The secrets of customer research
The art of asking indirect questions
The art of asking indirect questions
Once I worked with a restaurant chain. Our goal was to help it get back to growth with a new strategy — the chain had been losing customers, revenue, and profit for several quarters in a row. When we only began working, I asked the team members how they collected any data concerning customers’ needs, desires, or impressions. They showed me a long questionnaire they used to inquire about customers’ opinions. It contained many questions (too many, to my mind), including the ones that seemed to me rather odd, such as follows:
1. Did you like the music in the restaurant?
2. Did you like the color of the walls?
3. Did you like the cleanness of the restrooms?
Maybe in some particular cases, answers to such questions can be valuable, but in general, customers rarely pay attention to such details as walls’ color or music — so long as it’s not too noisy. They either enjoy the atmosphere as a whole or not. They seldom break their enjoyment or disappointment down …