Involve Your Web Site Visitors With Surveys
by
Carole Pivarnik
Published on this site: February 9th, 2004
Want
to get the attention of your Web site visitors? Just ask them what they think!
People love to share their opinions, and a survey not only lets them do that,
it can also provide useful information. Plus, promoting your survey gets
additional
market exposure.
What is a Survey?
A survey asks a series of
questions about one topic, attempting to get an accurate snapshot of opinion.
The more who participate (or in survey lingo, the larger the sample), the more
accurate the results usually are.
Should I Conduct a Survey?
Yes!
Surveys are a great way to interact with your visitors and get them involved.
What
Should My Survey Be About?
Survey visitors on topics that matter to
them. That way, you'll get more participation and higher quality responses. Plus,
the responses will be more useful to you. After all, what customers care about
is important to your success.
Customer service; ordering processes; site
navigation or content; product mix; and customer needs are all good topics. But
be careful to focus on one topic. Covering too much ground can confuse participants
and make analyzing results difficult.
How Many Questions Should I Ask?
Five
to ten questions is a good number. More could require too much effort, resulting
in reduced participation or incomplete surveys. Fewer might not provide enough
information to make your survey very useful.
What Questions Should I
Include, In What Sequence?
Every question should provide an answer that
helps you make meaningful business decisions. In addition, related questions can
help clarify those decisions. For instance, if participants tell you their favorite
ice cream flavors, you'll know which flavors to stock. But if they also tell you
when they're most likely to visit your shop, you'll also know which days you should
stock those flavors.
Some other tips:
- Make the first two
or three questions easy to answer. This engages the participant, making it more
likely they'll complete your survey.
- Avoid leading questions that
indicate the preferred answer.
- Keep questions short and to the
point.
- Don't combine two questions into one.
- Don't
ask questions that assume knowledge on the part of the participant.
- Provide
a way for participants to submit comments, usually as the last question.
How
Should I Implement My Survey Online?
You could one of many online survey
services or customize a program yourself (or even write one from scratch). Unless
you have the skills to create your own, a service is probably your best bet. Some
options include:
How
Should I Promote My Survey?
A successful survey needs many participants.
Unless you have a high-traffic site, you'll need to promote your survey. Use free
ads, online newsletters, press releases, personal invitations, newsgroups, emails
to previous visitors, and any other avenue you can think of to invite participation.
You might even offer
a chance to win some kind of reward. This popular technique
can increase participation dramatically.
How Long Should My Survey Stay
Active?
Always set a time limit on your survey. This creates a sense
of urgency that encourages people to respond. Your results will be most useful
if it is "here and now" information rather than three-month old opinions.
The Web and the world change quickly, as do visitor needs and interests. To stay
on the cutting edge of business success, you need to be able to respond to those
needs and interests.
The Survey Went Great. Now What?
When
your survey has been conducted, analyze what your participants told you. Some
tips:
- Figure out what percentage of participants chose various
responses for each question. Did 75% choose one answer while
25% another? These statistics are key in making intelligent
business decisions as a result of your survey.
- Compare completed versus incomplete surveys. If over half
of your surveys are incomplete, you might want to change
it and conduct it again.
- Examine comments provided by participants for further
insights.
- If possible, send thank-you notes to participants. If
feasible, share results or potential benefits from the survey.
To
sum up, surveys are a powerful tool for engaging your Web site visitors and getting
opinions that can help you succeed. Why not put a survey on your Web site today?
Your visitors would love to tell you what they think!
Carole Pivarnik is a Senior Web Developer and Affiliate Program Manager
for SureCode Technologies, Inc., a company that lets anyone add interactive databases
to their Web sites with no programming. Email her at mailto:carolep@s..., or visit
http://www.surecode.com.
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