Let us start with a relatable quote. “Always have a successful exit than a favorable entrance because what matters more is not being clapped when we arrive but being remembered when we leave.” What does this signify?
You have done your marketing well to get the customers you were looking for. No one can stay on forever. People have to leave at some point or the other. Make their exit memorable so that they yearn to come again.
How do you do that?
This brings us to the concept of the exit survey.
What Qualifies As An Exit Survey?
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This is a valid question. In marketing parlance, people confuse between customer surveys and exit surveys. They invariably use these terms interchangeably knowing fully well that they are as different as chalk and cheese.
An exit survey is akin to an exit interview. When employees leave an organization, it is the tradition to have an exit interview to understand the employees’ viewpoint.
Similarly, in marketing, the exit survey is to get an idea about the customer’s experience about the business entity to enable them to rectify their shortcomings.
You do this when the customer leaves the website.
This can enable the business enterprise to have a concrete action plan. You understand what went wrong for the customer.
This can help you to rectify your mistakes and strive to make it better for the customer the next time around.
Who Takes The Survey & When?
The answer to this question should be a no-brainer. Every customer who leaves the site takes the survey.
The question might then veer to from where they leave the website. They can leave the website from the landing page, home page, or any of the pages such as the payment’s page, etc.
Now, here comes the main question.
Whether a customer leaving the website is obliged to take the survey?
The answer is an emphatic ‘NO’.
There is no compulsion on any one to take the survey. There is nothing you can do to stop the same. However, for every customer who chooses to leave without taking the survey, there are people who do value your effort and participate in them.
Concentrating on such people can help you formulate an action plan to increase your conversion rate.
Before formulating any action plan to tackle customer feedback, you should have an idea as to what prompted people to leave the website without taking the survey.
You can do so by tapping into those who have taken it. This is how you tackle the issue.
How Do You Do That?
For every person who takes your survey, there are two possibilities.
He can either be a customer or not.
If he is a non-customer, you can always ask them to suggest a change in the questions asked in the survey. This will give you an insight as to why certain people left without taking the survey.
Improving upon your mistakes can avoid such instances in the future.
In case, he is your customer, you can switch over to the familiar method of email marketing and ask your customer to suggest some changes to the questions.
What Are The Questions You Ask?
This depends on the pages from where the exit the website. We shall separate them into three categories.
Type 1: People Leaving At The Landing Page
This category of people is a bit difficult to handle.
You should be very direct in your questions such as “Why are you leaving the website?”, “What went wrong?”
The advantage of having a direct question is that you get a direct answer as well. There are people who might just leave and say nothing.
Some people might admit their confusion whereas the third category belongs to the forthright person who will pinpoint exactly as to what made him take the decision to quit at that stage.
You can formulate a specific action plan now.
You can better ignore the first category of people as being very casual and hence not of much use to your business.
Remember, you cannot please everyone. If you try to do that you end up pleasing no one.
Concentrate on the second and third categories.
You can tap into their resources by providing them with an option to respond to your questions with suggestions and the email addresses.
This is the first step of your exit survey. Solving their queries can make these people your long-term customers as well.
Type 2: People Leaving At Pages Other Than The Payments Page
Being crisp in your questioning always helps.
You can straight away pop the question, “Have you found what you are searching for?” This question can elicit only two answers, either a Yes or a No.
People who submit a positive answer are definitely not interested in buying your product. However, there are people who say No as well.
You can follow it up with another question, “Shall we help you find what you are searching for?”
You should invariably leave a box for such people to submit their replies. You can ask them gently to share their email ids with you.
This is the second step of your action plan to help garner more customers and end up converting the leads.
Type 3: People Who Leave At The Payments Stage
This category of people is your potential customer. There can be various reasons for their exiting at this final stage. You can humbly ask them as to what went wrong that they have backed out at this final stage.
You will invariably get a response.
You should frame your action plan around such responses.
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There Are People Who Buy
Are we forgetting that there is a category of people who end up buying from your website?
The answer is in the negative. Normally, many websites do not include this category in their survey questionnaire.
They are the most important cog in the wheel. It is this satisfied customer who acts as your brand ambassador outside. Having an interaction with them and seeking their views to improve their overall experience is of utmost importance.
They will feel honored to participate in the survey and give valuable suggestions as well.
Important Considerations For An Effective Exit Survey
What Are The Questions You Can Put To Them?
You can have a number of questions to ask them. However, remember to keep the survey short.
The ideal length of an exit survey should not exceed ten minutes. You should make it a point to value the time of your customers. Dragging it can be detrimental to your interests.
Your questions should center on the following points.
- You can ask for their feedback about the product and services.
- Asking them for suggestions to improve their experience is a good way of keeping them in the loop.
- Enquire about the possibilities of repeating the visit and influencing/recommending others to do so.
Nationality Of The Survey Sample Matters a Lot
You have tools like Google Analytics to help you in such matters.
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This enables you to understand where your traffic comes from. This ensures that you take appropriate steps to handle the specific shortcomings based on the nationality of the clients.
Your clientele could be a mix of Americans, Europeans, Asians, and others. It might happen that you might get higher organic traffic from the US with a reduced conversion rate. At the same time, the Asians might contribute less to your traffic but show a higher conversion.
This enables you to form an action plan whereby you ask the US customer as to why he does not prefer to buy from you.
As far as the Asians are concerned, you can ask them for suggestions to improve your campaign.
The Industry Does Play a Role
The conversion rates can vary from one industry to the other. Statistics say that food recipe surveys see the maximum participation. However, the response rate for each industry can be different.
Knowing and understanding your niche is very important at this stage.
Your customer might like your product but might find it a bit expensive as compared to your competitor. They might be willing to share this information. This could help you formulate a counter action plan.
Certain experts are of the view that you could very well provide the customer with a quality product at a cheaper rate. You will be able to build up a huge customer database, name, address, and emails, etc.
A customer database is very important in the marketing realm.
Multiple Choice Questions vs Open-ended Questions
The former is easy to answer but it does not give much freedom to the customer to express his opinion.
Hence, it is better to have your survey as a healthy mix of multiple choice and open-ended questions.
This can play a great role in improving your conversion rates.
First-timer Customers
Have a micro survey like format to entice the first time customers. This can be more like a brand-awareness program.
The best part with the first timers is that you can expect a majority of them to give honest answers to your questions. You can build your customer database easily when you pose leading questions.
Do Your Homework Well
The A/B testing method can help you determine the success of your conversion rate. Having two sets of survey questions can help you find out the impact caused by either of them. This can give you a clear idea about the questions you should not ask.
Final Words
There is no such thing as a perfect template for success in business. If there had been one, no business would have ever failed in this world. A lot of factors go into deciding the conversion rates. Your exit survey can definitely help increase the conversion rates.
Following the points mentioned in this blog can definitely help you formulate a successful exit survey.
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