Set up a survey
Set up a survey
1. Decide the main goal of your survey.
What is the topic of interest: A product, service, problem? What is the question you need answered or the problem you need solved? Who should you query: Customers, competitors, stakeholders? What or who should you compare: Techniques, products, performance measures?
2. Identify your target audience for the survey based on your survey goal.
You could target current customers, prospective customers, former customers, or some combination of all. Consider also sending your survey to an audience that has never heard of your brand, using a platform like SurveyMonkey to reach a new audience that has characteristics similar to your target audience.
3. Working with key groups within your organization, brainstorm potential questions for your survey that will give you insights around your goals.
Asking multiple people and groups, like sales and customer service, can bring up important additional questions. Once you have a list of questions, organize and edit them to make them more clear and concise.
4. Select a survey tool and add your survey questions to a new survey.
Many free or low cost survey tools exist, each with its own set of features, including: Typeform: Focused on easy-to-use user interface, particularly for mobile users. May help increase your completion rate. Google Forms: A free offering from Google. Offers an intuitive survey builder, easy to understand results, and integration with other Google products. SurveyMonkey: An industry standard. Offers robust tools, and even the option to expand your audience using its paid audiences.
5. Test your survey questions with a group of 5-15 people representative of your target audience.
This can help you identify any issues with the survey, like questions that are unclear and any information gaps.
6. Decide how you'll ask your audience to complete your survey, and whether you'll offer incentives for completion.
Get your survey in front of your audience via email, in-application pop-ups, a QR code on product receipts, or other avenues that make your target audience accessible. Consider using incentives, for example, a drawing for a gift card or a coupon for a future order, in order to increase the likelihood your audience will complete your survey.
7. Send your survey to your audience, and consider reminding them to complete it.
Using your marketing automation platform will allow you to resend your survey email to users who didn’t click the first time. Alternatively, send your survey reminders via a different platform to engage more users. For example, if you sent the original request via email, send your reminders via an in-app pop-up.