Surveys do more than simply gather information; they also play a significant role in boosting sales, improving customer satisfaction, and fostering brand loyalty. However, many businesses struggle to implement effective strategies for collecting and utilizing survey data.
UGC (User-Generated Content) tools, which have been gaining attention recently, are equipped with features that can effectively support both the collection and utilization of survey data.
In this article, we will explain the benefits of using UGC tools for survey collection and provide specific examples of how to utilize them.
1. What is the significance of survey research?
— The Purpose of Surveys
The primary purpose of conducting surveys is to gather information that serves as the foundation for marketing activities, such as:
✔︎ Identifying needs through market research
✔︎ Improving
customer satisfaction ✔︎ Gathering feedback to improve products and services
—Authentic Customer Voices Create New Selling Points
Surveys are essential for understanding the “value customers need right now.” Analyzing survey results provides insights that directly lead to product and service improvements, enabling the development of strategies that drive sales growth.
—Integrated survey collection using UGC tools
UGC tools are not just for collecting and displaying reviews. Depending on the tool, you can embed surveys into review request emails, which can be leveraged for marketing initiatives.
By collecting surveys at the same time as reviews, you can naturally gather feedback from customers.
Furthermore, by displaying survey results by category, they can serve as comparison and consideration material for other customers when selecting products.
Click here for more details on UGC tools
2. Utilizing Surveys for Product Development and Service Improvement
—Clarifying and Sharing Customer Needs
When conducting surveys, isn’t the primary goal for many companies to understand customers’ candid opinions and needs regarding their products and services?
By sharing the feedback collected through surveys within the company and making improvements, you can not only enhance the quality of your products and services but also increase customer satisfaction.
— Boosting Customer Loyalty
After implementing product or service improvements, customers who feel that “their opinions were taken into account” are more likely to develop a deeper attachment to the brand. As a result, customer loyalty increases, leading to higher repeat purchase rates and an expanded base of brand advocates.
—Key Points for Effective Survey Design
To ensure more efficient and effective product and service improvements, particular attention must be paid to the content of the survey. Careful consideration is required in various aspects, such as the survey’s purpose, target audience, timing, and method of administration, as well as the design of the question formats.
For example, when setting the question format, it is necessary to choose options that are easy for respondents to answer—such as multiple-choice questions that allow for quick responses or open-ended questions to capture more detailed needs—ensuring that respondents can answer easily while the company obtains the information it seeks.
3. Improving Targeting Accuracy
In marketing, the key to improving targeting accuracy lies in the repeated process of hypothesis testing.
—Utilizing it to Redefine Personas (*1)
Targeting is an essential process when implementing marketing strategies. By using surveys to investigate whether the target audience aligns with the initial hypothesis, analysis becomes possible.
By analyzing the age groups, genders, and purchasing motivations of customers who responded to the survey by category, you can verify whether there are any "discrepancies" from the original target profile. If a "discrepancy" arises in the hypothesis, it should be reviewed to build more precise targeting strategies.
*1 Here, the term is used in the marketing context to refer to a “fictional customer profile that uses a product or service.”
—Implementation of Effective Marketing Strategies
Once the target audience is clearly defined, marketing strategies can be implemented—such as adjusting advertising approaches and sales promotion channels to focus on those with actual demand—thereby maximizing advertising effectiveness.
4. Strengthening Advertising Initiatives
—Utilizing Persona-Based Retargeting
It is important to launch targeted advertising campaigns aimed at personas who have responded to surveys more frequently, while also considering retargeting ads and campaigns.
Since customer segments with a high number of survey responses and review submissions are presumed to have a greater interest in the brand compared to other customers, you can retarget them with ads featuring recommended products tailored specifically to this group.
Additionally, distributing discount coupons exclusively to this customer segment can help increase purchase rates and repeat business.
[Key Points for Retargeting]
✔︎ Customized product recommendations ✔︎
Exclusive offers and coupon distribution
—Enhance ad messaging with insights from surveys
The key here is to carefully craft your messaging. By referencing phrases that appeared frequently in survey responses or including concise explanations of the benefits of using the product or service, you can significantly boost the appeal of your ads.
[Key Points for Strengthening Your Message]
✔︎ Incorporate frequently mentioned keywords into your ad copy
✔︎ Clearly articulate the benefits of using your product or service
5. Reducing Return Costs
—Reducing Returns by Alleviating Pre-Purchase Anxiety
By incorporating the information provided in the survey into your UGC tool as reviews, customers can check other customers’ real-world experiences and evaluations before making a purchase.
Since customers can learn about the actual user experience before purchasing, the "discrepancy" they feel upon receiving the product is minimized, resulting in fewer returns.
For brands, this reduces return costs; for customers, it minimizes failed purchasing experiences, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased trust in the brand.
—Example of survey collection in the apparel industry
✔︎ Age ✔︎ Fit ✔︎
Gender ✔︎ Warmth ✔︎
Height ✔︎ Usual Size ✔︎
Body Type ✔︎ Size
Purchased ✔︎ Thickness ✔︎ Occasion of Use
In the apparel industry, creating categories such as fit, usual size, and height makes it easier for customers to reference opinions from people with similar attributes, thereby reducing the workload associated with returns caused by incorrect sizing or discrepancies between the product and the customer’s expectations.
Click here for apparel industry survey examples
—Example of survey data collection in the food industry
✔︎Age Group ✔︎Ease of Drinking
✔︎Gender ✔︎Ease
of Eating✔︎Number of Purchases ✔︎Satisfaction✔︎Likes
and Dislikes
✔︎Smell ✔︎Purchase Purpose
✔︎Packaging✔︎Recommendation
In the food industry, creating categories such as packaging—which is a hygiene concern—and purchase purposes like gift-giving makes it easier to visualize actual usage scenarios, thereby alleviating concerns among new customers.
Click here for food industry survey examples
—Example of survey data collection in the beauty industry
✔︎Age Group ✔︎Skin
Concerns ✔︎Gender ✔︎Duration of
Use✔︎Skin Type
✔︎Satisfaction✔︎Recommendation Level
✔︎Reason for Trying✔︎Perceived Effectiveness ✔︎Usage Scenarios
In the beauty industry, creating categories such as skin type and skin concerns makes it possible to display reviews and survey results from the customer’s perspective, making it easier for customers to select products based on their specific skin concerns.
Click here for survey examples in the beauty industry
Summary: Turning Surveys into Results
In this article, we’ve introduced key strategies—including the use of UGC tools—to connect survey data with increased sales.
Surveys are not merely a means of data collection; they are a vital tool for gaining insights that determine the success or failure of your marketing efforts.
The UGC tool “U-KOMI” allows you to collect custom questions—or surveys—at the same time as reviews, improving response rates and streamlining data utilization. Make effective use of surveys to drive sales growth in various areas, such as product improvement, advertising optimization, and reducing returns.
U-KOMI is a UGC (User-Generated Content) tool designed to collect and utilize customer feedback. By using this tool, you can not only display reviews beautifully on your e-commerce site and leverage Instagram content to improve conversion rates (CVR), but also utilize reviews—a valuable source of real-time information—through built-in features.
Furthermore, U-KOMI incorporates an AI feature called U-KOMI AI. U-KOMI AI is a suite of smart AI functions that performs sentiment analysis, keyword extraction, AI score calculation, and automated replies for reviews.
From customer support to service and product improvements, it takes your marketing to the next level.
Click here for more details on U-KOMI AI
Why not consider implementing survey initiatives using UGC tools?
View a list of UGC use cases here: https://u-komi.com/jirei
Download materials here: https://u-komi.com/
Contact U-KOMI here: https://u-komi.com/contact/