Simon here…
We wanted to share the results from our 2021 Summit Brand Survey, which has been an incredible experience! Thank you to everyone of you who took 5 minutes to complete it. As they say, time is our greatest asset, so we want you to know how grateful we are. You’ll know this is the first time since our inception as a UK ski goggle brand in 2010-2011 that we’ve asked you to complete a survey, which quite frankly is bonkers. We now realise it’s something we should have been doing every year and is now something that is firmly locked in the diary. The reason we haven’t in the past is partly as we thought you’d see it as a little boring. I’m sure we all groan a little when a ‘What did you think of us?’ or ‘How Did We Do?’ survey lands in our inbox and generally we only respond if the service/product has been exceptional, or on the odd occasion, poor. In our case, there’s areas of improvement, which should be the case, but overall the positive responses from this survey have made me personally feel all warm and fuzzy and have really justified some of the hard grind from the past 10 years.
The reality is, this information is essential, not only from a service and product quality point of view, but also to see which product(s) our loyal client base would love and which way we should turn next. After a little persuasion from a very good friend, Beth, who’s a marketing whizz, we decided to take the plunge. Thanks to Beth we now have a much clearer picture of who loves, supports and champions our beautiful family brand.
The following survey was sent to just short of 5000 people who’ve purchased from us over the past 5 years, which is how long our new website has been live. We’ve analysed the results and I’ve shared some thoughts on each result below.
Once again, thanks for your input, we can’t thank you enough!
Simon
Question 1
Please rate the quality of product(s) you received from us?
Technology is always evolving and we're incredibly proud to say that the ski goggles we've released have always been right at the forefront, not just in the UK, but across the globe!
Summit - One of the first brands in the world to produce a completely frameless ski goggle (Xpose I) and also one of the first to produce a magnetic lens change system (Evolve, Xpose II, and Talisman). We'll always be proud of that.
Question 2
How would you rate the quality of the service?
Being a small British family run brand, the one thing we're able to do is offer the personal service that's often lost with large corporate brands. There have been times where our service has unfortunately become diluted, solely due to us spinning too many plates. We'd always had a huge ambition to be stocked in hundreds of retailers across Europe and for a while we were, 148 at one point. Looking after 140+ shops, plus our direct sales became a huge amount of work, so to see this star rating for service is very pleasing.
Question 3
Please rate the quality of our packaging?
We've always tried to make our packaging as attractive as the physical product. Opening the box for the first time is part of the experience and when your Summit ski goggles arrive, we want you to know and feel that you've made the right choice.
Fun fact (or not so fun for us), the current pandemic has caused a shortage in cardboard - yes really!
Question 4
Did you enjoy using our website?
After your feedback we've started working on the website, in particular our product pages, it's got a long way to go but we'll endeavour to provide you with the perfect user experience. Websites need to be updated regularly with consistent and relevant content. This new content boosts Google rankings and also makes us more interesting as a brand. At the moment we're doing ok, but if there's one thing we need to improve, it's our social media content and our website. Living in the sunny UK and not in the mountains will always make this difficult, not to mention our budget constraints.
Question 5
Please rate your overall shopping experience?
Question 6
Would you recommend Summit to your friends?
Thank you, this means an incredible amount, 98.8% of you would and do recommend us to your friends and family. It's what you strive for as a brand and something we're hoping to leverage for the good, more on this further down.
Question 7
What additional products you would like us to produce?
More feedback that's jolted us back into action. This feedback reinforces what we should have released years ago - Ski Helmets, Sports/Active Sunglasses and lifestyle sunglasses.
Over the past 4 years we've finished ski helmets, sunglasses, duck down jackets and gloves. For too long we've deprived you of these amazing products and the only reason we have, is due to lack finances. It costs tens of thousands of pounds to release one new product and to get it wrong could pop us in a bit of bother.
So far we've played it safe and stuck to what we know, but with your help we can make this happen. Watch this space...
Question 8
What would motivate you to promote Summit?
Who doesn't enjoy being rewarded financially?! It's great to see that you'd like your friends taken care of too, what a lovely bunch! This is a no brainer for us as a brand and something we're going to implement as soon as possible. It'll hopefully help us reach new audiences, whilst sharing our awesome products and rewarding you in the process. We've researched and found a couple of ways in which we can do this. It'll be via a 'Refer a Friend' scheme, in which you'll receive a partial refund if your friend joins us, plus your friend will get a discount too... it's a win for all involved!
Question 9
How often do you shop for snow sports equipment?
Question 10
When making a purchase, what is most important to you (Please rank in order, with 1 being most important)
Question 11
When shopping for sporting goods, where do you look for inspiration?
This is an interesting one and really highlights how incredibly brand loyal we all are, as over 60% of us visit our trusted brands before going elsewhere.
Question 12
What age band do you fall in to?
Again this information is critical to us as a brand and is something that really plays a huge part in the products we release and the colours we release them in. Over 50% of our existing client base is over the age of 45 and 70% are over the age of 35. We're of the opinion that when you get to this age range, you recognise and appreciate good value for money. As a group, we're happy to pay a little more for a high quality product and we tend to avoid products that are too cheap. Experience has taught us 'buy cheap, buy twice'. For those under the 35, we can only imagine you've learnt this lesson early, and/or you've had some very wise parents!
Question 13
What is your gender?
Question 14
What other sports activities do you take part in regularly?
What a fit and healthy bunch! It's no surprise that skiing and snowboarding tops the list, with hiking and gym/fitness following closely behind. We're very pleased to see road cycling coming in 4th, with over 40% of you taking part regularly! Combining this information with our age demographic it really highlights that a number of us like to pull the lycra on once we hit a certain age, myself included - haha!
Question 15
How frequently do you go skiing or snowboarding?
Incredible stats resulting from this question, with an overwhelming amount lucky enough to visit the mountains at least once per year. Combining this information with the results from the next question, it really paints a picture of the kind of person who trusts Summit as a brand. Very experienced skiers and snowboarders, who either have a wealth of experience accumulated over a number of years, or who have trained as professional instructors and in some cases, both!
Question 16
What level are you currently at?
Question 17
What do you prefer to see in your social media feeds?
Question 18
Finally, is there anything you'd like to add? Ways that we can improve...
Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave some very lovely feedback here and also to those who were beautifully constructive too. There is always room for improvement and you have my word, that if there's an area that we can improve a product and the technology is available to us, we'll make it happen.
To those who've left lovely well wishes, thank you! Building Summit has been a very steep learning curve and I can count on more than one occasion where we've felt completely out of our depth, but that's where the growth happens, right?
Ultimately Summit wouldn't be what it is without you all and although we're clinging on for dear life at the moment, I promise to bring you new products in the not too distant future.
See you on the mountain soon,
Simon
