Running a customer survey can be a powerful way to understand what your audience needs, wants, and values. For small businesses, it’s often the difference between stagnation and growth. Here’s a story about how a national ecommerce fashion retailer turned a simple customer survey into a strategy for driving sales.
Understanding the Customer
Anna had always been proud of the steady growth of her fashion retail business. With an annual turnover just shy of £1.5m, she had built a loyal customer base. However, the last few months had shown slower sales growth, and Anna knew something had to change. She decided to take a bold step and run a customer survey—her goal was simple: learn more about her customers and what would encourage them to buy more.
Like many business owners, Anna wasn’t sure how her customers felt about the brand or what areas needed improvement. She wanted to uncover the barriers preventing repeat purchases and discover what might motivate her loyal buyers to spend more.
Keeping It Simple: The Survey Process
Anna didn’t overcomplicate things. She kept the questions straightforward, focusing on the customer’s experience with her online store, the variety of fashion pieces available, and the overall shopping journey. She used accessible language, avoiding technical marketing jargon, so customers could answer quickly and honestly.
Key questions included:
What’s your favourite part of shopping with us?
Is there anything that would make your experience better?
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
Anna also gave her customers a little nudge to complete the survey by offering a 10% discount on their next purchase. This small incentive led to a high completion rate, with most responses coming in within just a week.
Finding the Hidden Gold
When the survey responses started pouring in, Anna quickly saw a pattern. A significant portion of her customers loved the exclusive collections, but they were unsure when new items were launched. Others mentioned they wanted better product descriptions, so they felt more confident in making purchases.
These insights were game-changing for Anna. She hadn’t realised that such a simple tweak—improving communication about new launches and enhancing product descriptions—could make such a difference. Her customers weren’t looking for a drastic overhaul, but a few key improvements could significantly enhance their shopping experience.
Turning Insights into Sales
With this new information in hand, Anna and her team worked on clearer product descriptions, added detailed sizing guides, and improved the images on her site. They also began sending out sneak-peeks of new collections to loyal customers, helping them feel more valued and keeping them in the loop.
Within a month of making these changes, Anna saw a 15% increase in repeat purchases, and the survey responses even helped her create a new VIP club for her most loyal customers. By addressing her audience’s needs, she had not only improved the customer experience but boosted her bottom line.
The Power of Listening to Your Customers
Anna’s story shows that running a customer survey doesn’t have to be a complex or expensive project. In fact, listening to your customers and acting on their feedback can lead to tangible improvements that directly impact sales.
Surveys provide an incredible opportunity to see things from the customer's perspective, which is often the key to unlocking business growth. And in today’s fast-paced ecommerce world, staying connected with your audience has never been more important.
If you want to grow your small business by better understanding your customers and crafting a plan that actually drives results, consider getting expert customer growth training. Mark A Preston, an experienced customer growth coach and speaker, specialises in helping SMEs like yours build a customer growth plan that turns insights into increased sales. Contact Mark today and start transforming feedback into customer loyalty and sales growth.
