Small Business - Using Polls and Surveys Effectively
As a small business owner, you don't have the resouces of a larger corporation and as such certain aspects of your business can suffer. For instance, your website may not be as interactive as it could be. You may not have the resources to have an interactive product display at your store. However, there are many free or nearly free resources out there that can help mitigate this.
Polls and surveys are a good way to not only enhance your business but make it better for your customers. For instance if you are a clothing retailer and want to know whether you should offer a particular new product, an easy way to get responses is to have a computer terminal connected to your website at the store and ask users to take a quick in-store online poll. Alternatively, have your website URL on your business cards and have the online poll survey linked to your website so customers can take the poll from home.
Before you start rolling your eyes thinking it is too costly or technical, remember that it's not necessary to learn html programming or hire a high priced expert. Many resources exist to affordably create an online poll. Resources such as www.Createforms.com have an easy to follow wizard to assist in creating affordable poll/surveys and you can typically have a poll up and running within minutes. Using a search engine is a good way to find these tools but remember also other small business owners are an invaluable resource too.
It's best to avoid the completely "free" poll building sites as they often result in polls with numerous banners and other advertisements which at the end of the day would turn off your customers. Paying as little as $5 can usually get you some nice banner-free polls.
So store displays and website interaction tools are available to everyone including the small business owner. It just takes some time to find these tools and some creativity to integrate them into your business.
