Digital marketing client questionnaires are a powerful tool for understanding clients and developing effective marketing strategies.
They’re essential for laying a clear outline of client expectations, and provide a solid foundation for collaboration with agencies.
What is a digital marketing client questionnaire?
A digital marketing client questionnaire is simply a series of questions designed to better understand a client’s business, goals, and preferences in relation to digital marketing.
They typically cover various aspects such as the client’s business background, target audience, current marketing efforts, goals, and expectations.
Their purpose is to facilitate effective communication, align marketing strategies with client objectives, and establish a foundation for a successful digital marketing campaign.
Why conduct a client questionnaire?
Let’s get into some of the reasons you should conduct client questionnaires.
Establish a strong client-agency relationship
The questionnaire serves as the starting point for creating a connection, providing a platform for clear communication, and ensuring that the marketing strategy aligns seamlessly with the client’s vision.
Tailor strategies to client goals
Understanding your client’s business goals is pivotal to developing a tailored marketing strategy.
By gaining insights into their long-term objectives, marketing agencies can align their efforts to contribute meaningfully to the client’s growth.
Understand client expectations
They also allow clients to set expectations, and act as a permanent record of these for easy reference.
So, rather than contacting your client with a litany of questions, the account manager can reference these at any point throughout the campaign.
Key questions for a digital marketing client questionnaire
Below, we’ll go over the four key components of a digital marketing client questionnaire and some example questions to include.
Client information
Start with basic details such as the business information, point of contact within the client’s organization, and industry specifics.
- Who is the main point of contact for this business?
- What is your company mission?
- Who are the ideal customers for your business?
- When was your business established?
- What are your company values and beliefs?
- Who are your main competitors?
- Could you give an overview of your company history?
- What products or services does your business provide?
- What other team members should be consulted?
Goals and objectives
Delve into your client’s short-term and long-term goals, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that will measure the success of the marketing efforts.
This section is crucial for tailoring strategies to align with the client’s overarching objectives.
- What are your short term goals?
- What are your long term goals?
- What digital marketing activities do you want to focus on?
- Have you had experience with these activities in the past?
- What key performance indicators do you currently use to measure the success of campaigns?
- What is your budget for this project?
- Why did you choose us over our competitors?
- What is your timeline for this project?
Current marketing efforts
Evaluate the client’s existing marketing strategies, understanding both successes and challenges faced in previous campaigns.
This insight aids in refining current efforts, and highlight the gaps in their current strategy.
- What activities/ campaigns have worked for you in the past?
- What activities/ campaigns haven’t worked for you in the past?
- What digital marketing channels are you currently utilizing?
- How do people most commonly find your business online?
- What activity has the highest conversion rate for leads?
- What are your biggest challenges?
- What are your customers’ pain points?
- Please describe your current sales process.
Branding and unique selling proposition
Gain an understanding of the client’s brand identity and unique selling proposition. This information will influence the development of marketing campaigns that resonate with the target audience.
- What makes your business unique in the market?
- How would you describe the personality of your brand?
- Who is the decision maker in your department?
- What tone of voice do you use in marketing materials?
- What is your customer complaint process?
- Are there any brand guidelines or visuals that should be used in marketing materials?
- Please provide contact information for who we should contact if we have any questions about your branding.
Crafting effective questions for clients
We wanted to include some advice to help you write questions for client questionnaires.
Use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions
It’s important that you strike a good balance between open-ended and closed-ended questions.
Closed-ended questions provide a set list of answer options for clients to choose from, whilst open-ended questions allow for text-based responses.
Closed questions are easier to quantify, but open questions often provide much needed context for those selections.
Avoid industry jargon
Tailor questions to be easily understandable, avoiding unnecessary jargon or technical terms. This ensures that both the client and the marketing team can engage in a clear and meaningful dialogue.
Specify digital marketing channels
Write questions that refer to specific digital marketing channels such as social media, SEO, PPC, etc. This ensures that the gathered information is directly applicable to the chosen marketing strategy.
Whilst you’ll likely be in contact with the client before sharing the questionnaire, you have a wide range of options for sharing the questionnaire and collecting responses.
This will vary depending on the software you use, but if you create a survey with Shout you’ll have access to these distribution methods:
- URL: Share a simple URL link with clients.
- Email invitations: Craft bespoke email invitations for your questionnaire.
- Web embed: Embed the questionnaire on your website.
- Pop-ups & slideouts: Have your questionnaire pop up or slide out at the click of a button.
- Paper questionnaire: Print a paper version of your questionnaire and collect responses in person.
- Social Media: Share directly to your social media profiles, where your link is included in a post.
Wrapping up
A well-crafted Digital Marketing Client Questionnaire is a fantastic asset for digital marketing agencies seeking success.
By investing time in understanding your client, tailoring strategies to their goals, and fostering clear communication, you can forge lasting partnerships that drive results.
