You bet there is!  One of the most powerful ways to "interact" with someone (online or off), is to ask their opinion —preferably on topics that are of importance to them.  If done properly, and on a regular basis, the payoffs can be huge.  Imagine interacting with your prospects and clients every month where they:

• Feel "heard" by you;
   
• Gladly give you feedback about what is important to them;
   
• Perceive you as the "expert".

The easiest way to pull off this marketing coup is through the use of well-designed online surveys.

Plan Before You Poll...

Before we discuss a very powerful tool that let you put up an online survey in just minutes, let's cover how to plan your survey for maximum results.

There are three keys to creating an interesting and compelling survey —one in which your e-mail farm will enthusiastically participate:

• Know your target respondents - choose survey topics or themes that are truly important to them.
   
• Craft your survey questions carefully - stay on topic, state them as clearly as possible, and create ones where the answers will be of great interest to the participants.  A good question to ask yourself when considering any survey question is "will any of the survey takers care?"
   
• Keep it short, simple, and easy - The Internet Empowered Consumer™ (IEC™) doesn't have time to sort through a long, complicated survey (online or otherwise).  Three to five questions is ideal.  And, a Web based "point, click, & type" format is the easiest way for them to respond. 

I find it's always best to first lay a survey out on paper, before actually building it.  Here are three simple steps to do just that:

STEP 1 - Establish the purpose of the survey (i.e. what you are trying to accomplish) and then give it a compelling name (i.e. one that is likely to peak a potential respondent's interest);

STEP 2 - List all the questions you intend to ask.  I typically use a personal brainstorming technique called "mind-mapping" to accomplish this task (click here to see an example);

STEP 3 - Determine the format and potential range of answers for each question (i.e. multiple choice, yes/no, essay, rating scale, etc. —click here to view the completed sample plan layout)

Once you have your survey all laid out, it's time to build it —and thanks to a service called Zoomerang, this is the easy (and fun) part!

Point, Click, & Type = Instant Survey

Of all the survey software and online services I've reviewed in the past several years, Zoomerang, (an application service provider), is my first choice.   It seems to be the easiest to use, and arguably creates the most professional looking online surveys as well —in just minutes!.

To see how our example survey above looks in Zoomerang, just click here.  This took all of 15 minutes to build and post to the Web!  The Zoomerang servers host your surveys for you, so there is nothing for you to upload.  Once you've created and launched your survey, Zoomerang will give you a special URL to link from your Web site and/or include in your e-mails.  This link will take respondents directly to the survey.

Zoomerang even lets you use their service for free —with limitations.  You are restricted to the extent of customization and branding you can apply to the look and feel of your surveys, and they will only stay up for 30 days.  If you are serious about using surveys as a major part of your online marketing (and you should be!), then I strongly suggest that you sign up for their Zpro service ($199/yr).  It allows you greater freedom for the look of your survey, indefinite storage on their servers, and the ability to share results with anyone you want (i.e. your e-mail farm).

With the Zpro-level service, you can also create a compelling "greetings" page that includes your picture and a personal message from you.  In addition, you (or your Webmaster) can apply simple HTML formatting tags to text within the greeting page and survey for even greater levels of customization.  To view one of my more recent surveys that is a good example of this, just click here  (and to view this survey's results, click here).

Now, just because you build a great survey doesn't mean people will take it —unless you give them a good reason.

If You Build It, They Will Respond (maybe...)

You can incentivize potential respondents to take your survey by offering a reward for participation.  For example, I pose a "challenge question" at the beginning of each of my monthly surveys sent to subscribers of my online ePOWER! News (see below).  The first person to e-mail me with the correct response wins a copy of my ePOWER! book.  This has proved very effective!  For your purposes, you might offer a free CMA or consultation on how to prepare a house for sale, etc. to the first person that e-mails you the answer to a real estate related question.

One last thing to note here: since these are, by definition, online surveys it is critical that you reassure respondents that their privacy will be protected.  Without this, don't expect many people to participate.

It Even Gets Better

It will probably take you three or four launched surveys before you get comfortable with using this extremely powerful business-building tool.  That's okay, be patient with yourself, it will come.  And when it does, it may open up opportunities you might not have imagined.

For example, the recent survey I conducted (mentioned earlier) garnered so much response and attention that I was interviewed by two major national real estate news organizations.  Publicity that is otherwise very difficult to get.  It's important to keep in mind here that it was the nature of the topic and how I worded the questions that caused so much stir —not the graphically pleasing look of the survey itself.  Similarly, if one of your survey's created strong response to a controversial topic, chances are your local newspaper will publish a story about it (and you), in their online and/or print edition —a credibility booster you just couldn't get for any price!

There are probably dozens of ways that you can use the power of online surveys to boost you business.  However, instead of me coming up with all the answers, I might, well... conduct a survey, and ask you for your thoughts!