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| Engaging, not boring |
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| Engaging, not boring |
Surveys are supposed to provide organizations with information about the needs of their customers and prospects, the hope is that this information can be leveraged into actionable information and make the recipient’s experience more meaningful. Yet so many surveys are full of flaws and as a result the responses are less valuable than expected.
One of the biggest mistakes made is the military-style opening – the request for name, rank and serial number right out of the gate. I have seen many surveys that start off by asking the user to identify themselves, the survey then progresses to a series of multiple choice questions and ends with the text box for opinions.
A better way to engage the user is to ask them to share their opinion through a text box, keep questions interesting, engaging and try to solicit true views – do this by offering creative response options or by keeping the question types variable. These strategies will help you hold the respondent’s attention and will ultimately yield more truthful responses. Collect your demographic information at then end when the respondent is on auto-pilot and more comfortable with providing the information.
Finally, try and leverage the responses in future communications – email, social media, & print. Acknowledge that the update or change is a result of survey respondent; you’ll bank extra points with all recipients.
