When you ask for feedback from your clients is often more important than what you ask your clients in the field of marketing.

When you ask at point of sale: People will rationalize why they decided to get your product or service because ego is involved. They say it was what they needed, that you were the best or the best price. All of which is hardly true because it's likely they didn't fully study all of your competitors and know everything about them - they instead made the best decision they could make, with the information and time that they had. However, this leads to responses that seem good on the surface but don't really provide insight on what brought them to you in the first place.

Now, when you ask someone at point of contact - things change.

Point of contact finds why they were drawn to your business rather than a rationalization of what they bought it afterwards. You are starting at the point of attention rather than a point of rationalization.

You will find that the responses you get begin to change - because you are starting the feedback closer to their true reality.

Customer insights should be focused on the customer's actual reality rather then post rationalizations and pleasing people.