#5 Questions to Ask Your Customers to Gather InsightMake a feedback form and build the practice of surveying some of your customers every month

Consumers today are a community of web-savvy, mobile-enabled data sifters who seize upon on whichever site or store offers the best deal. Brand loyalty is gradually becoming an alien idea. Responding to this, businesses have ramped up their messaging tools for getting more interaction and information from the consumers, which they feel will improve the odds of holding on to these fact-distracted and disloyal customers.

Many times start-up owners have no idea what their competitive advantage is until they hear it right from the horses' mouths — their happy customers!! Seeking feedback is also a great way to get better and plug gaps. I can tell you that if you're not receiving a large amount of your business by way of referral or word of mouth, you've probably got some gaps in your processes.

The crux lies in the questions you ask, as vague answers like "you provide good service" might be true and good to hear, you can't work with that. You need them to define good service and come up with some specific instances when they felt they got good service.

Below are five questions, which when asked to your customers can provide a great matter to ruminate on what's truly important for you.

What Made you Hire us/Buy from Us?

Make a feedback form and build the practice of surveying some of your customers every month. They are rewarded with tremendous insight and the added advantage is the familiarity with customers, who enjoy being asked what they think.

According toAnand Rajendran,CEO ofCasperon Technologies (P) Ltd.this is an excellent fundamental query for your marketing. "It can reveal how successfully your advertising, message and lead conversion routes are working. I also know about customers discussing personal links or culture that felt right while answering this question," he elaborated.

2. What's One Thing We do Better than Others?

By asking this question one seeks to discover the thing that one can work on as a true differentiator. "This is possibly the hardest question to frame in order to get specific answers. You need to look for expressions and real-time experiences that keep coming up, no matter how trivial they may appear to you. When your customers are elucidating on what they value about your business, you may make that the crux of your marketing message," he added.

3. What Could we do to Create a Better Experience for You?

On the facade, this could be perceived as a service enhancement question, and it may also be one. However, the true nugget in this question is when your customers can make out an innovation. "At times, business owners carry on with their age-old ways before a customer shares something like, "If only I got it like this' and suddenly the ways to create a meaningful innovation to your products, services and processes, get glaringly clear," sharedManavjeet Singh,CEO and Founder ofRubique,a fin-tech startup.

4. Do You Refer us to Other, why?

Now is the turn to ask the ultimate question of approval and a truthful response will indicate your customers' fondness for your product and their rewarding experience of getting the products you make. Singh feels it is important for new and fledgling businesses to take this a step further and start comprehending the reasons for getting the referrals and discover the exact expressions a customer would make use of when telling a friend why your company is the best.

5. What Would youGoogleto Find a Business like Ours?

In order to be super-efficient at being found on the digital space, all over the world or in your locality and region, you must know all you can about the definite words and phrases your customers type on their devises while looking for businesses like yours. According toAsit Biswas,Founder ofHelp Tourism, a company promoting community-led cultural tourism, the dichotomy is that the companies optimize the websites around jargons and technical expressions while in reality people look up for simple stuffs like "Ways to make my life better'.

Biswas is a big enthusiast of strategic partnerships and business networking. He suggested that entrepreneurs get in the habit of asking their customer –"What other companies do you love to refer?" "Once you get the feedback, start creating a record of the top ten companies, folks you should be in strategic relationships with," he quipped.