Gathering customer information online is a smart move for any business. Customers prefer the efficiency of an online form rather than answering personal question on the phone. However, Internet users tend to protect their online time and will not fill out just any old form. If you approach your information gathering in the right way, you will be able to build an amazing customer base with it.
Let Customers Know How You Will Use the Info
Perhaps you are simply looking for email newsletter subscriptions , all you need to request is an email address and maybe a name. You should make it clear that the email your customer gives you will be used to send out email newsletters. If you need information to send a purchased product, then make it clear that the information given will be used for that purpose only. Sharing your plans for information will make visitors more comfortable and much more likely to fill out the form.
Tell Your Customers How They Benefit
Sometimes all the incentive your visitor needs is the promise of a free email newsletter. Others like to hear that they will receive a free gift or a coupon for a future purchase. Give your visitor something of value for filling out your form and make sure the value matches the form: a small benefit for an email address or a larger benefit for filling out a longer form. Let customers know when they create an account that they will be able to save their shopping cart for later uses or keep track of their orders.
Make Your Form Easy to Complete
A complex form turns away potential conversions. You can bring visitors to your site, but if you can’t get them to leave information on a form, then you loose an opportunity for a sale. Prefill as many spaces as you can. Require only the information that you need. Create a form that is easy to navigate without their hands leaving the keyboard.
Offer a Privacy Policy
Your customers will be far more willing to give you information if they know that you will protect their privacy. Filling out forms online can be unnerving for those who fear identity theft. If you promise to protect their privacy and follow through with your promise, you will make customers comfortable enough to fill out their information.
Once you gather the information, you can use it to get to know your customers better. The better you know your customers, the better you will be able to sell to them.
Image Credit: Assessment Company
14 comments
Telling the customers the benefits – definite WIN! Reassuring your visitors is a good thing indeed.
Not many follow this steps, I saw a lot of people who will not only use your email from the comments you make, but they will send you affiliate links or market their products.
Other user their subscription emails to market their products only A bloggers/marketers are still obeying to this rules. Pretty sad that money are making people lose their honesty.
This is one area I have to improve on. Thanks for the information.
Indeed a food for thought…and something a lot of us tend to ignore….winning the trust of your audience is of paramount importance….telling them your intention and offering them a benefit in return is something that will certainly help.
Anna,
I agree that giving the customers an easy fill-up form will do the trick! They should also know the benefits.
I know I still have a lot to improve on this kind of strategy. Maybe next week, I’ll avail Aweber to help me get good traffic for my site.
Mark
Good write up. I can definitely use some of the points here. I can absolutely improve on my information collecting. Thanks.
Hi Anna,
The last thing in this post is one of the most important things “Offer a Privacy Policy”. We talk about this for a couple of weeks ago and many people don’t want to give out there e-mail and other information if they are not got 100% security.
How do you go about creating your form anna? Or is it through a wordpress plugin, some sort of online survey service like survey monkey? And where in your process is the form introduced? Also in your experience what information do you find useful? Sorry about all the questions but I am quiet curious as to how people go about gathering information. Thanks for all the helpful information in this post 🙂
Thanks for the update on this cause this area needs to be improved on many websites.
Good tips, should be really handy on many websites. Make these points clear and it will make customers/users more willing to punch in their information.
Good trick to improve the gathering customer information like make form simple and easy to fill-up and send free newsletter about coupon and special offer.
This is one area I have to improve on. Other user their subscription emails to market their products only A bloggers/marketers are still obeying to this rules.
I have found that by simply putting a contact form and an auto response has helped tremendous, not only does it let them know that we got their message but it also gives them the turn around time on a response. We have been able to manage it quite well.
If you make an easy form to fill out they are more likely to sign up. For instance I work at a doctors office and our patients absolutely HATE filling oout our form because it takes so long to do. Offering a privacy policy is a great idea as well so they feel more comfortable about the situation.