Market Survey: Put a Dot on It
My family and I recently took a trip to West Virginia. We stayed in a town with a population of less than 300. I could count the number of restaurants on both hands. But the town has become a destination for DC-area folks looking for an easy two-hour weekend escape.
When I visit small towns, I always love to see how local businesses engage with their customers. And this one impressed me. A lot.
Outside the Wardensville Garden Market, there was a whiteboard on a post. No app. No QR code. No survey software. Just a simple sign that read: "Market Survey: Put a Dot on It."
Where are you from? What brings you here? How did you hear about us? How often do you shop at our market? What are we missing?
Dots everywhere.
It was one of the most effective customer feedback tools I've seen, and it cost maybe $30 to build. For a nonprofit farm market in a town of 270 people, it was pulling real data on customer origins, purchase motivations, and product gaps. Visitors from Virginia Beach. Rhode Island. Frederick, MD. People driving 150+ miles.
And honestly, the format was half the reason it worked. A whiteboard with dots already on it practically dares you to add yours. Nobody wants to be the one who didn't.
But the real question isn't why people filled it out. It's what the Wardensville Garden Market does with it.
How do I think they’re using the data? That data showing where people are visiting from alone is gold. If a third of your dots are coming from 150+ miles away, you know you're not just serving locals. You're a destination. And that changes how you run the place. What products should we stock more of? What are people coming here for beyond produce? How do we reach more people in Frederick or Virginia Beach before they even leave home?
My hat’s off to Wardensville Garden Market, and I can’t wait to come back and spend more time there.
So, they get data. Do you?
A few common misconceptions on collecting customer feedback:
We’re too small!
Our customers tell us everything!
Google/Yelp got us covered!
It’s too expensive!
First off, you can't be too small to learn ways to better your business. I'd argue that for a small team, it's just as important to receive an outside perspective.
Next, your best regulars may be pretty open with you, but they're the ones intentionally choosing to visit regularly. It's not as likely that a first-time guest or someone visiting from out of town will feel comfortable sharing negative, or even positive, feedback about their experience.
Google/Yelp are great to review, and I'm proud that you're checking them out. However, public feedback can often be overly positive or negative. Surveys let you customize the feedback you receive to what actually matters for your business.
Too expensive? Perhaps we got the business model wrong, but our goal since 2017 has been to make taproom data accessible to help breweries see greater success. Our mystery shopping service pays for itself. For taprooms with just drinks, the average Secret Hop brings in $53. We offer visits at $50 each.
The average brewpub mystery shopper generates close to $85, and we offer those visits at $80. More importantly, you're getting the data to find areas of opportunity, reward and recognize your staff, or simply validate that you're doing a great job.
Ready to start collecting data? Here's how:
Free and low-tech:
Clipboard and paper survey at the bar, host stand, or tables
Whiteboard with dot stickers (the Wardensville Farmers Market approach)
QR code linking to a free Google Form
Low cost, more structured:
Email survey through your existing newsletter platform
Tablet at the bar with a simple one-page form
Point of sale prompts at checkout (i.e. “How did we do today?”
Most comprehensive:
Mystery shopping through Secret Hopper. Real guests, unbiased data, and it pays for itself.
You can collect all the data in the world, but if you're not using it, it's all for nothing. If a small-town farmers market sees the value of grassroots data collection, there's no excuse why you don't have it as a piece of your taproom toolkit.
If you found this article helpful, please share it with someone who’d also find value. Thank you for reading.
We’re the only mystery shopping company built exclusively for brewery taprooms and brewpubs. And we have a dataset of 10,000+ taproom visits that ties specific staff behaviors to measurable revenue outcomes.
