Though it may seem challenging, developing an online survey is actually quite easy. If executed properly, the survey will provide you with incredibly useful information about your business, customers, and areas that may need improvement.
What are you looking to learn?
Be specific in your goals. Narrow down your ideas from the grandiose to the practical, achievable and most importantly, the information that you need to very most. If you hedge about including a specific topic, then shelve it for a future survey. Remember: this isn't the first and last survey you'll ever conduct (we hope not).
Putting all of your eggs in a single basket will dilute your data and you'll come away with information that's unusable.
Whom are you asking to fill out your survey?
If you're thinking of answering, "Well, everyone," then stop, and take a minute to consider this: depending on the targeted information you're after, then you need a targeted customer base to ask.
Especially if this online survey is the first one you're doing or the first one you're doing in a while, then it's best to limit those that you ask.
Consider these targeted groups:
- In-store customers
- Email marketing recipients
- SMS (text message) marketing recipients
- Fax marketing recipients
- Only recent customers
- Anyone who visits your website
By going after everyone who is in touch with your company, you'll be swamped with data, and it'll take you longer to compile the data and act on it.
More tips
Winning Online Survey Design Tips
