FFR027 - The One Question You Should Be Asking All Your Customers

I’m a huge advocate of asking your target market for feedback and insights related to whatever it is you are selling, so you can get good market research. 

 

So when most people think of research they think of asking potential customers what their biggest challenges are or maybe ask current customers what types of products they might be interested in buying. 

 

But there’s one question asked a specific time, that takes the cake when it comes to skyrocketing your sales, and this comes courtesy of the excellent book, Making Websites Win, by the founders of Conversion Rate Experts.

 

So the question is... “What nearly stopped you buying from us?” Or it could be a slight variation of this, such as “What nearly stopped you from using us?”

 

And the right time to ask is... directly after they have purchased. So immediately after the action has taken place. 

 

The question could be asked on a thank-you page or possibly in a follow up email... but in my opinion it should be on the page they hit immediately after they have completed the action of purchasing (or signing up). 

 

So why is this so important? Here are 3 reasons why.  You put it to your customers, not to those who didn’t buy from you.  Your customers have been through the entire sales funnel and your non-customers haven’t.  Even though your customers overcame every barrier to buying from you, they weren’t oblivious to the barriers.  You are striking right when the iron is hot, and getting feedback immediately after purchase... so you are getting their thoughts at precisely the right time. If you wait until later they will most likely have forgotten completely. 

 

What I would recommend is popping the question right at the top of the order confirmation page, and adding a text box for them to pop in an answer. 

 

Or another option would be to use a pop-up survey question like what Hot Jar offers. 

 

However you set it up it’s vital you capture the data into a spreadsheet and look for patterns.