Client Survey Results

I ran a client survey last month, and had a fantastic 70% response rate.  I have shared the findings below.

This has been a brilliant activity for Hexagon in three ways:

• I’ve got a better understanding of what people think of Hexagon, how they perceive their website, the on-going pressures they face with maintaining it, and more.  It’s still nowhere near a perfect understanding, but it’s a good start.
• It’s been a great prompt for discussion with clients about how we can further work together to improve web ROI.
• I’ve had some lovely feedback from people.  And it’s always nice to feel you are hitting the right buttons for people (see last section of this post)!

Want to know more about writing and conducting an online survey?  Leave a comment below, or contact me.

So here goes….


1.  Websites work

85% of people who responded say that their website has helped them generate business.  As that’s my main motivator when creating websites for businesses, I think this is fantastic (ok, so I’d love that figure to be 100%, but it’s not bad going so far!)


If your website is not working for you, it’s not good enough – contact me!


73% of people who responded believe that their website has paid for itself.  Again, that’s fantastic, as forking out for a new website is not an insignificant investment.

From a Hexagon point of view, this is also very interesting, as I believe there is so much more that can be done in this field.  That figure of 73% is without any formal on-going input from me as regards SEO, content creation, marketing, etc.  Imagine what could be achieved with some on-going hand-holding!!  See also the next point…


2.  Time, time, time.  Oh, and did I mention time?!

This was the response of one of my clients to the question ‘Do you feel you use your website to its full potential?  If no, what is the biggest blocker in your way?’

Only 27% of respondents feel they use their website to its full potential.  It doesn’t surprise me.  To be honest, in reality, the figure is probably even lower – because the web has such huge potential!

The biggest blocker, by far, was time.  Again, this was as expected – simply judging from the comments I hear from my clients on a day-to-day basis.

From a Hexagon point of view, my job now is to work out how I can help people with this problem.  For some people, this will be offering strategic, on-going web management, minimising the time constraint as much as possible and working with them to get things done.

For others, where the cost of an on-going solution is too prohibitive, it will be about generating tools & advice to help people:

a)  Decide whether it’s worth investing time in their website

b)  Know what they should be doing in the time they do invest

c)  Plan ahead, scheduling regular time for ‘webwork’ & measuring results

Watch this space for more on this in the coming year.


3.  It’s a personal business

I asked people to list their 3 main motivators for choosing Hexagon.  By far the most important were Personality (69%), Design Style (69%) & Recommendation (63%).
Looking at these figures, it struck me once more how personal this is.  So don’t always believe it when people say you need to be appear big and grand to succeed.  I have listed below what works for me – not just when working with business start-ups, but also for established, well-respected firms:


• Being responsive & caring about each client
• Being down to earth & friendly and willing to impart professional knowledge in an easy-to-digest manner
• Saying what you will do and doing what you say.  On time.

I can’t emphasise this last point enough.  From what I hear & see, saying what you will do and doing what you say, on time, is a rare quality.  This is sad, and I wish it were different.  Nonetheless, it is also your opportunity to differentiate yourself from the masses.


4.  I have some very nice clients

I asked people to describe the service they receive, and whether they are happy with their website.  Here are ALL the comments I received to this question:


• Very happy with my website. Brilliant service. Always friendly, patient and efficient.
• Really excellent. For us, with our limited understanding of the technology, Sarah’s expertise – and her patience with us – is vitally important to our business…..
• Fab, Great, an Excellent experience, More than happy
• Professional, reliable and accessible, with attention to personal service. Sarah delivered exactly what she said she would, on time and to budget. Very happy with the website.
• Very happy with my website. I was wondering whether it would be possible to receive quarterly google ratings etc. so that I know how my site is doing? If not, would you be willing to explain how to get this info myself? My last “web person” Martin used to update me regularly therefore I never bothered to find out how to go about it
• Very happy with the website and very positive feedback from customers regarding it.
• The service is very personal and response time to enquiries very prompt as well as professional. I have received many compliments about my website and yes I am very happy
• Excellent, very happy with all aspects – including second opinion on writing style!
• Very happy with website and the service
• Professional, efficient, ‘user friendly’ for a non techie, innovative
• Excellent. reliable, highly professional, friendly and technically very sound.
• Superb! Efficient, pleasant, professional, responsive, understands our needs. Works as a business partner, i.e. not a mere contractor but committed to our success.
• Very good accessable and reliable
• Very good and yes very happy
• Excellent service – rapid response
• Excellent! Definately happy with our web sites. So pleased we heard about your services
• Excellent, we receive a lot of positive comments from customers!
• very happy with the service we have received. We are happy with our website.
• Service – professional, delivered excellent initial ideas and accommodated changes; time keeping excellent. Competitive rates. Very happy with final product.
• Excellent
• Excellent
• Yes. Very happy. One or two grammar errors which we missed were put right quickly.
• great design & support
• Excellent service and very pleased with the website
• excellent
• Truly delighted with website. Excellent service. You were very good at pinpointing and articulating what we are about and what we are good at, our USPs. Then you designed a clean & clear website around it. You did everything when you said you were going to, and made sure I did our bit on time too.

Thank you everyone!