Want to know what your customers are thinking? Ask them.

Google’s new survey tool offers brokers the opportunity to ask timely questions, gauge client satisfaction, track brand perception, measure marketing campaigns, and more.

Here’s how it works: Google has a network of online publishers, such as news or entertainment websites, that enable survey questions to be embedded into articles. Readers are asked to answer the questions in exchange for access to the content. Hone your survey audience by specifying geographic locations (based on IP address) or other demographics or by using a survey-screening question. The cost to you is 10 cents per completed survey. In return, Google compiles the data in the form of graphs with clickable demographic segments. You can also export the data for use in your own business-tracking programs.

It may sound like a fairly random sample, but Google can place your surveys on sites visited by people who have also visited your real estate website via cookie list retargeting. Also, you can embed a survey directly on your own real estate website.

Google’s Opinion Rewards mobile app is another option, which is available through the Google Play Store. Survey takers provide some basic demographics, and then they take surveys in exchange for Play Store credits.

Here are three examples of the types of survey that might help you with your business goals:

1. Market trends: Learn what buyers in your market want in a home or what motivates sellers to move. For example, ask potential sellers how soon they plan to move or why they want to sell. Do they need more space or less? Where is their desired location? Do they want a newer home with energy efficiencies?

2. Timely questions: Trying to figure out where to spend your online advertising dollars this quarter? Ask buyers where they shop for homes online, and then segment the data by age, gender, location, and other groupings to get a better picture of your target market.

3. Hear from your customers: Rather than surveying potential clients with embedded surveys on other sites or through Google’s Opinion Rewards, you can create a survey to gather feedback from your current customers. Embed a client satisfaction survey directly on your website and e-mail the survey link to clients after closing. Collect feedback on how your agents’ customer service skills fared. Find out why the customer chose to work with your agent or how they learned about your brokerage in the first place. Find out their level of satisfaction with the transaction. Ensure that your agents were responsive to clients’ needs. Default questions are available for free, and customized questions are 1 cent per survey completed by customers.

If you have another type of survey in mind, Google also offers fully customized survey options you can use to collect data from your clients, sphere, or market.