Open Web Survey Tips

Convenience surveys still play a significant role in modern marketing and data collection, especially online convenience surveys. These are surveys that you throw on your site and request people to answer. While they are not always representative of your larger customer base, they’re still a good way to get feedback on things that are relevant for you, and a great way to start brainstorming new ideas for your business.

But in order for these surveys to have value, people need to fill them out. You put them on your website for a reason, and the more of your visitors that take the time to give their answers, the more data you’ll have and the more information you’ll be able to use to draw conclusions.

When websites want people to take a survey on their website, they usually use some type of pop up code, which pops a small box up on the screen asking the reader to take a survey. Some simply place a survey on the link and randomly put it on the site, hoping that someone will fill it out. Others use code to place an “ad” for the survey around random bits of text.

These options tend to not be ideal, because most don’t bring enough attention to the survey and the one that does (pop up advertising) is irritating enough to most respondents that it’s not necessarily the best choice for both customer satisfaction and getting their attention (many potential respondents will close out before they have even seen what the advertisement is about). If this survey is very important to your company, consider the following tips: Prominence: Assuming this survey is important to you, it should take up a prominent space on your site. It should be as large as you’re willing to make it and as close to the center of the user’s eyes.

Letters should be clear, visible, and draw people in, and it should make it clear that this survey is important to you. Explanation: Make sure you indicate what the survey is about so that your customers know why you want them to take it. If customers understand the purpose behind the survey and why you’re requesting that they complete it, they’ll be far more likely to take the survey because they “want” to help you get that information.

Highlighting Incentive : Generally you’re also going to want to give an incentive to those that fill out the survey so that they know that there is another reason to take it. If you sell anything on your website, that incentive may be for a discount off of whatever they were planning to buy, or it may be some type of gift/financial reward. Regardless of the incentive you use, it should be clear to the respondent the benefit they receive if they fill out the survey.

Make it Anonymous (Optional): This may be difficult to do if you’re using incentives, but if possible do not demand any information on the survey respondent that could identify them. For example, do not ask for an email address, or a phone number. This is because many people use “surveys” as ways to generate leads and spam people towards their products.

If you truly simply need data, avoid those questions and make sure the ad for the survey makes it clear that those questions will not be asked. Of course, if you’re offering incentives that can be difficult, since there is no way to know if the same person is taking the survey. Nevertheless, if it’s possible to make the survey anonymous, you should do so.

Time to Complete/Total Questions: Finally, potential respondents have no reason to waste time on the survey when that’s not why they came to your site, so if they expect something to last a while, they may be less willing to complete it. Let them know how long the survey will take and those that have time for it may be more prone to completing it in order to get the incentive. You may also want work with a graphic designer, and see if you can have someone create colors and graphics that really help the survey pop.

If your survey is noticeable, you give a good reason to complete it, and that is something that will motivate visitors to become survey respondents. This way you give yourself a very good chance of collecting a lot of great data on your customers.