Most readers will be aware that it’s important to build a client database in order to market products to your prospects; but did you know there’s another reason to start doing this as soon as possible?

You’ll see below how valuable surveying your database can be to your business and how it can help to shape product development and future marketing campaigns.

Sales Database Building

Have you gathered a few hundred email addresses on your database, from an opt-in campaign? That’s pretty good going and will serve you well in the future – don’t stop growing it.

But are these entries in your database mere email addresses or can you say you know these people? I bet you can only say that you know a few of them from email correspondence, right?

Well the first step to using your database smartly is run a survey or two.

Get insights from your clients by using SurveyMonkey.

Database Surveys

The point is that you can’t run an effective marketing campaign without knowing WHO you’re marketing to.

Ok, so you know these people have an interest in your market because they opted in to get your free report or online video.
Beyond that, you probably know very little.

My Trading Example

My trading software business used this approach very successfully once we had built a large database.

Before doing a major product launch we sent out a survey and received over 800 responses, allowing us to build a fairly clear picture of who made up our audience, what their main issues were and what trading products they were interested in.

Q: How valuable is this type of information to a business?

A: It’s pure gold!

The types of questions we asked them concerned what they would like to learn more about with trading, what type of products they most value (choosing from a list of potential products), questions about whether they were day traders, short, long term or part-time traders, whether they prefer to receive information by online video, DVD, report format and so on.

Having found this information we were able to create sales pages with headlines and texts aimed directly at what they were after; it also helped us package and market future products better.

Increased Sales Conversion

The other benefit of this is that the customers feel they have contributed to designing the product so you may get an added sense of “buy in” and commitment from some. Again – how important is that to your sales conversions?

And all this has cost you next to nothing except time; you can set up a survey very easily with a free service like SurveyMonkey.

Marketing to a client database is one thing; but marketing to a database where you know what the people want is much better and will more effectively tailor and target your marketing approaches.

More great marketing tips for your new online business are available in the Competition Crusher workshop. You can watch it for free by clicking here .