customers Need

The Online Survey tool had a major impact on how Jennifer organized a major part of her business: her group workshops. By simply asking her customers if they would be interested in participating in these workshops, she was able to direct her messaging to those people. "Because I can parse which contacts responded in the way they did, I can now take my marketing and really target it to the people who are interested," Jennifer says.

In addition, Jennifer is able to ask interested clients to specify which workshops they'd be interested in. "It helps me prioritize where I'm going to spend my energy and my direction," she says. For example, 208 respondents recently indicated that they were interested in her Behavior Modificatation Workshop. "So once I do that workshop, it will be easy to fill because I'll know the people who are interested in it," she adds.

The Online Survey feature has helped Jennifer to become more efficient and better organized — two characteristics that she preaches to her clients. "I am a smarter businessperson because I use Online Surveys," she says. "I am much more efficient and my customers really feel heard, listened to, and they get what they ask for."