Conducting a survey poses a great way for businesses, or even researchers, to gain a lot of knowledge in a little amount of time. With the growth of online survey software, it has never been easier to create your own survey.
Creating a survey is an art that requires much thought before diving into it. There are several things to ask yourself to create the perfect survey for your target audience. Begin by asking yourself,
• “Why do I want to create a survey?”
• “What is my end goal?”
• “What am I hoping to gain?”
Whether you choose to do things the old fashion way or use survey software to create your unique survey, there are a few things to consider.
1. Use formatting. The use of formatting can increase the overall look and feel of a survey. Keeping similar questions grouped together keeps the survey logical. Include instructions, especially if there are multiple sections within your completed survey.
2. Be brief. Oftentimes, when someone sees a survey that appears too long, it deters them from completing it. No one wants to spend more than 10 minutes tops completing a survey, especially for free.
3. Define a clear goal. At the beginning of the survey address what you are looking to gain from the completion of the survey by your targeted audience.
4. Ease into the survey. Do not start with asking sensitive questions first, it often scares people into closing out the survey before they have had a chance to review it in its entirety.
5. Make the survey anonymous. People are more likely to be honest if no identifying information is attached to the survey.
6. Avoid yes/no questions. Instead, use questions that allow for answer choices like the following:
1. Extremely agree
2. Somewhat agree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Somewhat disagree
5. Extremely disagree
7. Consider an incentive. Your survey is more likely to be completed in its entirety if the person taking the survey knows they will receive an incentive in exchange. Consider rewarding each person who completes the survey with a coupon with a specified percentage off to be used within your business. 8. Pre-test the survey. Before sending a survey out to your entire list of the targeted audience, you should consider providing at least five associates, friends, or family members to walk through the survey. Pre-testing allows for you to catch mistakes and ensure it is a quality survey.
There are many advantages to creating and distributing a survey with the help of a survey tool. It is relatively inexpensive, especially when conducting an online or mobile survey. Companies are able to identify their clientele’s buying habits, such as in-store vs online. Surveys allow for feedback to be received on specific products, especially when releasing a new product. An online survey is also a great way to obtain feedback to improve customer service.
Overall, conducting survey research is a great way for businesses to improve in many aspects of the company, determine customer satisfaction, and build their clientele.
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