Have you studied your audience's needs lately?

People will tell you their opinions about your products/services…

If you ask nicely…

And (in most cases) attach an incentive to solicit their feedback.

Look, no one?really?likes filling out surveys, do we? Most of them are too long, boring, sterile, and generic.

As consumers, most of us only complete surveys for a chance to win that $100 Amazon gift card which usually has nothing to do with the survey's contents, mind you. So we aren't even taking them for the right reasons. But there's a better way...

When done right, surveys can be?excellent?windows into our audiences' minds and habits. We can learn what makes them tick. We can invite them to play a role in an upcoming product. And we can learn what is and isn't working in our business.

The key is to turn a survey into an ongoing?conversation?people actually enjoy having with you, just like when you're talking to a good friend or someone you want to get to know.

For my money,?Typeform?is the best tool for producing personable, conversational forms. They help me ask better, more natural questions in my surveys.

I?include feedback forms at the end of all of my courses?like this one?and when I need to gather what my target audience is going through currently.

If talking and/or writing using natural, everyday language is already something you excel at, a tool like that will be a slam dunk for you.

Still, short, quippy surveys aren't always quite enough to get people to take them, let alone complete them. Either they love or hate the product/service that serves as the basis for the survey, or they want that thing you promised them upon completing your feedback form. There has to be something concrete for them on either side of it.

That said, strong feelings about something we've experienced and/or paid for can provoke us to take surveys without the need for a tangible reward at the end.

We have to ask folks to fill out our forms at the right time in their customer journey, typically immediately after they've fully experienced the thing we want to get their thoughts about. Waiting a few days or even a week after could be too late, as they've either forgotten, become busy, or don't care anymore.

So be careful, keep your surveys short and sweet, and skip them to questions elsewhere in your surveys that make sense for the answers they give. Recount what they say within subsequent questions. Ask for details and if it's cool for you to follow up. And only offer on-brand incentives if you want to reward them for their time.

For instance, if you're a skincare company, don't offer them a gift card to Red Lobster to fill out your survey; offer them a free kabuki brush.

Consider your audience members your uncredited collaborators. Get their feedback. Don’t fear constructive criticism; fear releasing something no one cares about.

Learn from them, then build upon what’s working

• Do what’s highly favored by your clients
• Discard what isn’t working
• Feed what you learn into your process and creative output