How to create a survey online that gets results
Top tips to create a survey online
- What is your objective
Decide what you want and why you want to create a survey in the first place. Have a clear objective as to what information you want to get from the results.
Do you want to know what they think of an existing product? Do you want to know what they love about you so you can use this in your future marketing message? Do you want to know what frustrations clients have so you can look to add a new product or service to help them?
- Who is your target audience
Know exactly who you want to the answers from. In other words, who is your target audience. There is no point getting teenage girls to answer a survey about anti ageing products.
Identify your target market clearly and in your opening statement make it clear to only complete if they fit the mix.
If you are a woman over 40 who cares about her appearance and would like to keep your skin as youthful as possible for a long as possible, please complete my survey and be in with a chance of winning a sample pack of my new product
- Let your audience know how much time the survey will take.
If they know it will only take 2 minutes, then tell them. If it is going to take them 15 minutes, let them know and tell them to go grab a coffee. There is nothing more frustrating than getting to question 6 with no idea of how many more questions there are and how long it is going to take. Many people (including myself) will simply give up if they think it is going to take too long so set expectations at the beginning.
- Give an incentive
You are asking people to give up their valuable time so incentivise them to help you out. When you create a survey, offer a prize draw to win one of your products or a complimentary session if you sell a service. Everyone loves to think they are in with a chance of winning and if you have targeted your audience correctly, they are going to want what you are offering.
- Keep in short and sweet
Leading on from point number 3, short surveys get the best response unless there is a golden incentive for giving up longer periods of life to complete more in-depth ones. I always try to stick to 10 questions maximum as this is enough to glean the information I want and to not overwhelm the respondent.
- Keep it simple
Keep questions as simple as possible. Don’t overwhelm respondents by asking them to describe in detail a situation/feeling/opinion. This is going to take them time and thought which may put them off. If you have one area that you really would like to know more about, leave it until the end. Have the simple questions that they can get through quickly at the beginning and keep anything more detailed for last.
For simple questions, use multiple choice or checklists.
- Don’t use closed questions
Closed questions give a yes or no answer so should be used sparingly. Asking someone ‘Do you love our products’ is closed and can only be answered with a yes or no which doesn’t really give you any valuable information.
Ask open questions such as ‘What do you love most about our product/service?’ followed by another question of ‘what one thing could we do to improve our product/service?’. This will give you much better insight into vital information to help your business.
- Gather email addresses
Ask people to give their email address and by offering an incentive as in point 3, this is an easy way to get them to hand it over. However, don’t make it compulsory. The survey is to gain you valuable information and insight for your business and you don’t want to lose people who aren’t willing to give up this information.
You can then add survey respondents to your mailing list or send them a personal message to offer help with a specific problem that they have highlighted in their answers.
- Have a cut-off date
Don’t let the survey run forever. Have a clear cut-off date to collate and analyse answers, and of course, for the competition winner to be decided and announced.
- Promote!
Post your survey wherever you can. Send to your mailing list, post the link in social media groups, send to existing and past clients and all of your prospects.
So there you have it. My top tips to create a survey online that gets results.
If you create a survey that you would like me to share for you, simply come on over to my Facebook group and I will be more than happy to help.
