How to Conduct A Survey That Gets Results ?
Looking for a way to conduct a survey? But don’t know how to start ?
This blog is all about that to help you get started for conducting a simpler survey in a beginner friendly manner. Let’s get into the topic !
Image Source: GoZen Forms
Before that let’s know some interesting facts about the survey.
Surveys in Ancient Times
Surveying has been an essential element for the development of the human environment for so many decades and centuries,that we have often forgotten its importance in the long run of our busy lives.
It is quite probable that surveying had its origin in ancient Egypt. The Great Pyramid’s complete details and uniqueness noted by the surveyors that day affirms us that the ancient Egyptians are the best in surveying.
Surveys on Recent times
Today the surveying is not done with that much difficulty but made very easy through designing of online survey forms.
These surveys are useful in a manner like taking informed decisions that can increase sales, improve workflow, and affect your sales demographics. It is similar to what surveys had been made in ancient times to administer the people.
This survey will help you to discover information about a specific demographic that will make you understand your customers better.
What is an Online Survey?
An Online Survey is generally a set of questions given to a targeted audience to be filled out completely online.
These days with the ever upgrading technology, it’s easier for anyone to conduct a survey for research.
Google forms
But you should make sure to design the survey correctly for your targeted audience, otherwise you could waste both time and money.
What surveys could offer you and your business?
When surveys are done properly they can offer
- Better understanding of employees.
- Knowing about your customers.
- Knowing about your products.
- Knowing what’s best for your business.
- Knowing who your competitors are and knowing what they are doing for their growth.
When you have a problem with your employees,or customers or with your products or don’t have an idea how to proceed with your business, surveys can be the right way to help you gain useful Insights to all that.
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How to Conduct a Survey?
Conducting an online survey allows you to collect valuable information from your customers and gain data in real time.
Survey will not help you to get results alone, but also it will turn your data into useful content to keep your relationship with the audience more exciting and engaged.
But before conducting a survey you should know something important that you have to do .
- Find a reason/goal.
- Locate your demography for the survey.
- Identify the number of respondents you need.
- Decide the right moment to conduct a survey.
- Design the survey templates based on your idea about the survey.
- Send it to the corresponding targeted people.
- Gather Your Responses.
- Analyze Your Results.
- Write a Report.
- Apply what you have learnt.
After this you may even have the idea to publish your survey results, to establish your business bigger, in your competitive growing industry.
Now let’s get started with online surveys in a pretty easier way by following these simple steps:
1. Find a Reason / Goal.
The first thing you should do before writing a survey is to figure out why you’re sending it out at all.
What type of valuable insights are you looking for from the surveys ?
For example, You want to know the feedback of your products from your customers and so you are looking to conduct a Survey about those products brought by your targeted audience.
Or let’s take one more — you are someone producing Organic vegetables on your own,you should know why you want to know what people think about you organic vegetables from the rest in the market?
Is it because you are a person/ farmer who wants to know how many organic seeds you have to show this time? Or is it because you are looking for a way to sell your organic vegetables on the market for everyone’s use? Or is it because you want to make it more profitable by using it and cooking for grand occasions effectively?
The answers to these questions will be defined by your goals and that determine how you will target your survey.
Without a reason and without a goal, you can’t flourish.
2. Locate Your Demography.
Decide who is your target demographic, before you make decisions about your survey. Have more than one demographic? You might want more than one survey.
For example, Certain companies might ask females different questions than males about the way they work in an environment, secure and safe?.
Having the right questions to ask is key to Conduct a good survey.
Most people prefer short multiple choice questions. Because they’re easy to answer. Keep your questions simple and to the point.
Online surveys make participants comfortable to not answer questions not relevant to them.
There are far too many options to consider when it comes to pinpointing a demographic.
3. Identify the Number of Respondents
Figuring out about the number of people you need to have to respond to your survey will make sure that any analyses that you run on the data you collect are a strong basis for good decisions.
These people need to be big enough to be an accurate estimate of your target demographic.
For example, if you’re asking Indian men how often they wear dhotis, a set of Indian men need to respond so that their answers represent what Indian men think.
So how many is enough? You have to calculate how many Indian men you need based on the Indian men population.
Make sure you select the right audience panel related to the product or service you’re selling.
4. Decide the Right Moment
Sending your survey at the right time can have a huge impact on who ends up responding.
Survey launch timing can also change the answers you get—which can change the decisions you make.
Collect survey responses for at least a week to know when people are available and what their opinions are.
Surveys can also influence the answers you receive.
A survey about how much someone is looking for a way to quit their job will yield different answers on a Monday and a Friday.
5. Design the Survey Templates
Design and distribution is another important step. Get additional ideas on survey creation such as themes and colors.
Having the right survey software to guide you for crafting the best survey forms with sample questions and pre- built survey forms would be the best way to design.
Look for the ways to get the most out of your survey by including your management to the survey-building process.
It’s easy to collaborate surveys as a team.
6. Send it to the Targeted People
After designing survey forms, Invite people to take your survey by sending an email, posting to social media, sending an SMS, putting a banner on your site, or attaching a QR code created using the best QR code generator.
7. Gather Your Responses
After surveys it is important to collect your responses but it’s also important to monitor your response rate.
Calculate your response rate about the surveys.
You can increase your survey response rate by
- Offering a gift.
- A donation to a charity.
- Redeemable points.
- Just the promise of sharing results with your participants is enough for more people.
8. Analyze Your Results
After gathering the response rate,you have to analyze your survey results.
- Use your data as a reference point by visualizing them in pictorial representation.
- Use word clouds to pick out the commonly used responses.
- Enter the data into a spreadsheet and inspect it for trends.
Online surveys help to store data automatically, so there’s no need for any tiresome work.
9. Write a Report
The final step in conducting an online survey is to write up a report of your findings.
Explaining your findings in a clear report about what all you have done,and what are the areas you have to improve.
Good survey along with a written report produces reliable, data-driven answers to the questions you were looking for so long.
10. Apply what you learnt
Surveys are not just for fun, it involves your time and money. So use your survey to improve your growth.
When used properly, an online survey can be used to improve
- Customer and Employer Satisfaction.
- Overall feedback on your products and services.
- Influences your target areas of growth.
Wrapping Up
Conducting a survey online is pretty straightforward and cost-effective.
But a simple survey, targeting a specific demographic, is something that all businesses need to gain from their products helping them to make informed decisions about your business.
What are you waiting for? — Start surveying about your business.
