Web Surveys and Trust: Building the Ties that Bind

There’s an interesting comment in the Wall Street Journal this morning.   The author of an article on the bailout plan noted that an underlying cause of the credit crisis is that “bankers, governments, investors, and customers simply have lost faith in the lending system on a number of fronts.”

That quote reminds us how critically important trust is for all business relationships.  You can certainly make a good argument, as the WSJ author did, that a breakdown of trust–or maybe a lack of trust in the first place–did a lot to get us in the mess we see today.

So it’s a good time to think carefully, as business owners, about what we can do to increase the bond of trust with our customers and clients.

We don’t have to look far or think hard to come up with a way to do that.  The simple fact is that one of the best ways to build trust is to talk with people.  And surveys provide one of the best ways to carry on a conversation with our customers and clients.

Here are a few examples of how surveys can help us build trust with them:

• We build trust with our customers by asking their opinions.  By using surveys to ask our customers what products they want or how satisfied they are with our services, we build trust by demonstrating interest in them, respect for who they are and what they want.
• We build trust with our customers and clients by rewarding them for taking surveys.  The “incentives” or “thank you gifts” we provide show them that we value their time and expertise.  That makes them much more likely to trust us.
• We build trust with our customers and clients by doing surveys well. Crafting surveys that are clear, that are well-organized, and that are efficient gives us another way to demonstrate our expertise and professionalism.  This will not only increase their willingness to provide the information we need but also increase their respect for, and trust in, our expertise.
• We build trust by using the information we get from surveys well.  When we “report back” to our clients and customers on survey results and act on the information, we build a bond with our customers that makes them feel “invested” in our businesses.
• We build trust by protecting our customers’ information.  When we do a survey, we should always use a web survey program that encrypts their data.  We should also protect our customers’ confidentiality.
• We build trust with our customers by showing them our stuff  works.  Surveys let us do that by generating systematic evidence.

Take advantage of these critically important ways to use surveys to build trust with your customers.  Doing so could help you profit from these troubled economic times.