Creating a successful survey can be a challenging task—especially if you’restarting from scratch. But whetheryou’re using a survey template or just winging it, there are certain design tips you should follow in order to maximize the potential of your survey project using any survey platform.
A well-designed survey can help you understand your customers, employees, or stakeholders’ opinions, attitudes, and behaviors, and ultimately improve your business strategy. In order to make sure you get the most accurate and insightful feedback possible, let’s look at the top ten tips for creating a successful survey that will generate meaningful results.
- Define Your Objectives
The first step in creating a successful survey is to define your objectives. You need to understand what you want to achieve with the survey and what insights you need to collect. Define the purpose of the survey, the target audience, and the kind of questions you want to ask. Having clear objectives will help you design a survey that meets your goals and generates useful insights.
- Keep It Short
One of the most critical factors in a successful survey is keeping it short. The longer the survey, the less likely people are to complete it. The ideal length of a survey is 5-10 minutes, so prioritize your questions and focus on the most critical ones. Ask yourself, “Will this question provide me with valuable information?” If the answer is no, consider removing it.
- Avoid Leading Questions
Leading questions can bias the responses and lead to inaccurate data. A leading question is one that suggests the answer or provides information that influences the response. For example, “Don’t you think our new product is great?” instead of “What do you think of our new product?” Avoid leading questions and stick to neutral, often open-ended questions that allow the respondents to express their opinions freely.
- Use Simple Language
Avoid using jargon or technical language that your audience may not understand. Use simple, clear language that is easy to read and comprehend. Make sure the questions are concise, and the response options are straightforward. Avoid using acronyms or abbreviations unless they are well known.
- Test Your Survey
Before launching your survey, test it with a small group of people to identify any issues with the survey’s design or questions. Incorporating a WordPress survey plugin can simplify the designing and testing process, making it easier to gather feedback and fine-tune your survey for optimal results.
- Offer Incentives
Incentives can increase the response rate and encourage people to complete the survey. Offer a reward, such as a discount or a chance to win a prize, to incentivize people to take the time to complete the survey. Make sure the incentive is relevant to your target audience and the survey’s purpose.
- Use Multiple Choice Questions
Multiple-choice questions are easy to answer and analyze, making them a popular choice for surveys. Use clear and concise response options and avoid overlapping or ambiguous choices (for example, don’t ask someone their age and include overlapping answer options like “18-24” and “24-30.”)Make sure the questions are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, meaning that all possible responses are covered.
- Use Rating Scales
Rating scales are a useful tool for measuring opinions, attitudes, and behaviors. They provide a quantitative measure of the respondent’s perception of a particular topic. Use a rating scale that is relevant to the question and provides enough granularity to capture meaningful differences. For example, a five-point scale that ranges from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” remains a pretty popular choice.
- Provide a Progress Indicator
A progress indicator can help keep respondents engaged and motivated to complete the survey. It lets the respondent know how much of the survey is leftand provides a sense of accomplishment as they progress through the questions. Make sure the progress indicator is clearly visible and easy to understand, as it will increase participation rates for your survey.
- Analyze and Act on the Results
Finally, once you have collected the survey data, analyze it thoroughly, and act on the insights. Use the results to identify areas for improvement, make informed decisions, and measure the effectiveness of your business strategy. Share the results with your stakeholders and use the findings to make data-backed decisions.
A powerful survey tool like Sogolytics can help you with every stage of the survey process, with easily customizable templates and design options, multichannel distributioncapabilities, advanced analytics, and reports that are easy to generate (and share!) With the right platform, it’s easier than ever to create a successful survey and reap insightful data.
