In the Marketing Science article“The Impact of Survey Participation on Subsequent Customer Behavior: An Empirical Investigation” a causal link is made between customers satisfaction surveys and an increase in an organisations revenue.

The findings from this research are important because they suggest that survey-based marketing research projects do not simply incur costs for the sake of gaining insights into customer perceptions as is conventionally believed, but they may also bring in additional revenues through such avenues as increased sales, reduced customer defection, and other positive behaviors by the respondents.

The research found that that customers who completed a customer satisfaction survey were more likely to become more engaged customers and more responsive to a firms promotional materials. It would seem then that the traditional marketing view of the marketing research as a cost centre may be misplaced as customer satisfaction surveys appear to have a key role in the generation of revenue.

The authors acknowledge the recent concerns that have been raised over the growing resistance of consumers to participation in commercial surveys yet found that, for the satisfaction surveys studied customers did not appear to be so negatively disposed, at least as reflected by their subsequent behaviors.

It is likely that organisations that conduct regular customer satisfaction surveys may already be aware of these additional benefits and this research presents an opportunity to refine their survey process. For those organisations that do not currently survey their customers the findings provide some sound financial justification. Not only will you retain your customers, they will buy more from you.