#55: How to Create a Survey to Find Your Target Market

In the last several weeks, I’ve been getting a product ready for launch. It’s called the Profit Lab…or, if you want the full title,
The Profit Lab:  How to Create Marketing Systems In Your Business So That You Can Find Your Target Market, Grow Your Email List and Sell More Products
I launch this product twice a year, and every year, I recreate it so that it stays fresh and valuable, even for people who have gone through it before. I make new videos, I rewrite the worksheets, all that good stuff.
This year, as I’ve been getting this product ready for launch, I wanted to make sure I was truly connecting with my target audience. After you’ve had some success with a product, it’s easy to start coasting on that success, which means you stay the same while your audience continues to grow and change and develop new needs. Not my style.  ;-)
To find out more about my target market, I needed to find out:
Where they are at, in terms of their business goals and growth. What they needed from me Where they were struggling, not just in their business as a whole but with the versions of the Profit Lab I’d released before. Knowing all this was going to help me tailor this new version of the Profit Lab into exactly what my target audience desperately needs right now.
So I put together a survey. And the responses knocked my socks off!
The thing is, I knew who my target audience was, but I didn’t really know them the way I thought I did. The survey gave me a chance to understand how they think, what kind of language they use, what keeps them up at night, and why they come to me as opposed to anybody else in the online marketing world.
I learned so much from this experience of surveying my audience that I wanted to share some of those insights with you…how to create a survey that gets you into the minds and hearts of your target audience, so you design, redesign or market your products in direct response to their needs.
The result of this will be that you sell more of your products to them.
And don’t worry if you’re just starting out and your list isn’t that big yet. You can still design a survey that gets you these answers and helps you build your list...and I’ll tell you how.
I've also got a great freebie for you to download this week, which will give you lots more insight on creating a survey, as well as how to use the information it yields. Click here to download it now!
EPISODE FREEBIE Get the Free Guide: "The Product Maximizer: 4 Smart Ways To Sell Products Online" FREE DOWNLOAD
First Step: Design Your Questions Remember, your survey isn’t a Gallup poll. You’re probably not trying to find out whether your audience is in their 20s or their 50s, if they are male or female, or other information like that. So before you start drafting questions, take a minute to think about what your survey is really trying to find out about your target market.
We all know that endless surveys with loads of questions get really, really boring. And you want to steer clear of that with your survey. So make sure that your questions are all focused on the goal of learning something specific about your target market that relates to the product you’re offering them.
You want to include bigger picture questions that give you a clearer picture of who they are and how they define success, as well as more focused questions, such as what products/services in your niche they're already using, and what specific needs do they have that aren't being fulfilled?
To get more in-depth guidance on how to design your survey questions, click here for the full episode.
Second Step: Get People Engaged Obviously, the first step in the survey process is putting together something that they will agree to participate in.
While it never hurts to offer an incentive to entice people to take your survey, it’s a lot more effective to create a survey that is as painless as possible.
Contrary to popular opinion, a survey doesn’t have to be dull or dry. You can create a survey that is quick, enjoyable, and creates excitement around your upcoming product. Simply take the same approach you would with designing a product, answering a complaint, or anything else that involves interacting with your client: offer them a great experience.
Here’s how:
Give the survey your personal touch. Write it the way you’d write your blog, your emails, or anything else. This actually increases your rate of answers. Make the experience as user-friendly and smooth as possible. Use a platform that you’ve vetted for bugs.  (My favorites includes Survey Monkey and Pop Survey.)  Make sure it’s very mobile friendly, so that people can complete your survey while they’re waiting at the doctor’s office or sitting on the subway. Skip the long intro whenever possible. The people who receive your survey already follow you on social media or are on your email list...so they already know who you are and what you’re about. No need to announce your survey with anything more than a subject line that conveys the survey’s purpose. (“Help Me Improve My Product with Your Feedback” or “Tell Me About Your Fitness Goals.”) Keep in mind that answers are for action. When creating questions on your survey, ask yourself this: “What kind of action will I take with the answer to this?” If the answer is “Nothing,” or you simply don’t know, don’t ask that question. There’s no purpose. You should limit your time (and the survey taker’s time) to questions that have a tangible purpose. Want more specifics on how to make your survey fun and informative? Click here for the full episode.
Third Step: Getting Your Survey Out There Email to your list. Studies have found the highest survey open and click-through rates occurred on Monday, Friday and Sunday respectively. Promote online. Several survey programs (like Survey Monkey and Poll Daddy) have an option that helps you with this. Embed in a post on your own blog and as a guest blogger Link to your survey on social media. Again, some survey programs have a code that lets you embed the survey easily into Facebook.  (Make sure to click the “Like” button after you post because this will allow it to go viral faster.) Post your survey on LinkedIn Post a short video on YouTube explaining why you created the survey and encouraging your audience to take a few minutes to complete it. Give your viewers the URL and also post a link under your video on YouTube. What if My List Isn’t Big Enough? You don’t need hundreds of responses for a survey to be valuable. If you’re still working to build up your list, create your survey and reach out to ten friends or colleagues that you think would be your ideal customer. Ask them to fill out the survey, and also to pass it on to just one other person they know like themselves. You can learn about who your audience is from just a few people filling out these questions.
In addition, you can use Facebook Ads to promote your survey. Or you can put links to your survey in your blog post and guest blog posts. When you’re getting ready to make your blog post live, make your opt-in the survey. Offer readers an incentive in exchange for taking your survey--a chance to win something, a link to premium content, a limited-time membership to your service, something like that.
There are tons more suggestions on how to design your survey in this week's free download. Click here to get it!
EPISODE FREEBIE Get the Free Guide: "The Product Maximizer: 4 Smart Ways To Sell Products Online" FREE DOWNLOAD
The Bottom Line Sending out a survey is kind of like going on a first date. If you spend the whole evening trying to make sure the other person understands you, you’re probably not going to get to see them again. But if you spend the whole time asking them questions about themselves, you’ll come away with a really good understanding of who they are, and whether you have what they need.
When you’re creating this survey, don’t think so hard about what you’re trying to accomplish in your business. Think about getting to know your target market, and the goals of your business will fall into line.