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Improve survey effectiveness - easy to implement strategies that don't require a war chest

Research is a serious business. Get it right and you’ll target the right audiences, develop winning products and services and keep well ahead of your competitors. Get it wrong and you risk alienating your customers and setting your business on a course that could damage your future position in the market.Carefully crafted research programmes are an effective way to uncover ‘truths’ that your business, but sometimes, even the simple, humble survey can reveal unexpected and valuable insights that will help you identify a solution that will be of value to your customers …. provided it’s constructed well.

We’ve all been at the receiving end of poorly constructed surveys that require too much time and energy to complete. Even if your subject matter is interesting (favourite wines for example!) you risk losing interest with your customer if you present them with a 20 page survey.

Here are some tips and ideas for ensuring your next survey provides the insight you need, in a way that keeps your respondent positive about the experience.

1. Be clear about the survey’s purpose. If you want to find out if your customers are satisfied with your service ask them. Don’t introduce irrelevant questions unless you’re sure what you’re going to do with the data.

2. Test it first. Once you’ve sent your survey to your audience, it’s too late to change those spelling mistakes, change the order of questions or make any other changes that you retrospectively wish you’d included.

3. Give them a reason to respond. Show your appreciation by giving them an appropriate incentive.

4. Keep it short and simple. Don’t use jargon, acronyms, clichés or catchphrases. If it takes more than 10 minutes to complete on line or a maximum of 20 minutes on the phone, it’s probably too long. Time is the most common complaint amongst people who have agreed to participate in surveys.

5. Make it logical. Make sure the questions follow a logical sequence. Start with broad, important questions first.

6. Carefully construct your questions. There’s no point asking for a yes / no response if a more open ended question would reveal better information.

7. Be consistent. If you use the scale 1 to 5 and 5 is high. Keep this pattern through the rest of the survey.

8. For online surveys, ensure you have a privacy policy. If you are collecting personal, demographic data ensure you have a privacy policy in place and visible. Gather demographics at the end of your survey.

9. Remind people. Give people plenty of time to complete the survey, set a deadline and send a personalised reminder a few days before

10. Share the results. If they’ve given you their time to complete the survey, let them know the outcomes and how the information will be used.

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