Leveraging Surveys for Your Business Success

The rise of digital technology has made it more necessary than ever for businesses to possess the right information to succeed.

Every aspect of a firm’s operation requires insights from the right information, from stakeholders’ decisions to marketing and customer service.

Surveys are one of the major ways to collect the information your business needs. You need more than just understanding the importance of surveys for your business. It has to be done right to achieve any meaningful result.

Determine the purpose of the survey

Survey questions can wait. First, determine why you need one. There are various types of surveys, and they are best for different purposes.

The survey’s purpose should be specific, concise, and measurable for optimal results. It should be attainable and in line with the company’s vision.

This way, you will ensure the questions are tailored to the purpose, and the expected data can be used along with any other data the business already possesses.

Types of surveys

Generally, there are two main types of surveys:

• Questionnaire: It is when a list of questions is distributed to the respondents to fill out themselves.
• Interview: This involves an assigned researcher who asks participants questions and records their answers.

Based on purpose, some of the common survey types you can leverage for your business success include:

• Market research surveys: To assess your business product-market fit, you must understand your target audience. Data from these surveys can also be used to evaluate your competitive advantages.
• Brand awareness surveys: This is to test your market popularity and reputation. It can help you measure the success of your marketing and reveal the kind of quality people attach to your brand.
• Customer feedback surveys: It is not enough to have a product-market fit; your customer’s satisfaction is also essential. Insight from customer feedback surveys can help shape your future marketing campaigns, product offerings, and how to best meet your costumer’s needs.
• Lead generation surveys: It is one thing for people to know about your product and services; it is another for them to make a purchase. Lead generation surveys help you identify why people are not patronizing your business. It might inform you of what you need to do to get more customers.
• Employees and stakeholders satisfaction surveys: Although most surveys focus on what customers and partners think, employees and stakeholders satisfaction surveys give insight into your team and stakeholders’ morale. It may be anonymous so they can express themselves without fearing retribution.

Identify the data you need

The data you need from the survey should inform the type of questions to ask. It should also influence how the questions are structured.

Multiple-choice questions are perfect for getting more details about a question instead of yes or no. However, yes or no questions are easier to answer and offer direct insight.

For instance, a questionnaire seeking to identify the age group of your consumers should ask them their age instead of a multiple question asking to tick the age group and month of birth.

Proper writing of the questionnaire

It is vital for people to understand the questionnaire to answer it in detail. First, the questionnaire should be in the language they understand. You can use survey translation services to render it in different languages if you have customers and stakeholders with different dialects.

The grammar should also be easy to understand. Avoid the use of jargon and keep sentences short. Also, do not oversimplify and explain a question to the point the meaning changes or gets respondents confused.

Also, tailor it to suit the survey channel. What works best for a questionnaire distributed by mail may not be okay for phone interviews.

Choose the right survey channel

Distribute your survey using the channel the respondents use the most. This not only makes them feel comfortable answering your questions, but it will also boost the response rate.

Traditionally, surveys are distributed in person, via mail, or by phone. The increased use of websites and social media for businesses has increased the number of available survey channels.

You may conduct page or chat surveys on your website depending on the purpose and the targeted customers. It is also possible to combine different channels, such as instructing a respondent to log on to your website during a telephone interview.

When sending surveys via mail, ensure the receivers agree to receive such mail to avoid them marking it as spam, which is not good for your brand.

Careful management of the surveys

The success of your surveys is dependent on the number of respondents. Experts recommend a response rate of 50-60 percent.

Effective management of the survey will significantly improve the number of respondents. For example, if you intend to use mail surveys, first send an introductory notice, followed by a questionnaire with a personalized letter, and then a thank you or reminder mail. The follow-up email should be sent to non-respondents about two weeks after the questionnaire was sent.

Another trick to increase the number of respondents is offering a prize for answering the questionnaire questions. This might be in the form of discounts or gift cards.