Survey Says… Top 2011 Priorities and Needs

We completed our 2011 “Needs Survey” this week. Now I want to share the key findings and takeaways with you.

This is important for several reasons:

It shows you what you and our other readers and customers like you value most in your businesses
It shows you where most people are struggling or frustrated in trying to get certain important jobs done to your satisfaction
This survey and results readout serves as an example you can follow and apply in your own business in a similar manner.

First, we asked you how Important vs. how Satisfied you are at getting the following jobs done in your business:

Launching Products
Discount Campaigns
Google AdWords Results
Online Sales Conversions
Landing Page Conversions
Developing Video Content
Persuasive Copywriting
Effective Storytelling
Writing Sales Letters
List Building
List Nurturing

Next, we have charted where each of these tasks fits in Importance vs. Satisfaction, as shown in the chart below.

This is interesting from several standpoints:

1) It helps us understand how important each of these areas are to you and identify “underserved” areas where there is pain and dissatisfaction, and

2) It shows you how to do this in your own market and business (using a simple survey like what we’ve used here).

(click to enlarge)

The chart plots the overall “Importance” (y-axis) vs. “Satisfaction” (x-axis), creating four quadrants.

The upper left quadrant represents the biggest opportunities for improvement and the items toward uppermost left are the areas which are “underserved”; that is, there are very important jobs to be done that aren’t getting done today to your satisfaction. Those items are represented by red stars.

The upper right quadrant represents the areas of your business where you are relatively satisfied with the results you’re getting overall, and you don’t generally consider these as problem areas – they’re pretty much under control already and don’t warrant much additional attention.

The items which you are most satisfied with are represented by green stars, while the areas where there is still room for improvement as shown as yellow stars.

The two quadrants below the line don’t matter, as they are “unimportant” to you. It’s interesting to note that all of these items are of some level of importance in your business.

Next, we asked you to list your top three priorities for the rest of 2010 and in 2011.

Here’s what you told us are your top priorities:

Building bigger lists
Figuring out what is wrong with your email response rates and fixing it
Converting more website visitors into sales
Tapping into and harnessing social media networks more effectively
Increasing awareness of your existing products in your marketplace

Next, we asked you to tell us what kind of products you would like to see from us at a given price point.

Here’s what you said you want most:

Software tools and utilities in the $99 to $199 price range
Online services for less than $100 per month
Video-based training with Real-world Examples

As a result, here are some of our key takeaways:

New Product Launch – we need to remain committed to and focused on your need to launch new products successfully and drive increased revenue from them
List Building & Nurturing – we need to provide simple, effective tools and tips to help you build bigger lists and develop your list relationships
Online Sales Conversions – we need to help you boost your online sales conversions so you generate increased sales and profits from your traffic.

So, now that we know for certain what YOUR priorities and needs are, these have become OUR priorities and needs as well.

Based on your guidance, we now have our “thinking caps” on…

We will be back in touch with some ideas on how we can best help you in the areas that have been pinpointed.

I highly recommend you survey your customers and audience in a similar (or other more appropriate) manner to ensure you know exactly where YOUR PRIORITIES and FOCUS needs to be in 2011.