What are the Top 14 Tips to Create a Good Survey Online? Creating a successful survey project begins with a good design. Whether you’re using a template or starting from scratch, there are certain boxes you should check to ensure that your survey is intuitive, easy to take, and likely to complete.
Here are the articles to explain, Top 14 Tips to Create a Good Survey Online
In this piece, we’ll provide some invaluable advice on how best to design and distribute your surveys. Follow these tips to ensure that your next survey project is a total success.
Establish the survey’s purpose and parameters upfront
It’s important to craft a good introduction page for your survey, to keep participants engaged and willing to complete the whole thing. Make sure your intro page clearly and concisely explains the purpose of the survey—and also clarifies that the survey is confidential and that the survey respondent’s personal information will not misuse or sold to third-party buyers. It’s also a good idea to inform the respondent how long it typically takes to complete the survey. And let them know if they’ll be able to save their progress and complete the survey later.
Include a survey progress bar and a “save and continue” option
Another way to reassure participants is to include a progress bar. Which shows them how much of the survey is still left to complete. If they can see that they’ll finish soon, they’re less likely to quit early. If it’s not a short survey, add a “save and continue” button. So that they can save their progress and then finish the survey later. Sogolytics surveys include both of these features, both of which encourage greater participation.
Use the appropriate question types
The type of survey you’re conducting should determine the type of questions you ask. If you already have some information about the respondent, you might use a short survey composed only of a few close-ended questions—like sending a brief CSAT survey after an interaction with a long-time customer. However, when you’re trying to dig a little deeper, you will likely need to write a longer survey that contains more open-ended questions. Which allows the participant to elaborate on their responses.
Keep the questions simple
Easily understandable questions increase participation. Use multiple-choice questions—and don’t include too many answer options. Customer satisfaction surveys and net promoter scores are also simple, straightforward ways for customers to rate your business.
Keep the language simple, too
Along those lines, make sure that the way you word your questions is easily comprehensible. Don’t use flowery words, overlong sentences, or technical jargon, which could potentially overwhelm your respondent. Use ordinary, everyday words that all audiences can understand. If you need help simplifying your speech, try hemingwayapp.com. Which gives you a “readability” score and suggests ways to further simplify your language.
Avoid asking leading questions
Your language doesn’t just need to be simple—it also needs to be impartial. You don’t want to accidentally bias your respondent. For example, you wouldn’t want to word a question like, “Which of our product features do you love the most?”. This question assumes that the respondent loves multiple product features—which may not be the case!
Avoid asking double-barreled questions
Another common mistake that you should be careful to avoid is asking double-barreled questions. A double-barreled question asks two questions at once. For example, “how much do price and quality factor into your purchasing decisions?”. That should be two separate questions, one about price and one about quality.
Make your rating scales consistent
If you use multiple rating scale questions, make sure that the scales remain consistent. For example, don’t use a 0-5 rating scale of “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied” and then switch to a 0-3 scale of “bad” to “good.” Changing the range of scales—or changing the values, so that a 5 is positive for some and negative for others—will confuse survey participants and could lead to inaccurate data.
Arrange questions in a way that makes sense
A well-designed survey should have a natural flow. Group questions that cover the same areas, rather than mixing them all up. You can even create separate sections, which gives your survey a more organized, professional feel.
Use skip logic
A great way to save participants some time is by using skip logic to ensure they’re only presented with relevant questions. Skip logic is a feature on platforms like Sogolytics which changes the questions or pages that a survey participant sees based on how they respond. For example, you might ask a customer whether or not they’ve used a new product feature—if they say “yes,”. They’ll be asked some questions about the feature, but if they answer “no,” they’ll skip ahead to the next section of the survey.
Test out the survey
Even if you follow all of the above tips, there may be a mistake in your survey that you overlooked. Test the survey by sending it out to a group of colleagues who will check to make sure that the questions are well-written and typo-free, and that the survey logic is working correctly.
Distribute the survey in a way that makes sense
Choose a survey distribution method that makes the most sense for your audience. Oftentimes, the option that makes the most sense is distributing your survey via email. But in other cases, you may wish to create a link to the survey that you can share through a variety of channels. Sogolytics even allows you to create a QR code link to surveys, which can be put on printed materials, such as posters, flyers, pamphlets, and more.
Send some reminders to participants who haven’t completed the survey
Most online survey participants complete their survey within the first few days, but there are always some stragglers who fall behind. Be sure to email them reminders that encourage them to complete the survey. You don’t want to be overly aggressive or spammy, but some gentle, periodic reminders can boost your response rate.
Incentivize completing surveys
Struggling with participation rates? Maybe you need to sweeten the pot. If you offer incentives for completing your surveys, you’ll likely reap more responses. Oftentimes, companies will offer participants a special discount, coupon, gift, or another reward if they complete a customer survey.
In conclusion
Creating online a good survey is a crucial step in gathering valuable information for decision-making. By following the top 14 tips outlined in this blog, you can ensure that your survey is well-designed, easy to understand, and results in high-quality responses. These tips include determining the survey’s objectives, using clear and simple language, choosing the right type of questions, testing your survey, and much more.
By considering these key factors, you can create a survey that accurately reflects your needs and provides the insights you need to make informed decisions.
