Surveys can be a great way to learn and improve any product or business. When mistakes are made, those results can quickly turn into something that does no one any good. Skewed results will harm your bottom line. Drawing an incorrect conclusion from a lousy survey will only help you take your business in the wrong direction. Avoid common mistakes to ensure you get information that will benefit your work.
Options
We all like having options. When writing a survey, do not take away choices from your customers. The more options you provide, the easier it will be to understand what the results tell you. With limited options, those taking the survey may have to settle for an answer that isn’t exactly what they truly feel. Having participants settle on answers is a big mistake and a way to get you the wrong information.
Length
The length of your survey should not exceed the average attention span. If the question never seems to end, there is a significant possibility of participants giving up. No one wants to complete something that takes longer than a few minutes. Only ask the questions that are needed and cut all the fluff. Not every little thing needs to be asked. Get to the point and do it quickly. You will get more surveys back this way.
Wording
There are many mistakes when it comes to the words you choose to use in your survey questions. Trying to impress by using more prominent words than needed is a fast way to confuse those taking it. Use wording that is simple to understand. A long and complex question is another way to confuse and ensure that you get fewer responses back. The way you word your questions will also influence your answers. Do not use leading or bias questions. They will reflect in the answers that you get and give you unreliable statistics.
Require Answers
Don’t require every answer to be completed for a survey to be submitted. Forcing every answer means that some could be inaccurate since they had to put something down. Another option would be to add a not applicable choice so they can continue to move through the survey. With this, you won’t end up with answers that do not reflect the consumers’ feelings.
Professional
Anyone can make a survey is a very true statement. A survey is just a bunch of questions, but how it is presented does matter. A survey needs to be given in a way that people feel it is worth participating in. When a survey is user-friendly, more will take it and give you better statistics. Many sites are willing to give your survey the polish that it needs before going public. The top-rated site out there right now is Survey Monkey. They have a free membership or ones that you can pay for. When it comes to these sites, you get what you pay for.
