This year marks the twelfth year that I’ve been online… My path started blogging and trying to generate some cash from advertising and has led me here… Building done for you sales funnels and software solutions for clients.

Now, back when I got started, I had no idea what people wanted.  I didn’t know what an ‘customer avatar‘ was and I surely couldn’t write copy to save my life.  So, I did what everyone does and threw a bunch of stuff at the wall hoping to get lucky!  To put it simply, I never did.

There was never a moment that I can look back on and say, “That’s it.  That was a turning point in my business.  That person/thing/promotion/etc. made it all worth it.”

We’ve all read those stories…  Where someone has an idea, builds it and sells it off…  Or a big company partners with a nobody who’s created something particularly cool…  That wasn’t my path though.

For me, I made millions of small decisions along the way that dramatically changed my focus over the years, always trying to give my tribe what they wanted…  My customers, my clients, and my list.

About 6 years ago, I made it a point to start surveying my list at least a few times a year to see what they wanted more of from me.

As email marketing and automation got more intricate and complex, I started surveying the entire list shortly after they signed up for something from one of my companies (and we get a lot of leads each day).

Now, there are quite a few surveys that we use…  We use:

  • A Challenge Survey that segments respondents into different buckets and fires off an email autoresponder sequence catering to their specific needs.
  • A Content Survey that determines what kind of content they want to consume; like PDF's, videos, blog posts, etc.
  • A Development Survey which helps us figure out what software or features need to be next in development, based on what our members want...

Let’s dive into each a little more…

Your Challenge Survey

Challenge Surveys are the most potent forms of survey or quiz you can run, for sure.  We talked about the Anatomy of a Challenge Survey here, but the goal is simple…

You want your prospects to tell you what’s bothering them.

When you know what’s bothering them, you know how best to help.  That might be through your coaching program, a consulting solution, a digital product or a service you offer.

At the end of the day, they came to you for a reason…  Be it a Google search, a paid Facebook Ad, a personal referral or a social page; they hit your website and signed up on your list for something…  By understanding what motivated them in the first place, you can help them out with a solution.

The “Challenge Survey” helps get to the source of their problem so you can take action on it through a sales offer or a triggered email sequence.

Your Development Survey

At its core, your Development Survey needs to get prospects to tell you want they want more of, so you can either add it into an existing product or service OR build something brand new to focus on it.

Not only does it help you figure out what will move the needle for your customers, but it’ll also increase retention and loyalty for your products and services.  By giving your tribe a voice, they’ll be much more apt to purchase from you (or continue purchasing from you) in the future!

At the end of the day, you want to give your folks choices…  Or at least a box that they can type their answer in.  Example questions might be:

  • Out of the following choices, which is the most important to you?
  • Which of the following should we create next?
  • With of the following courses would you be the most interested in purchasing?

Your Content Survey

Content is a tricky thing…  Especially when you’re new to digital publishing, you might have a hard time writing stuff or putting stuff together that your tribe is really interested in.  And, lets face it…  Content is expensive!  If you’re writing it yourself, you’ll be toiling away for hours and hours!  If you’re paying someone, you can plan on some pretty crazy hourly fees!

Not to mention, well written content should solve problems and give your tribe some insight into their life, somehow…  So, why don’t you ask them what they want you to publish?

Most of our reports and blog posts are driven from survey submissions in one way or another.  It’s a quick way of making sure that our stuff will help!

Getting Setup

Now, they surveys and quizzes you run are going to be specific to your business, but Askly is the perfect tool for getting them set up quickly and easily!  Not to mention, all of the quiz types are engineered for performance so you don’t need to worry about lackluster results from your respondents…

Get them to the first page of the survey and we’ll take care of the rest!  Click here to set up Askly account!