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Online surveys are excellent for gathering information from a specific target audience. The results you get are valuable for businesses in the following ways:
- conducting market research to create supporting statistics
- analyzing audience behaviors, demographics, and needs
- gathering feedback on customer satisfaction
- improving products or services
But of course, a survey is only as good as its results. And according to an expert, a reasonable survey response rate is anything above 25 percent and is subject to having sufficient total responses. While online surveys are necessary, they can be quite a hassle for those filling them out.
Even achieving the average response rate is challenging when respondents don’t want to answer or complete the survey. The results you get can be skewed, leading to insufficient data. So how can you ensure people take the time to answer your survey?
Well, start by making it fun and exciting.
How To Do a Fun Survey
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Most businesses aim to achieve a 60 percent response rate to their surveys. It’s not easy to achieve it, but you can improve your chances by making engaging surveys.
How do you make your online survey interesting when the topic is dull? While most surveys don’t particularly have “fun” questions to ask, there are still ways to get the responses you need. Here are eight ways you should consider.
1) Customize for your target audience
Giving out surveys to dozens of people doesn’t mean you get guaranteed responses. For instance, a single male might not be interested in completing a survey about diapers. In contrast, a toddler’s mom won’t be keen to answer questions about luxury sports cars.
To create an intriguing survey, you must first choose an audience interested in your topic. One way to personalize your survey is by changing questions that adapt to people’s answers. If someone says they don’t listen to podcasts, there’s no point in asking the next question, “What’s your favorite podcast?” People will just find irrelevant questions dull and view your survey as a complete waste of their time.
Another way to personalize a survey is to keep it inclusive. Use open-ended B2B Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions to get the most valuable insights applicable to a large demographic. But if you’re dealing with thousands of answers, coding open-ended questions can help you summarize all the data quicker. You can use a tool like Jotform Survey Maker to create custom and engaging surveys for your target audience.
2) Capture their attention from the beginning
Having an engaging online survey is useless if no one clicks on it. Draw your target respondents in with titles that are easy to read, friendly, and straight to the point.
The most captivating survey samples draw people in with vivid colors and eye-catching visuals. Then, they continue engaging their audience throughout the survey with customized themes.
3) Speak directly to your audience
You can connect personally with your audience using the first- or second-person point of view. Do away with formal wording, and instead, take ownership of your survey and speak directly to your respondents.
Once you establish a connection, continue with a conversational tone. There’s no need to write your survey like you’re submitting it to your college professor. Unless you’re surveying an academic topic, don’t hold back creativity; use casual speech with a touch of humor.
4) Keep questions short and simple
Gone are the days when people had the time to skim through long-form content. Make sure that your sentences are short and easy to read, and stay between 15-20 words for each. Remember that the longer your survey sentences are, the less information your audience processes.
If you’re looking to collect data for important research, having people read and answer all survey questions is essential. If your respondents aren’t reading the entire sentences before answering, your research will be compromised.
5) Diversify your questions
It’s a known fact that humans have a short attention span. In that short amount of time, you should be able to catch your audience’s attention and hold it. For instance, if your survey is multiple choice with “very likely, not very likely, or not at all” responses, people will grow bored quickly.
Change up the appearance, wording, and response style for each question. This way, you can recapture your audience with every new answer.
6) Limit the number of questions
Encouraging people to answer your survey is already hard enough. The least you can do is not waste their time with too many questions. Limit the number of survey questions to only the most relevant ones to get valuable responses.
Respondents are more likely to abandon a lengthy and challenging survey. Nobody wants to waste their time on survey questions they can’t even understand. If people can’t quickly respond to your questions and move on, they will be more likely to bail.
7) Work across multiple platforms
While some of your respondents may have computers, others may prefer using smartphones or tablets. When creating a survey, don’t assume that your respondents will take it on a computer. Make sure it’s also mobile and tablet-friendly to avoid causing inconvenience for your respondents.
Also, try to avoid too many high-tech add-ons for your survey. These may cause your survey to be incompatible with older devices.
8) Offer freebies or any incentives
Most fast-food restaurants add surveys at the bottom of receipts in exchange for free food after the customers complete them. An incentive like this is an effective way to encourage people to complete your survey. Other common incentive ideas include:
- Coupons and discounts
- Digital ebooks
- Free products
- Exclusive access to specific goods or services
Give your incentive at the end of the survey, along with a simple note of gratitude. Some surveys send an email to respondents immediately after. This simple act leaves a positive impression on your brand and shows that you appreciate your respondents’ time and feedback.
Final Thoughts
Online Survey Software are an essential tool for gathering valuable insights from respondents. However, if they are tedious and boring, respondents may lose interest and fail to provide accurate feedback. The eight ways mentioned in this article provide creative and effective ways to make online surveys more engaging and enjoyable for participants.
Implementing these strategies can improve response rates, obtain more accurate data, and ultimately achieve better results. With a bit of creativity and effort, you can transform online surveys into an enjoyable and valuable experience for all involved.
