Introduction

Miles
Burke Most of us spend our waking hours working for clients -- and assuming that we understand precisely what they're hoping for. Could we be at fault, though, for not asking the right questions?

In this issue, we discuss post-project interviewing and surveys. These are great tools for finding out what went well and what went wrong with a recently completed project.

We'll start by discussing the topic of client feedback, before jumping into the SitePoint web site to uncover articles on similar topics in the archives. Then, let's look at a few statistics from the SitePoint Tribune Readers' Survey -- do you know who your fellow readers are?

We'll also look at using web-based survey tools, which offer a fantastic low-cost method for gaining data -- although nothing's nearly as personal as a face-to-face interview.

Want to see the latest in web-based image editing tools? We'll uncover a fantastic resource, available right now for free.

Enjoy the reading!

Miles Burke
tribune@sitepoint.com

What do you want your web site to do?

Ektron CMS400.NET lets you do everything you need to do on the Web and do everything you want to do. Use Ektron CMS400.NET to:

Manage content & documents
Develop with the new Ektron CMS400 SDK
Build portals with online personalization
Track Web site visitors with site analytics
Notify visitors with subscriptions & Web alerts
Build online communities with blogs, forums, & memberships
Build compliant sites with built in 508/W3C compliance & broken link checker

Want more? Click here and download a FREE TRIAL now

Summary

Introduction
Editor's Perspective: Ask Your Customers for Success!
The SitePoint Archives: Asking for Feedback
Tribune Reader Survey: Results
Surveys on the Web
Latest Tutorials
Hot Discussions
New Blogs

Editor's Perspective

Ask Your Customers the Hard Questions

Here's a question for you. When your last project finished, what was the final communication the client received from you? Was it a bottle of wine and card, a "Thanks for the work, call me if you need anything," or just an invoice in the mail?

It seems to be very common for us designers, developers, freelancers, and businesses to be keen to talk at the start of a project, but shy to speak at the end.

What we really need to do at the completion stage of projects is to thank the client for their business, and then ask them some hard questions.

Why do I say hard? Well, maybe it's the human condition, but we as service providers don't like to imagine that clients are ever anything but absolutely impressed with our work -- but I have to tell you, the truth is that they often aren't.

Think back to the last time you were out for a meal. When you paid, the waitperson probably asked you about your experience. In answer to "How was everything?", you probably mumbled something like, "It was good, thanks" -- even if you didn't feel that way.

Why? Few of us like confrontation. We don't like to give neutral or negative feedback (unless it's within the relative anonymity of an online auction web site!) and we don't like receiving it, either.

However, feedback is very important to us, as individuals and as businesses, in order to grow and improve -- even if that does mean we open our ears to possibly negative feedback as well.

The next time a project wraps up, consider emailing your client a link to an online survey. I have found people are far more willing to be honest completing a form instead of speaking directly to you.

Ask them what they liked most about the project -- and then ask them what they liked least. You really do want to know. It could be something really simple that you or your firm is doing over and over, with every project, assuming clients like it when in fact they don't. This habit or process could be holding you back from success!

In my business, we've been seeking feedback in this way for a few years now. We get some great feedback, both positive and negative, which helps us tune our processes and our services to better suit the next customer. We've had some really crazy input, too -- for example, our coffees were too strong, or we were so good that the client was going to miss our weekly meetings!

There are countless survey software systems available (see below for a handful of them), many of which have a free plan. Alternatively, it's a trivial matter to whip up your own web-to-email form. The trick is to avoid asking questions that are too leading: "Did you find our design team very enthusiastic?", or that allow for only yes or no answers -- keep questions open. Keep the form brief, too -- if it goes on for pages and pages, clients will be hesitant to complete it.

The next important step is to act on the feedback. It may warrant a call or meeting with the customer for further details, or speaking to team members (or yourself) if there was something amiss. And remember to give praise where it's due -- we all enjoy a pat on the back from time to time!

The SitePoint Archives

Asking for Feedback

Andrew Neitlich suggests asking a colleague to telephone interview your clients, in his blog post entitled A Quick Way to Improve Client Relationships and Your Own Capabilities. Andrew followed this post a week later with Surveying Clients Part II.

Recently, Matthew Magain spoke to Daniel Burka from popular web site, Digg, about user interaction design. Daniel touches on user surveys in general (and why he believes they're skewed) in Digg's Designer Divulges Design Details.

Matthew Magain has his own history of surveys, too -- he recently collated just under 5,000 responses to the 2008 SitePoint Reader Survey, and wrote about the results in Interpreting the Results of the 2008 SitePoint Reader Survey Part 1. Matthew followed up with a second post, Part 2: Content.

Fellow Tribune Editor, Brendon Sinclair, also believes in the face-to-face project closure meeting with clients; in his article Learn to Love Complaining Clients, he suggests that we ask clients to complain.

Tech Alert :: Geeks love WebHostingBuzz!

Maintaining a website can be both fun and sometimes frustrating especially if the web host does not catch up to your needs. The owners behind WebHostingBuzz have experienced it all.

We have been there and done it. We know what YOU want when it comes to running a script oriented website. We know what YOU want when it comes to value for your web hosting dollars. We host over 150,000 domains across the globe. Surely we can host yours!

Host unlimited websites under one account. Get a free domain name for life, tons of web space and transfer for only $40 per year.

Tribune Reader Survey

Some Interesting Results

Further on the subject of asking your customers what they want, we recently tested our own advice with our Reader Survey.

Thanks again to everyone who completed the survey -- I've been reading through the results and collating some really interesting responses and suggestions, which I'm very pleased with.

One of the biggest themes I identified behind your answers, however, was a general fear that we were planning some huge changes here at the Tribune. We want you to know that this couldn't be further from the truth! The idea was to capture what you like about the current format, and to make sure we're giving what our readers want.

The volume of positive answers would suggest that we are achieving this, which is great news for the team!

I hope to share some of the statistics and responses that we received with you over the next few issues, and here's something interesting to begin with -- 48% of respondents described their role as being Designer/Developer, with the next group being Manager at 15%; the three next roles in line were Developer, Designer, and Other, all being a few percent behind that. Salesperson was way down at 1%.

Furthermore, readership of the Tribune is certainly international, with respondents stating they live in an amazing 80 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe!

Surveys on the Web

Online survey applications have exploded in the last few years, with a plethora of options now available to you. Most of these are SAAS (software as a service) based solutions, which will host the survey for you.

Alternatively, you can find commercial or open-source scripts that perform similar functions -- although normally these aren't anywhere near as advanced as are the hosted surveys.

Most survey systems allow you free control over the design, and have easy WYSIWYG editors to design the survey, with many also offering a range of templates to choose from.

The best part, though, is the reporting -- some of the systems I've used have beautifully rendered charts and deep detail, all there for you to see at the click of a button (and real-time too!).

Here are just five of the many survey systems that you can find online:

SurveyMonkey has a 100 responses limited free account, or a $200 per year premium account.
eSurveysPro has a few plans, and offer a free version as well as an annual $200 premium account.
Zoomerang also has a free 100 response limited account as well as several plans, the most pricey of which is $599 per year.
SurveyGizmo has four different plans available, from free through to $159 a month.
QuestionPro have a variety of plans, from free (two surveys, unlimited responses) right up to $499 a month.

How Smart Are You? It's Quiz Time!

Test yourself on the contents of our latest Adobe AIR article, and grab yourself a copy of the pocket guide, Adobe AIR For JavaScript Developers, in both print and PDF format. The dead-tree versions are only available for the first 100 people, so get in quick!

Download Flex Builder 3 and get started now.

Here’s hoping you've enjoyed this edition of the SitePoint Tribune, and thank you for reading.

I hope you have a great week ahead, and look forward to the next edition!

Miles Burke
tribune@sitepoint.com
Editor, SitePoint Tribune

PS: Brendon Sinclair and his son completed their great across-Australia bike ride last Friday (10 October) -- congratulations to Brendon and Jack on an excellent achievement!

SitePoint tribune

Introduction

What do you want your web site to do?