Focus on a Goal
Survey the Right Number of People
Craft Your Invitation
Order Questions Logically
Write Objective Questions
Shorten the Survey
Close the Feedback Loop
Focus on a Goal
Be precise about what information you need to gather and what you plan on doing with it. A narrow goal will help you to simplify the survey.
Survey the Right Number of People
Some might consider a “census approach” to surveying, attempting to gather feedback from 100% of the population. Others take a “sampling approach”. If you are thinking of taking a census approach with your survey, consider:
- The census approach works best for populations under 1,000 individuals
- It may require you to utilize incentives to boost response to the appropriate level
- Make sure you invite all respondents
- Use reminders and deadlines to ensure highest response rates among your population
A sampling approach may be more effective for populations over 1,000 individuals. This allows you to obtain information on particular subgroups. If you are going to take the sampling approach, be mindful of the number of responses required to get a solid indication of how the target population overall would respond to your questions. To ensure good sampling, make sure your selection of population is as random as possible.
Craft Your Invitation
It is critical that your invitation is designed to minimize the likelihood of being flagged as spam. Avoid spam-filter trigger words (“Free, “$”, “act now”). Use a compelling subject line, such as “Help us improve our products” and send from an individual person’s e-mail address as opposed to a general corporate e-mail address.
Once someone clicks on the invitation, you have less than eight seconds to make a good first impression. Tell recipients what you want them to do as soon as possible in the invitation. Let them know how long the survey will be.
Consider using a combination of incentives and deadlines to gain rapid response. For example, “The first 100 people to submit a completed survey by May 31 will receive….” You can limit your financial liability by putting a cap on the number of incentives offered. A deadline creates sense of urgency, and relevant incentives motivate invitees.
Order Questions Logically
Begin with screening questions. These questions will ensure you are surveying a good candidate. After your screening questions, open-ended questions are a good next step. Capture their views in their own words before biasing them with your later questions.
When you get to general questions, use them as the basis for branching off into specific questions dependent upon how they respond. This requires using skip patterns.
After specific questions, you can delve into demographics. Use demographic questions to profile respondents. This will enable you to cross-tabulate and compare subgroups. Place these near the end of the survey as they are tedious and intrusive.
Finally, ask for any final comments about any aspect of the survey or its topic. Ask for permission to follow-up with them about their answers, and prompt them if they have an issue they want to be contacted about.
Write Objective Questions
Poorly worded questions will lead to suspect results and erroneous conclusions. Respondents should not be able to determine where you stand on any topic, so use nonjudgmental wording and choose neutral terms. Don’t ask leading questions such as “What do you like about your service?” but instead ask, “What, if anything, do you like…?”
Shorten the Survey
The shorter the survey, the better the response rate. To simplify surveys, remove questions that don’t directly address the goal of the survey. And ask only the most important questions. A common research tactic is to have three similar questions on a similar topic; just use one.
Close the Feedback Loop
Your respondents contribute because they value their relationship with you and they want to see you improve. Explain what you’re using the data for and share your data with the relevant communities. Identify actions you’re taking as a result of survey. Consider using web seminars, video conferences and meetings to share data. Use this approach to stimulate additional participation and ongoing feedback.
