Five tips to improving your surveys
A colleague recently asked me to for ways to improve a survey for one of their upcoming events. In need of a break between online courses and client work, I happily agreed to lend my expertise to her cause.
The questions were good and well thought out. My colleague was on the right track. However, I noticed a few glaring issues. If addressed, these edits would simplify and improve the audience’s experience and my colleague’s assistant wouldn’t have to spend hours wrangling the response information which will save both time and money. She was using Google forms, but these five tips can improve your survey regardless of the format (online software or paper)
I figured other people might have similar problems when they design their surveys. And, maybe they don’t have someone like me in their network, so I am sharing the guidance I gave my colleague.
Here are five ways to improve outcomes with your next survey:
1) What’s in a Name?
When collecting contact details, avoid asking for a Full Name. This typically results in an official name, but maybe not the info you need. If you are asking for names, make First & Last separate questions. Separate fields prevent your audience from shoulding, “Should I submit my Full name, including middle name or initial?, Should I enter my nickname in quotes?”
By the time they are shoulding, you’ve lost them. You’ve wasted their time, and they will probably not finish the survey. Also, if you know your audience well, they might respond with only their first name or a personal nickname. There is often more than one Jen and maybe more than one Kate.
2) Time after time
When asking for time frames or how long, pre-populate with options, so your audience doesn’t have to type everything out. A text field can result in the inconsistent and misspelled information, aka “dirty data”:
Using pre-populated options such as the multiple choice radial buttons mean you are not spending hours cleaning the data. The added bonus – your audience spends less time filling out the form, so there is a greater chance they will complete & submit their information. (Huzzah, improved response rates!)
You don’t need shelves and pretty bins, but you do need some organization in your next survey.
3) Your questions – let them be groupies
Group your survey questions the same way you might ask them in person or share them in a story. Ask all the contact information questions in one chunk, then your service questions in the next chunk, your situational questions in the next chunk, and so forth.
The organization and groupings help your audience stay focused, move quickly through your survey (aka improve response rate), and helps your analyst more promptly provide the answers you seek.
Set your project up with organization so everyone wins.
4) Redundant systems are essential; redundant questions are a pain
Your audience doesn’t want to answer the same variation of a question over and over again. They will get frustrated. If you ask for their position title, do not ask them their current position. This is repetitive and unnecessary.
While it seems straightforward, it isn’t. We often think we should ask as many questions as possible while we have people’s attention. Instead we need to be intentional and laser focused.
If you need to understand how many Vice Presidents are in Operations, consider asking two separate questions: 1) What is your title?, 2) What aspect of the business do you manage?
Here again, giving options and being specific avoid lots of variations and dirty data.
5) I never met a data like you before, I hope I’m talking categorically (sorry, “Charlies Angles: Full-Throttle” soundtrack ear worm)
When asking questions about categories, make sure they are on the same hierarchy. “What does she even mean?” you ask. Let’s use the example of shapes.
Perhaps you are asking, “Which shape category do you prefer?” and your categories look like question #2.
The question is general, but some of the answers are quite specific. With no clarity on why a general or specific is preferred, your audience becomes overwhelmed and disinterested.
To your audience, question #2 is not very clear. It is mixing types and categories. A rectangle is a square. Square is a category; a rectangle is a type of square. A triangle is a category; your favorite could be very specific like an isosceles obtuse triangle or a right triangle. Decide if your audience selects both, one or none, or they might decide to skip the question or leave the survey.
Bring clarity by instead, restructure your categories so they are in helpful categories and groups. It might look like question #3 instead.
I hope this helps in your survey-creating efforts, a good one is a win-win-win!
Remember, giving attention on how your questions are phrased, and the data are collected and managed will save you a lot of time and energy sorting through the responses.
Your audience will also appreciate it. You’ll also have a higher chance that more people will complete and submit their answers.
I want you to have the all the insights you need to grow.
Thinking of how your questions are phrased and how the data is collected and managed will save you a lot of time and energy sorting through the responses.
Work with me to create win-win-win situations in your business.
A good survey is a win-win-win.
Your audience wins because you didn’t waste their time and they will feel respected.
You and your analyst win because there is no additional time or effort to clean up dirty data or re-organize your data.
You win by offering well-written surveys that generate a greater response rate and clear evaluations.
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If you want to learn more about survey response rates, check out this article by Survey Monkey.