Gain valuable insight into customer preferences
Direct marketing and customer loyalty are becoming increasingly important in corporate strategies. Major international groups and SMEs alike are making greater use of quantitative customer satisfaction analyses to determine the preferences of customers and target groups. They enable companies to obtain information on which products customers want and the prices they are prepared to pay. What`s more, they can also be used to evaluate the quality of the services provided.
Customer experience management systems are often used department-wide in market research, sales, marketing, purchasing, and product development. This makes it possible, for example, to generate integral data, thereby facilitating mission-critical decisions based on reliable customer information.
Customer surveys can be used for a broad range of applications. The following sections highlight how using online feedback software can help to obtain such information.
Optimizing product designs
The process of developing new products is usually associated with substantial investments, which makes it all the more important that companies are able to assess the preferences of potential consumers.
Example: Rapid cover test
Rapid feedback is essential for magazine publishers due to the fast pace of their business. A few days before publication, sometimes in the space of a few hours, they must decide which cover to use for an edition. The cover page can have a significant impact on the number of copies sold.
Publishing houses use online surveys to optimize the cover selection. Those polled are presented with different versions of a cover, which are tested independently and in direct comparison during the course of the survey. The cover test gauges how potential purchasers react to the cover and determines the reasons for the potential purchase decision.
One particular advantage is the speed at which the online surveys can collect such feedback.
Example: Survey on the design and song selection of CDs
The music industry is shaped by special market conditions. The ratio of flops to successful albums is around 90:10. Online surveys are an effective means of integrating potential buyers into the product development process at an early stage. Multi-media questions make it possible to rate different versions of CD covers, the compilation of albums, and the best sequence of songs by playing extracts of music. Demographic information on the target groups and knowledge of their preferences are of great benefit for subsequent marketing campaigns.
Adaptive conjoint analyses
Adaptive conjoint analyses (ACA) are used to evaluate the product or price preferences of customer target groups. This allows products to be geared to the exact requirements of customers and customer segments. To do so, various product concepts are stripped down to their individual characteristics and specifications. This information is then used to generate combinations of characteristics, which are presented to the participants of an online survey and evaluated.
Example: Conjoint automobile study
In the scope of an automobile study, a product is stripped down to its purchase-relevant characteristics. A number of versions are defined for each characteristic. The evaluation can then determine the preferences of those questioned for each of the versions.
On the basis of ratings provided by the customer, the Globalpark software automatically compiles a range of complete products from a combination of individual elements to simulate a highly complex and realistic decision-making situation.
Following on from the survey, the data can be used to calculate purchase probabilities, segment markets, or check the maximum amount that potential customers are willing to pay.
Improving marketing campaigns
Professional advertising campaigns are very cost-intensive. Companies can use online surveys to review the impact of a campaign quickly and discretely. If necessary, this tool enables them to react quickly and implement counter measures. The survey data will determine the advertising impact. If necessary, the campaign can be improved immediately.
Possible steps for optimizing campaigns using Globalpark technology
- Activate the online survey before, during or after a campaign
- Possible content: Query the brand awareness of a product (aided and unaided), the popularity or acceptance, purchase probability, and the slogan and key visual recall.
- Integrate multi-media elements, such as images, sounds or films
- Define participation conditions: Only relevant target groups can take part in the survey
Automating customer feedback processes
Major benefits can be gained by interfacing the software products in the Enterprise Feedback Suite. The software can exchange data with external IT systems by using the interface and integration technology of EFS Web Services. Information can be received from – and sent to – other software solutions, thereby generating a whole range of options for establishing automated feedback processes:
No matter how Globalpark software is integrated into existing IT infrastructures using EFS Web Services, there are virtually no technical limitations.
Example: Call center surveys
Participant data can, for example, be transferred from call center software to trigger a satisfaction survey when a customer uses a hotline service. On conclusion of the survey, the results can be returned to the customer`s dataset. In this way, non-reactive master data in the call center software can be augmented by reactive survey information, providing call center agents with access to important additional information.
Example: Customer satisfaction surveys
CRM software can be used to transfer comprehensive customer master data to the survey software for the purpose of customer satisfaction surveys. This data can then be used as basic information to enable accurate surveys.
Furthermore, this option also makes it possible to define automated escalation processes. For instance, if the results of a customer survey fall below a defined satisfaction limit, an escalation process can be triggered automatically in the CRM software.
The data transfer is based on compatible standards and can be configured irrespective of the technical properties of external IT systems.
The possibilities opened up by EFS Web Services harness the full potential of online feedback processes – these types of closed and automated data cycles increase efficiency in the long term and give our customers a clear-cut competitive edge.
Furthermore, this option also makes it possible to define automated escalation processes. For instance, if the results of a customer survey fall below a defined satisfaction limit, an escalation process can be triggered automatically in the CRM software.
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