Online market research surveys have taken
the research industry by storm as they are able to make market research
effortless. Although it has many users, not all follow the rules for making the
perfect survey and hence, end up getting a low response. Read on to know the
dos and don’ts while preparing an online market research survey for gaining
optimum results.
The first and foremost thing that you are
required to do, as the writer of the survey, is to decide upon the kind of
language to be used for writing the survey. The tone of the survey is
determined on the basis of the targeted audience.
The tone depends directly on certain
aspects such as the age of the respondents, gender, and social backgrounds. For
example, if the target respondents belong to an age group of 18 to 30 then the
tone of the survey can be informal. It can be formal when addressing people belonging
to an older group.
2. Control the Length of the
Questions
Unless your customers are unemployed or do
nothing at all and have too much time to spare, your surveys won’t be correctly
read before getting answered. It is because the world has less time and so much
more to do that they won’t care about helping your company to improve. So, keep
the length of your questions appropriate enough for everyone to understand and
answer. Unnecessarily long sentences may repel the respondents before they even
start answering.
3. Eliminate Biases in
Questions
The worst thing you can do is praise your
business in an online survey. Avoid using words like ‘perfect,’ ‘smart’ and ‘great’
for yourself. These words tell the respondents that the business has no motivation
to improve as it is a “self-declared perfect organization.” Always employ
questions that justify both sides and remain neutral in their approach. Questions
like “Were we able to satisfy you with our products?” work great in surveys.
4. Form Simple Sentence
Structures
Online market research surveys serve greater
purpose than any other type of market research because it has the potential of
reaching people across the globe in one click. You would never know whom your
survey is accessible to thus, keeping the sentence structures simple is smart.
Beginner’s level language should be used
for everyone’s understanding because it is possible for people who are experts
in your field to not understand your language. In such cases, they may avoid
taking the survey and you may end up losing worthy insights.
5. Employ Both Open and
Close-ended Questions
Open-ended questions are those questions
that give the respondents room to express their views about the business’ work
in detail. They do not come with options. Close-ended questions, on the other
hand, are questions that have to be answered using only the answer choices
given below them. They come with multiple choices. Both are important in online
market research surveys as they allow the respondents to flexibly respond to
the surveys.
