A customer survey is the cheapest way to find out why people buy and what holds them back. The greatest value comes from in-person or phone interviews with around ten customers, because they reveal phrasing the company itself does not use, and reasons it would never think to ask about in a questionnaire. You need to ask about a specific experience – how the last decision unfolded, what they considered, what they were missing – not about hypothetical preferences, because for those people answer according to what sounds reasonable. A questionnaire is suitable for verifying findings on a larger sample. The results should feed into the texts on the website, into salespeople's arguments and into the development of the offering, otherwise they remain an unused document.
See also: On-site Survey, Value proposition, NPS – Net Promoter Score.
