How to get Better Results from Online Surveys

Online surveys can provide a tremendous amount of value to a business when used properly. Gaining critical customer insights can help increase engagement and conversions when you are able to truly get honest feedback, but that frankness is a hurdle many surveys aren’t able to overcome. So how can you get better results from online surveys? As one of the top web development companies, we have valuable knowledge and information that can help you maximize the results of your next survey which we are happy to share.

The Importance of Surveys

Gaining marketing insights about your target audience is invaluable. One of the best ways to do this is by creating surveys that will provide information you need to make better business decisions. That, in turn, will result in better customer interaction and increase conversions.

Specifically, there are four reasons why surveys are a great research tool:

• Providing answers – Understanding motivations, obtaining customer opinions, and getting honest feedback are all things you can learn from a well-crafted, private survey. Why do 35% of your customers abandon their cart and never come back?
• Create discussions – A good survey does more than just answer questions; they can also start a dialogue. Surveys that use open-ended questions with space for users to input hundreds of characters in their answer are opening the door for true, honest feedback which can then get a dialogue started either with future surveys or on social media.
• Allows information-based decisions – Rather than making decisions based on feelings or impressions, you can gather data to make decisions based on the analyzed results of your surveys. Skip the guesswork and wasted time on unimportant areas and instead focus time and energy on the important aspects costing you money.
• Provides a baseline of information – When you use surveys regularly, they become like running analytics. You have a baseline of information to work with and then can compare how changes in your process are viewed and then look at results over time to ensure you are on a continual path for success.

Tips for Crafting Better Online Surveys

Here are our top tips for crafting better surveys:

• Define your goals – Anytime you send out a survey there should be a clear objective in mind. Why are you creating this? What information are you focusing on? Are you curious if people like specific new products? Do you want to know where the biggest problems are in your checkout process? Keep asking why until you have a clear and concise goal for the survey. That way you will end up with a more focused and ultimately useful document.
• Aim for your demographic – It is important to aim for your specific demographic rather than the one-size-fits all method. Part of your goals should be defining the audience you want to learn about. Then you can tailor your survey to them which leads to better results. Knowing your audience is always a key to success.
• Consider your timing – Just like posting on social media there are proven times that result in more responses. Overall the middle of the week is a prime opportunity with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday getting the best results. Mornings and late in the afternoon are the best times to target which coincides with the general work schedule and boredom that occurs during those periods. However, you can mix this up if your research indicates your demographic has different employment habits, are highly mobile, etc. College students, for example, are most likely in class or sleeping in the morning and not very likely to complete a survey.
• Keep it short – Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter which means adapting if you want the best results. We do this by keeping the survey short and sweet, which is possible with a clear goal. If your survey takes more than five minutes it is unlikely people will want to complete it unless they are earning a reward. Even shorter is better because you can include that information up front. “This survey only takes 2 minutes” is a great way to help get people to engage.
• Use a good background image – Surveys don’t need to be boring! Spice things up with an engaging background image or at the very least your business logo. A good image can help showcase your brand without distracting from the questions.
• Focus on readability – Any survey should be easily read which means being aware of contrast, brightness, images, font, and how easy it is to navigate and skim. One of the easiest ways to ensure people won’t complete a survey is by making it even the slightest bit difficult to read.
• Mobile optimized – A poor mobile survey greatly decreases the chances of completion and since over 40% of all surveys are now taken using a smartphone or other mobile device it makes sense as to why you would spend time ensuring yours is optimized for mobile.
• Test it – Your surveys should be tested even if that just means asking another department to try them out. It is important to get feedback from other people, which can aid in that last round of edits and adjustments.

The Bottom Line

Businesses spend a lot of time and money on everything from website design to brand development. Rather than wasting any of that effort with guesswork or gut feelings about upcoming marketing, aspects of your conversion funnel, your products, and services, or even your checkout process, it makes a lot of sense to use online surveys to help gather data.

This article on how to get better results from online surveys provides a nice list of proven techniques that will help increase your survey completions. That, in turn, will provide you with more concrete information to then use for data-driven solutions that can increase conversions and profitability!

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