Surveys are a great tool to help businesses find out more about their customers, and potential customers.
They often have a bad rap and can be more of a hinderance than a help – especially if they have been poorly created and if the outcome is poorly managed.
Check out our top tips below to enable your business to create and manage an online survey successfully.
Tip 1: Keep it Short and Sweet
The best surveys are short and sweet.
When creating your survey it is important to look at the questions you plan to ask and ask yourself the following…
- Do I already know the answer to this question? Perhaps in your website data or current sales data, if so, don’t waste the space.
- Are the questions easy to understand? Keep the language simple.
- Are the questions relevant to my business? Don’t waste a single question.
Tip 2: Ensure that Questions can be answered easily
No one wants to write an essay when completing a survey, so ensure that the questions are written in such a way that encourages a simple and quick response.
This means…
- avoiding open ended questions
- making use of multiple choice questions or offer a scale from 1 to 10 (clearly and consistently stating what 1 and 10 represent)
- if you are asking for feedback on specific parts or elements of your business, feel free to include relevant images or videos, these can help jog individuals memory and allow you to better explain what your question is referring to.
This also helps you when you are looking at the outcome from your survey, the more standard responses you have (such as yes/no, multi-choice answers, or a sliding scale) the easier it is to compare and contrast.
Tip 3: Avoid Jumping Around
Ensure that your survey flows.
Group topics together and/or keep the questions following the path that they would normally take when interacting with your business.
For example, if you were conducting an online survey about a supermarket, your first questions would be associated with parking/the entrance of the store. Subsequent questions would then follow the steps taken by a typical customer, and your survey would end with questions about their checkout experience and any after care conducted.
Tip 4: Place any personal questions at the end
If you require personal information for your survey – perhaps you wish to group responses by age bands or geographical location – then ensure you ask these questions at the end.
Individuals are less likely complete surveys that ask for personal information up front, whereas if the personal information is requested at the end of a survey they are more likely to supply and complete the survey as they have already invested time.
If you are offering any prize draws for those who have completed the surveys, ensure that you have provided space for relevant contact details to be collected and provide a date on which the prize draw closes and will be drawn.
Tip 5: Offer Reassurance
A short blurb at the start/end of any survey stating that any information shared is kept safe and only used by your business to improve your offering provides a reassurance that many individuals need/want.
We unfortunately live in a society where online scams are frequent, any reassurance you can offer is a positive element to any survey.
Tip 6: Consider the Look of the Survey
Don’t just focus on the questions, consider how the questions appear on screen.
Consider font size, colours used, and how it looks across laptops, tablets and mobiles.
Keeping to your branding scheme is a positive step you can take in promoting trust and offering the reassurance (mentioned above in top 5) that your survey is legit.
Tip 7: Test
Please test your survey.
Send the survey to colleagues, friends and family members before releasing your survey to the big wide world. It offers you a chance to check for spelling/grammar, but also allows you to ensure that your questions are easily understood.
Tip 8: Use the Data
Once your survey has been conducted, ensure that you look through the data that your survey has gathered.
Compare answers, drill down as much as you can, even cross check with sales and site data to give you a better overall picture.
Don’t carry out a survey if you have no intentions on using the data provided in a timely manner.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I use to create my survey?
There are lots of online survey makers that you can utilise to create your online survey - try some out for yourself using their free versions and see which one suits you, your business and the type of survey that you are hoping to run.
When should I send out a survey?
There is no set time to send out a survey, it depends on your business and industry.
Some businesses run surveys after every sale, giving customers a chance to let the business know how its doing every time they interact with the business.
Other businesses prefer to run their surveys at a specific time of the year, whilst others use surveys on an ad hoc basis to keep with any changes in the business and its offering.
Whatever works for you and your business is perfect.
Published: 16th Jan 2025