Free trial: new online customer feedback service for retailers

Getting feedback rapidly is critical if problems are highlighted and you want to take immediate corrective action, for example at a store or dealership that is performing poorly on key satisfaction scores.

Now there is an online survey service that is user-friendly, fast - and makes regular customer surveys affordable to every retailer in South Africa. According to Philip van Zyl, the CEO of People Surveys, the service is especially aimed at retailers who sell directly to customers via the internet or use email to keep in touch with 'bricks and mortar' customers.

The robust and comprehensive service was developed locally and stands shoulder to shoulder with any similar service offered abroad. It enables you to easily set up your own questionnaires on line and send customers an email inviting them to provide feedback on their customer experiences, or their attitudes and opinions towards your company or your competitors.

People Surveys cater for any question type, including multiple choice, Likert (for example, strongly agree to strongly disagree), numeric ranking and open-ended questions. Corporate logo's and pictures can be imported and used to reinforce the retail brand and add visual interest to the questionnaire.

Access to customer responses is in real time, 24 hours a day, through any internet browser, anywhere in the world. This means you can start viewing answers to today's questions as soon as customers start responding, which is usually within minutes.

Most importantly, a basic People Surveys annual license costs only R3,495 plus VAT, which allows you to send out an unlimited number of surveys and ask an unlimited number of questions during the year. The license also includes the first 2 000 respondents, with top-ups costing as little as fifty cents per respondent.

People Surveys' focus is on total automation to drive costs down, and the 'build-it-yourself' survey platform is ideal for retailers who know what they want to find out. The company also provides a full support service that covers every aspect of customer research and surveying - from construct development, to questionnaire design, survey deployment, results analysis and management reporting.

You can put People Surveys to the test with a 14-day free trial of their survey platform. This includes up to 40 responses and full use of the results analysis software, which can be used to produce graphs and charts from the 'live' responses. Simply visit People Surveys website www.peoplesurveys.co.za and click on the free trial button.