Whether you are running a small business or a large enterprise, online surveys can help you understand what (and how!) your customers think land surveying equipment.
An engaging and effective survey can help you understand the successes and challenges of your most significant initiatives. You don’t need to be a specialist or skilled in designing and distributing a compelling online survey.
In reality, many online surveys aren’t engaging, and many aren’t created with the participant in mind. This leads to higher drop-out rates and fewer results.
There are many articles and books written on survey research techniques. In case you don’t have time to become a guru, here are a few distilled best practices to consider when creating an attention-grabbing and engaging survey.
Keep it Short and Simple
Online surveys are a robust tool that can help you dig deep into the mind of your customer. However, participants are less likely to complete surveys that are too long or that bounce randomly from topic to topic. If you are surveying around a specific goal, keep your survey questions short and simple, limit the number of open-ended questions, and direct customers to a closing page with encouragement.
Also, with any online survey, it is an excellent idea to let respondents know the estimated length of the survey upfront or by a progress bar, so respondents have a better understanding of what they’re getting into and how far along they are.
Stay Relevant
Understanding your target audience is a crucial component of a well-designed survey. What’s relevant to you might not apply to your survey audience. So it’s essential to make sure you know your survey recipients.
Another way to be more relevant is to be more proactive by researching trending hashtags and topics related to your business, and then use them to craft your survey headline or survey questions that catch and engage your audience.
Prioritize Mobile
Mobile usage is undoubtedly higher than desktop usage. Americans spend 90% of their time on smartphones. The adoption of the mobile web is growing 10x faster than web adoption. This is why the most appealing surveys are mobile-friendly.
It’s an absolute must to ensure that your survey functions the same on mobile as it does on a desktop, as 23% of customer surveys are now completed on a mobile device.
A mobile-friendly survey that is responsive across all platforms boosts both participation and data quality.
Be More Inviting
Your survey is ready. What next? It’s time to craft an eye-catching and compelling survey invitation. Survey invitations intrigue participants to take the survey and increase the response rate.
Some points to remember:
- Use a simple email subject line that’s free of spam words to pass email filters.
- Let participants know why you chose them to take the survey and what’s in for them.
- Give a thorough explanation of the survey and what you will do with responses.
- Let participants know that the survey has a deadline to help achieve your goals.
- Inform participants about the survey’s estimated completion time so they can plan accordingly.
- If there are any perks of completing the survey, let the participants know in advance. This will act as a motivation and will encourage more responses.
Ensure Actionable Insights
It quite often that people aren’t asking the right type of questions. A questionnaire is only as valid as the asked questions. These questions need to be assessed quickly, and they need to deliver data that can be acted upon. That’s why you need to describe upfront what you want to know before you start your research. There’s nothing worse than conducting a project and gathering feedback from participants only to end up with useless data.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re sending online surveys to various audiences that might include your target audience, customers, employees, or any of the industry leaders, your goal is to get valuable and relevant data. To reach this goal, create compelling and engaging surveys that keep respondents engaged and looking forward to the next question.