Survey Says: Stop Being Boring
3 Simple Ways to Upgrade Your Surveys
“Excuse me, do you have a few moments to take a brief survey?”
No? Didn’t think so.
Surveys have become a nuisance in a too busy world. But why do we insist on their existence? Whether we like it or not, getting real feedback from customers, or potential customers, is what we need to improve our products, and potentially stay in business. It’s most beneficial for us as marketers, developers, “growth hackers”, etc. to know what the people like, what they don’t like, what they want most. The open dialogue between you and the customer can lead you to re-tool your product as necessary to make it more efficient, or add totally new functionality your internal team wouldn’t of thought of.
Bad surveys (read: boring surveys) only harm us in the end. Often when people take surveys, they don’t take the time to really think about the questions they’re reading, let alone the answers they’re providing. This leads to bad data which leads to sucky product changes. And that leads to no data which leads to no product improvement.
We are all about rethinking the way we give surveys. In comparison to your daily tasks and goals, surveys probably get the short end of your attention stick but we recommend you really take the time to sit down and figure out how you want to go about giving one.
Think about the delivery of your survey
Maybe your stand-by third party email is feeling a bit stale to folks as it clogs their inboxes. Ditch your standard methods and think outside the box on this one. You could try talking to your customer directly. If phone calls give you the heebie-jeebies, perhaps Skype or a personal email could do the trick. If your company is all about design and user experience, you could build a page for your website that’s fun and interactive.
It’s all about the meat
What feedback do you need vs. what can you probably leave out? Thinking of the questions you want to ask is critical because you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty of what people think of your product. While you’re at it, you’ll definitely want to spruce up your copy. Humor can work wonders and make your questions seem relatable and, dare we say it, fun! If your customer enjoys your question, they’ll most likely enjoy giving a response. No matter what, make sure you’re asking the hard-hitting questions. Being specific engages the survey taker and allows them to give more detailed answers than generic questions.
Incentives! A more professional approach to the common bribe
People like prizes. And if there’s something in it for them, they’ll be likely to take the time to take your whole survey rather than answer a few questions. Not all companies may be able to offer an incentive, but it is definitely worth the effort and it will not go unnoticed. The whole reason you’re asking people to take the survey is to improve the product they use every day — that’s a pretty big incentive right there.
Now that we have made available to you our finest tips and tricks, would you mind taking a few moments of your time and telling us how we did in a brief survey?
Brian Sierakowski is the CEO of TeamPassword, a product which eliminates password frustration from your company. Sign up for a free trial today, and never waste time on passwords again
