When was the last time you asked your job board customers what they want? Not just a one-off question to a few clients – but an systematic, organized survey of everyone who uses your site? Employers and job seekers?

A recurrent theme in the ‘job boards are dying’ blog posts that I see is a feeling by recruiters, employers, and job seekers that the ‘big boards’ are out of touch. In other words, they don’t know what their customers want. Now, I’m guessing that they would argue with this assumption. I have no doubt that they survey their customers regularly. But the second half of a survey is communicating back to your customers: “Here’s what you told us – and here’s what we’re going to do.” In other words, tell your customers that their opinions do, in fact, matter.

Asking your customers what they want is also a good counterbalance to complacency and ‘business as usual’. You may think you know your customers inside out (and perhaps you do!), but a good survey can sometimes reveal gaps between what you think and what really is. Personally, I like discovering those gaps – I see them as opportunities to improve the site and grow revenue.

So if you’re not surveying your employers and job seekers regularly, start – you’ll uncover some great potential for improving customer retention and increasing sales. And if you are surveying, make sure you complete the important second step of telling your customers that you heard them – and what you’re going to do about it.