How 4 Companies Find Out What Their Email Subscribers Want

How 4 Companies Find Out What Their Email Subscribers Want:from Business 2 Community by Amanda Gagnon

Your readers have information that you need. Namely, they know what they want.
Since the goal of content marketing is to give people what they want in order to keep them coming back for more, you need to know what that is.
The easiest way to find out is to send a survey to your email subscribers. Sending the survey is simple (here’s how). Getting subscribers to answer takes a bit of strategy, though.
So here we present four companies’ email survey strategies. Take a look:

Hit Two Birds With One Survey

If you want to send different emails to different segments of subscribers based on their interests, you can create a survey that will help you group readers into those segments, as well as give you a look at your audience as a whole.

ModCloth asks their subscribers to fill out a style survey. Not only can they use the information to create those segments and send targeted offers, they’re also getting a good look at the preferences of their customer base as a whole.
And of course, the flattery never hurts.

List A Preview Of Your Questions

People hesitate to click links to surveys. They’re not sure exactly what they’ll be asked to reveal or how long it will take. Listing your questions directly in the email dispels that apprehension.

The Bee Folks want their honey to appeal to those who keep Kosher. Since they don’t keep it themselves, they’re not sure where to put the Kosher mark. So they sent an email to ask, and they listed their questions directly in the email so readers could see what they were getting into.

Allow Responses Right In The Email

Padiact knows that subscribers who aren’t using their accounts most likely don’t have a heck of a lot of interest in emails from the service.

So they make their survey as quick and easy to answer as possible. The questions are right in the email, and readers don’t have to bother to go anywhere else to answer. Read one question, click one option, and they’re done. Easiest survey ever.
(Here are instructions to do this in AWeber.)

Let Them Show Off

Like Elance does here, invite your readers to brag about their own success stories.

It’s good for you: look at the cool customers you have! You can use their responses to show other prospects why they should choose you.
It’s good for your readers: it gets them exposure to a whole new market. Knowing this, they’ll be more likely to respond, and respond fully with all the information you want to know.

Have You Surveyed Your Subscribers?

Here’s us taking our own advice and inviting you to show off. If you’ve sent a survey in your emails, comment below and tell us a bit about it.
Did you ask in the email or use a survey tool? How high were responses? Did you learn what you wanted to know?