The Role of Surveys in Direct Marketing
October 2003
To coincide with Snap's appearance at this month's DM Show, this article explores the use of surveys as both tools for ensuring the effectiveness of direct marketing and as direct marketing tools themselves, particularly over the long term.
The misconception that prevails outside of the direct marketing industry is that direct marketing merely involves the exploitation of databases by firms to inundate unsuspecting individuals with a barrage of publicity material. Unfortunately, there are culprits that are guilty of this type of quick-fix, blind marketing but it is generally agreed that direct campaigns must be tailored to have any long term effect.
Direct and to the point
Truly successful direct marketing is focused on the customer and not on the product. It involves gaining an understanding of the customer and tailoring marketing around that understanding. Once this has been achieved, an organization suddenly can draw up a multi-layered, relevant campaign.
In order for this understanding to develop, direct marketers must get to know their customers in way people get to know each other - through two-way communication. Effort needs to be put into identifying with customers, finding out who they are, what they enjoy or dislike, what they look for in a product or service and so on. This insight can then be used to determine the relevant products to highlight, the most appropriate methods of direct contact, and when it would be a good time to launch a campaign. Combining this knowledge with creative thought and technical know-how will set any business or organization on the road to success.
By far the most versatile and efficient method for a firm to become acquainted with its customer base is the survey. Designed well, surveys can be used to gather a wide spectrum of information from current and potential customers. Consider the variety of surveys that are produced on a daily basis - lifestyle, purchasing power, opinion, feedback - and the potential for informing an organization's direct marketing strategy is obvious. That potential has increased with the emergence of mainstream software and services such as Snap Survey Software and Snap SurveyShop.
Surveys as marketing tools
Not only do surveys provide the knowledge to aid direct marketing, it is now recognized that they can also be useful as part of a campaign itself. Research by Dholakia and Morwitz1 suggests that the conducting of surveys can generate greater loyalty from satisfied customers and increase a company's profitability in the long term. In studying the influence of surveys on consumers, Dholakia and Morwitz believe that the mere process of asking people what they think can strengthen an established relationship by making a customers feel they are valued and have a stake in the firm. Surveys can also indirectly raise awareness of other products and services and allow judgements and thoughts to be formed on aspects of the business where they otherwise would not have existed.
The entire process of designing, conducting and evaluating a survey has never been simpler for today's business. Where once producing a survey had a significant resource implication, the emergence of mainstream survey software and services has had a major impact on an organization's ability to gain an understanding of its audience and tailor its approach to direct marketing.
Direct marketers have the option of using survey software such as Snap to design and evaluate surveys, minimizing fuss yet allowing for the quality of market research they require to achieve a true appreciation of their custom base. New features introduced into the latest release of Snap simplify the exchange of data between databases and thus ensure that survey data collected is analysed in its true context. The operation of some of these was the subject of last month's focus-on article.
In addition to the software, Snap SurveyShop offers a range of services to assist organizations in their survey research and marketing. SurveyShop can work on any aspect of a survey according to individual needs whether or not the client is a user of Snap software.
To conclude, the conducting of surveys should be an essential feature in any organization's direct marketing strategy if longer-term profitability and customer loyalty are considered important goals.
1 Utpal M. Dholakia and Vicki G. Morwitz, The Scope and Persistence of Mere-Measurement Effects: Evidence from a Field Study of Customer Satisfaction Measurement, Consumer Research Vol 29, No 2, Sept 2002