How Client Perception Research Can Help You Build a Stronger Brand

Benefits of Client Perception Research

We all know that satisfied clients are the lifeblood of a successful business. But are you always aware when they are dissatisfied? According to a HubSpot article, one in three customers will leave a brand they love after just one bad experience. Keeping a pulse on your clients’ sentiments about your team, offerings, and overall brand can provide an early warning system.

Some additional benefits to checking in regularly with your clients include:

• Identifying the specific areas that matter to them so you can focus business efforts where they will have the most impact.
• Uncovering trends to understand where you continue to meet or exceed expectations and areas that require attention.
• Demonstrating that you value your client’s business by continuously striving to enhance their experience.
• Building a genuine relationship with your clients and enhancing brand loyalty.

Ways to Conduct Client Perception Research

There are multiple ways to conduct customer perception research, each with its own pros and cons. Using multiple methods allows you to dig deeper and identify common themes. We find that the greatest insights result from pairing qualitative with quantitative research.

Whatever methodology is used, engaging a third-party consultant to conduct the research is a best practice, especially one that understands your industry. These professionals are skilled in planning, conducting and analyzing the information to provide valuable insights for your unique needs. Even with long-term relationships, there may be things a client feels more comfortable expressing to a third party, or questions may be asked that typically don’t come up in the normal course of business.

1. Online Surveys

Online surveys allow you to receive feedback from a large audience quickly and provide a high-level group consensus. To maximize your surveys, provide a mix of question types, including a few open-ended questions. Additionally, having the option for clients to write in additional thoughts allows for a deeper explanation of their responses and helps you gain additional perspectives.

2. One-to-One Interviews

One-to-one interviews, a type of qualitative research, offer a deeper dive into individual client opinions. These sessions allow for a more thorough exploration of your client’s thoughts and feelings and provide an opportunity to ask follow-up questions. By conducting these interviews with a variety of clients, you can collect a wide range of valuable feedback over time. Additionally, checking in with the same client periodically can also provide insight into how the relationship has changed over time. Elements like team member changes, mergers and acquisitions, shifts in offerings, or emerging competitors may impact the relationship over time.

3. Focus Groups

Focus groups are another option for bringing together a subset of your customers, or potential customers, and engaging them in open-ended discussions. This creates an environment where clients can share their experiences with your brand and relate to others who may have had similar interactions.

What Questions to Ask

Regardless of which research methodology you choose, it’s always important to include a selection of open-ended questions. This allows your client to explain their sentiments in a more detailed way. You’ll also want to avoid leading questions, which can generate biased answers, and only ask one question at a time to limit any confusion for the client. Asking questions that remove the opportunity for a client to elaborate gives your business very little information to work from. You can’t improve when the only feedback you have is a yes or a no without a clear understanding of why someone feels the way they do. Constructive feedback is the key to improvement.

Also, you’ll want to formulate questions specific to the user. This shows you’ve done your homework and respect their time investment. When conducting in-person research, active listening is a critical skill. This enables you to pick up on subtleties and ask an appropriate clarifying or follow-up question rather than stick to a script and risk missing an important nuance.

Which Clients to Interview

In an ideal state, you should be surveying all your clients. The best way to keep a steady pulse on how people feel about your brand is to check in with clients at various stages of engagement with your firm. Include a mix of different client types, such as long-term clients, customers who may be working with your team for the first time, those who engaged with your firm for only one or two projects, and even prospects who selected a different partner. Each group will give you a unique perspective that can impact different parts of your organization.

Elevate Your Clients’ Experiences by Tuning into Their Sentiments

Client perception research is the best way to understand how your brand is viewed and the customer experience you provide. Real client feedback gives you more valuable information to work from and is a great starting point for identifying areas of improvement within your organization. Elevate your clients’ experiences by focusing on what they have to share. By conducting client research, you’ll uncover what makes your firm unique, potential areas of improvement, and, overall, how to best serve client needs.