Survey Says: Surveys are a Great Marketing Resource
Market research is essential to understanding your target market. You want to know the ins and outs of your buyer’s preferences, the groups with whom your business will flourish, and their personal everyday habits. Contrary to what you might believe, it doesn’t take a huge market research firm to derive a few conclusions about your audiences based on a couple of questions and insights — especially if you are just starting your own business and don’t have $50k lying around. Yes, there is a time and a place for deep dives, especially if your audience is changing and your company is undergoing a massive structural marketing-strategy shift. But if that’s not the case, there is a cheaper and simpler alternative out there for you: surveys. Yes, that’s right! Questionnaires have a time and place for your business no matter what its size, and best of all, they don’t have to be long and boring.
However, not all surveys are created equal. It may sound easy; hash together a few true/false questions and bingo! You have your survey. But oh, how much farther from truth could you be. A survey may seem simple and straightforward, but this holds true only if done right. A survey is one of the most powerful, quick, and effective tools you have at your fingertips, and to quote Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Be responsible in creating powerful surveys and you will get insanely insightful data.
Whether you want to know where your audience hangs out the most on- (or off-) line, to whether or not they think your product is ugly and not worth a dime of their money, a survey can be very powerful. For this week’s blog, we’ve lined up some of our favorite survey tools to date. They all have different features and capabilities to allow you to pick the one that best fits your budget and business model. And who knows? You might even find a new little business opportunity casually laying in your data, smiling up at you.
Our Favorites
Possibly the most widely known and free survey platform out there, Survey Monkey offers an extremely user-friendly and streamlined tool. They offer comprehensive tips and tricks to survey creation, from length to content and question type. The services offered vary widely, so go ahead and take some time to pick the right model that suits your business’ needs.
I love and respect Typeform not only for their approach to surveys, but their attention to wrapping detail and user experience into a beautiful platform that is actually relaxing and enjoyable. Even their emails give me email-design and content goosebumps. They have both free and pro-version options at a slight cost with varying features at each level. If you want a good design experience as well as worthwhile, rich data, Typeform is your go-to survey generator. After all, they understand that “how you ask is everything.”
If you haven’t heard of Survey Anyplace, check them out. They offer a platform that lets you build interactive questionnaires instead of the run-of-the-mill surveys that you would normally expect. This means that with additional logic, some gamified elements, and the use of mobile features, you can create pieces of content that are engaging in addition to offering respondents valuable information in return for their data. Create anything from a regular survey to an assessment, decision tree, calculator, or quiz in a fun format. This case is a great example that shows how you can use their tools to collect valuable data that generates leads, all while bringing value to respondents in return.
Ever get caught spiraling down BuzzFeed Quizzes and end up learning that your personality most closely resembles a chicken nugget? We’ve all been there. While sometimes random and pointless, BuzzFeed Quizes can actually be quite useful; after all, they are essentially masked surveys that people take for fun. Take advantage of this illusion by adding some questions that would be helpful to you and your business. Want to know what you buyer’s preferred color is? Add that into a personality quiz or the next “Which Disney Prince Would You End Up With?” test. Users also like to be rewarded, so keep in mind that tying in an incentive at the end of the quiz is always a great added bonus, such as a discount on your product or a free ticket to an event.
Okay, I have my survey platform picked, so now what?
Once you’ve picked your survey platform, remember to keep the survey quick and simple; no one enjoys sitting through a long drawn out survey that seems to have no end. Case in point: the ETS GRE Test asks test takers to take an optional survey about their testing centers once you’ve completed the mind numbingly long exam. It lasts over an hour. Need I say more? There is no question why improvements haven’t been made to any of their centers because ain’t nobody got time for that. Don’t be like this survey… make yours short, simple, and to the point. By following this rule you will surely have a larger pool of data in a shorter amount of time.
You should also consider purchasing targeted audiences. By analyzing a specific demographic, you’ll get concentrated responses and insights from a very specific group of people. Rather than asking a general and potentially irrelevant audience who’s not at all interested in buying your product or services, analyze the audience that matters.
Another thing to think through when making your survey is to insert “opportunity questions”. These types of questions prompt the audience to identify pain-points. In other words: areas that are confusing or difficult for customers in either the buying process or design of your product. Use your survey as a critiquing opportunity to get candid feedback that uncovers areas for improvement. You can do this by sprinkling in some free-form answer boxes to your question prompts so respondents can answer openly and freely.
And lastly, give your survey takers some incentives. They have graciously taken the time to sit down and give you some information about themselves, and therefore deserve to be rewarded. Providing a discount code for their next purchase or a free sample of product is a great way to make your survey-takers happy. However, be aware that if you want unbiased and uninfluenced answers, sometimes it’s best to not let test takers know which brand is conducting the survey. In this case, a gift card to a local cafe or Amazon could suffice. Use your best judgement when thinking about incentives.
And there you have it: some tips and useful resources for your next survey. Have other resources you love to use but don’t see them on our list? Send us an email or leave a comment down below! We’d love to hear your thoughts.
