In this tip, I'll show you how you can set up a customer survey.

You can use surveys for all sorts of things:

* Post project/order feedback
* 'Taking the temperature' of your market
* Defining your pricing
* Staff satisfaction
* Getting information on your market for articles and press releases
* Finding out what your customers are specifically looking for in terms of features or services
* ...and lots more

There are different ways to do a survey. You can call people on the phone, have paper feedback forms sent out with your product or invoices, or you can create an online survey and email the link to potential respondents.

This last option is one of the quickest, easiest and cheapest.

I run all my polls and surveys using Constant Contact (free trial available). The benefit of using Constant Contact for me is that it's also my email marketing software, so I have all that stuff in one place and don't have to be exporting contact lists every time I want to run a survey.

I have also used Wufoo, which creates online forms (basic account with up to 3 forms is free). This means that you can have surveys and questionnaires actually embedded in your website.

Some of my clients have used Survey Monkey as well (basic account free - for up to 100 responses per survey and 10 questions per survey). This is probably one of the best-known survey tools.

To get started, sign up for the account of your choice and watch the tutorial or quick start guide. This will save you many headaches later (justsayin!).

Figure out what you want your questions to be before you start with the software though! This is actually the hardest bit. You need to keep the questions clear and concise. Give example answers where necessary and use multiple choice where you can (easier for people to complete and for the results to be analysed).

When you have completed your questionnaire, get someone to test it, to make sure it's not too difficult or time consuming to complete.

Then you have to invite people to complete it. You may have to ask more than once, but that's okay as long as you don't pester people every 5 minutes.

The best way to ask people to complete your survey is to:

1. Tell them what it is ( e.g. customer satisfaction survey, article research)

2. Tell them what it's for (e.g. to help you develop better products, create a report)

3. Tell them how long it's going to take them to complete (e.g. 5 questions, 15 minutes)

4. Give an incentive for taking part (e.g. free copy of the results, prize draw entry)

If you follow these 4 steps, your audience will have a better understanding of what you're trying to achieve with your survey and be more likely to complete it.