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The internet can provide anonymity, which makes it the ideal setting to ask customers what they really think about your business, product, or services. Online surveys can reveal customers’ true feelings, as well as enabling them to share ideas with you in a safe and comfortable environment. Inside the Box Marketing explains how to use surveys as part of your business strategy.
Before starting your chosen research, you should form a clear picture of the outcome you are looking for. Do you need feedback? Is the information you are looking for of general nature or does it need to be specific? Do you have a certain audience in mind or will you be sending out to the general public? The answers to these questions will help you decide how to target your survey.
There are a variety of questions that can be used on a survey: open questions, closed questions, matrix table questions, single or multi-response questions. Most participants prefer short multiple-choice questions. When putting together the questions keep the language simple and avoid ambiguity.
The great thing with online surveys is there are many ways to invite people to participate – this can help determine the best way to contact them. You could email your current database, post the surveys to pages on your company social media sites, or design an advert banner that could be displayed on other websites to click through.
We recommend that each survey is assigned a unique code – this makes sure participants only take the survey once. This is particularly useful if an incentive is being offered to take part.
Online surveys gather data instantly, enabling you to start your analysing straight away, and with participants directly inputting their own answers. There is also zero chance of the information being incorrect.
Finally, you need to create a report to explain your findings. A successful survey will provide the answers to the questions you had about your business, product or service. Using online survey tools enables you to make visual representations of the data by presenting the results in spreadsheets, tables and graphs.
The process for conducting an online survey can be easy and inexpensive, and for most businesses they can achieve their needs with a simple and short online surveys that target a specific group of customers.
On average, the timespan needed to complete an online survey project is two-thirds shorter than that of traditional research methods, and we also know from experience, that more than half of responses are received within the first three days from the start of the project.
Research costs are also considerably reduced, saving money on printing and postage. Online surveys tend to more accurate with participants entering data directly.
Most people now have access to the internet and prefer to answer surveys online instead of using the telephone – choosing a time that suits them.
An online survey is a fantastic way of promoting brands and remind participants the benefits of using your business. Designing your survey so it is styled to look like your business website, with customised backgrounds, images, logo, fonts, is an opportunity to imprint your brand in the minds of the participants.