Online surveys are flexible tools, which can be useful for any type of business. They are developed from time to time according to the objectives to be achieved and can be modified and improved continuously through the survey platform. A questionnaire can take many forms and be used in very different situations. To make it a real business marketing tool, it is better to leave free software and go for a professional survey software, which offers all the options you may need.
Surveys can be very important for e-commerce, to verify the user experience and the purchasing process. A survey can be proposed right at the end of a purchase, by asking a few questions about the experience that has just ended. Another solution is to send the questionnaire by e-mail after completing the order. When answers are given after having already received the product, the survey can also be a means of investigating the degree of customer satisfaction with what they have bought.
Types of questions
There is no single type of question that can be asked in a survey platform, based on the formula used, different data can be obtained. It is not necessary to choose a single method, on the contrary, alternating questions of different types will ensure that the interviewee is not bored. You can use both open and closed questions, the former allow the user to leave comments and express an opinion freely, while the latter offer more and predefined answers. In the first case, quality responses are obtained, while in the second there is a tendency to give more importance to quantity.
When elaborating questions, these must be clear, not too long, simple. The style of words used must be easy to understand for all audiences, in order to avoid misunderstandings. Better not to use too negative or robotic language, you can address the user in person, or add emotes to make the questions more pleasant. Since the attention threshold does not always remain high during a questionnaire, the advice is to ask the most important questions at the beginning, when the user is attentive. In addition, too specific questions at the beginning of the survey could scare the interviewee and could close the page before concluding the survey.
3 questions to ask yourself before using the survey platform
When a survey is created, questions must be developed for users, but the first questions must be asked to oneself. They are used to understand what the real objectives are, the actual results you want to achieve and in how much time. In particular, there are 3 questions you should always ask yourself before using a survey platform.
What is the goal?
It may seem obvious, but without identifying the goal you want to achieve, no effective survey can be carried out. What do you want to get from the survey? What answers do you need? Why are you doing this? According to the objective, very different questions are formulated and the methods also change. There are those who carry out a survey because they are aware they have a problem but do not know how to solve it, or they want to understand if it is a good idea to launch a new product or not. Depending on the parameters, a certain type of structure must be chosen for the questionnaire and only then really useful questions will be formulated.
What is the target audience?
You can’t come up with the right questions if you don’t know your audience. Who are you asking these questions to? Why should they answer you? You have to understand if you want to collect the thoughts of all customers, employees, or a specific market segment. Once you understand what the target is, you need to formulate the questions using the right communication.
How many questions to enter?
Before processing the questions, you need to know how long the questionnaire should be. Depending on the length, the survey response rate can change. Since you want to get as much information as possible, many people make the mistake of entering a lot of questions, but in reality people are more available when the activity takes less time. It is best to ask a few but very specific
questions, eliminating all that is superfluous. If, on the other hand, you really need to create a long survey, you need to find a way to insert questions that can be answered very quickly. Usually, if it takes a long time to fill out a survey, a reward is offered at the end to thank the user for their help.
Final remarks
Survey platforms are simple tools to implement, but it can also be difficult to ask the right questions because you have to consider several factors. It is used in marketing departments to speed up the data analysis process, since it is not an expensive and difficult tool to implement within a strategy. A survey can be used to receive honest feedback from people who use a product or service, but also to assess whether there are gaps in a company and what kind of solutions can be applied to improve.
