Clientize - Article

Ziff-Davis Smart Business

Give Your e-Store an Edge

Ask Them If They Like You
Bonny L. Georgia
Ziff Davis Smart Business
October 2001

Your customers will tell you what you're doing right-and wrong.

Sometimes the truth hurts-but if your customers have a beef with your site, your products, or your company, it's in your interest to know about it. Online surveys from Clientize.com helped CatalogLink, a catalog request site based in Greenwich, Connecticut, get customers' honest opinions.

"[The survey] was a low-cost, highly effective way for us to gather information from our customers about their feelings toward our Web site," says James Ferrier, general manager. The company had Clientize design, host, and collect survey responses.

Boilerplate questions range from product feedback queries to purchasing plans. Each survey contains around 10 questions, which include multiple choice, yes-or-no, or free-form responses. For example, the standard product feedback survey is tailored to find out which products your customers use, how often, when, and why, among other things. The templates make it easy to customize each survey, and Clientize consultants can also help you create a survey from scratch.

To activate the survey simply add a link to your Web site-or send it to a specific customer list via e-mail. As responses roll in, Clientize tabulates them and presents the results in an Excel report. Clientize charges a one-time setup fee of $795, plus a monthly fee of $100 to $150.

In addition to giving Ferrier a better idea of who his customers are, survey responses helped him target promotions. His first online survey generated more than 1,300 responses plus 660 opt-in e-mail addresses in just three weeks.