Online survey tools like Zoomerang and Surveymonkey make it very easy for just about everyone to launch their own surveys. Whilst this is a good thing, it also means that there are a lot of surveys out there and people are getting survey fatigue. If you manage to persuade someone to do your survey, your next challenge is to make sure that they don’t drop off half way through and actually complete the whole thing. Here are 4 of my top tips for good survey creation:
Too many surveys are poorly thought out and structured and are far too long – this leads to high drop-offs. Before creating your survey, set out your research objectives and then compare your survey against these. Be ruthless about eliminating unnecessary questions. Don’t ask questions you can research using other means (e.g. webstats).
Survey flow is incredibly important. Start with easy, quick questions which help engage your respondent and gets them into the right frame of mind. However, bearing in mind that survey drop-offs tend to happen towards the end of the survey, you need to balance this with getting your most important questions in early.
Structure your questions in such a way that the answer can be given by multiple choice, ratings etc. Only use free response forms if you really have to. This makes it quicker and easier for the user. It also makes it easier for you to analyse and segment the data when you get the results.
Usability is also important. Test your surveys with several people and watch them fill them out. Ask them for commentary. It’s so easy to ignore a potential response (e.g. how many surveys have you completed (or dropped off!) where you want to select n/a but the surveyor has not included this as a possible response)
