Getting To Know Your Client’S Needs Sans Cartoon

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Getting to Know Your Client’s NeedsUsing Surveys as a Marketing Tool

Nina PlattThomson West Librarian Relations

National Library Week April 15, 2008

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Introduction

Why How

Creating Conducting Analyzing

Summary

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Marketing : Why Should we do Customer

Research/Surveys? To find out:

What products or services are being used What products or services need to be improved What to improve &/ how to improve What new markets can we move into What can we do to create a better relationship

Heart of each question – What needs can we identify – How can we meet them

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Creating the Survey

Objective – What do you want to learn? Sample – Who are your participants? Methodology – What form of survey will you use? Questions – What questions will you ask?

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Objective

Stick to one clear objective.

Without an objective as a beacon, questions can lack relevancy, surveys can turn into swamps of complexity, and results can fail to illuminate issues.

Roberta L. Sangster

Chair, Survey Review Committee

American Statistical Association

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Objective

How well will the requested information help me meet my objectives?

How much detail do I need? Can I get the desired information elsewhere?

Roberta L. Sangster

Chair, Survey Review Committee

American Statistical Association

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Cost Recovery Example - Objective

Gauge understanding of cost recovery policy by partners and associates

Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research

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Survey Sample

Entire population One or more subsets Biased samples Quotas Confidence Level – 90%, 95%, 99% Margin of error (3% - 5% acceptable)

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http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html

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Cost Recovery Example Sample

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Methodology

In-person Telephone Written – mailed/drop-off Email Web

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Cost Recovery Example - Methodology

Web-based survey Many vendors – SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang, etc. Inexpensive

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SurveyMonkey

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Zoomerang

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Questions - Basic

Multiple choice Numeric open end Text open end Rating scales Agreement scales

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Question Order

Easy questions at beginning build rapport Leave till the end

Hard or sensitive questions Demographic questions Other comments

Look for the natural order Agreement scales – agree to disagree – left to right Answer choices –results differ using different

methodology

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Questions - Tips

Keep it short & simple Provide a good intro Use “Don’t know”, “Not Applicable”, “None” and/or

“Other” If a question is “nice to know”, don’t ask it

Keep your objective in mind at all times Assure confidentiality Stay away from combining questions

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Questions - Tips

Avoid technical terms and jargon unless they are well known among the participants

Keep number of fonts and colors to a minimum Use color consistently Consider your sample when designing pages Group similar questions on each page Test the survey, personally and with a small test

group

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Cost Recovery Example : Questions

Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q1. Are you aware of the firm’s current policy for cost recovery of

online research services? Yes/No If yes, skip to Q3. If no, move to Q2

Q2. Briefly state policy, ask “Do you agree with the policy? Yes/No If yes, skip to Q5 If no, skip to Q4

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Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q3. Do you agree with the policy?

If yes, skip to Q5. If no, move to Q4

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Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q4. If you don’t agree with the policy, why not?

I would prefer not to charge clients for these services I would prefer to offer better discounts for these services I would prefer to charge for premium services only (premium services are

those that are not covered by the firm’s flat rate) My practice is in an industry where clients refuse to pay for these services We should be treating all research resources as overhead Other

Go to Q5

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Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q5. The firm’s online resource expense is 2.5 million a year which

would need to be treated as overhead should the firm decide not to charge for these services. Does that change your thoughts on the policy? Yes No Additional comments?

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Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q6. On an average, what percentage of online resource expense

charges do you write off during a year? None 1-5% 6-15% 16-25% 26-50% 51+ % Not sure

If None, go to Q8 If any other answer, go to Q7

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Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q7. What prompts you to write off online resource expenses?

Answer all that apply The associates doing the work screw up I sometimes make mistakes The fees are too high (in my estimation) The fees are too high (in my client’s estimation) My client refuses to pay regardless of the amount Other

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Objective: Get feedback on partner’s willingness to charge clients for online research Q8. Do you have any general comments you would like to share?

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Thank you

Provide a thank you message to those completing the survey.

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Conducting the Survey

Pre-test the questionnaire, if practical - Test the questions

If surveying by web, mail, email, send survey to participants

Follow-up with non-responders by sending survey again

If interviewing in person or by phone, conduct interviews and enter data

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Analyzing Results

Produce statistical tables Develop your findings or conclusions Write a summary and make recommendations if

requested

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Analyzing Results

Examples of results Cost recovery example ERM example Chart example Evaluation example

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Firms Who Purchased ERM Software

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

250 & Under 251-600 601-999 901-2300 Total

Market Subsegments

Nu

mb

er o

f F

irm

s Total Responses

Lookup Precision

OneLog

Research Agent*

Research Monitor

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Summary

Create objective/goal Select participants Decide on format Create questions Pre-test Contact participants and conduct survey or interview Follow-up if needed Analyze results Report

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Questions?

Nina Platt 612-280-4204

[email protected] Strategic Librarian

The Law Firm Intranet

Technology

Getting To Know Your Client’S Needs Sans Cartoon