One feature being asked by advertising agencies, research organizations, and marketing departments is the ability to upload videos, images, and music inside an online survey. This allows you to test ads, music, and print material before rolling them out. They have talked and we have heard. The new Mineful allows you to upload rich media into your online survey very easily.

When creating your survey, simply “Add a Question” as you normally would. Select the Media question and follow the following 3 simple steps.

• 1. Enter the question’s text
• 2. Upload media file using the Browse button
• 3. Select the media type from the drop down menu (Video, music, or image).

For more information on uploading videos, images, and music into your online survey visit the Media Question Support Page. Happy rich media surveying!

Opinion polls do a good job of predicting who will win elections, but they typically have a harder time tracking public opinion on complex political issues.

The 2010 budget proposed by President Obama offers an instructive example. Most well-known polls have shied away from asking the obvious question: Do you approve or disapprove of the President’s budget? Their reluctance to ask this question is understandable. The federal budget is so large and so complex that it doesn’t lend itself to a simple thumbs up or thumbs down verdict. Rather than asking about the budget itself, a number of polls have asked about an issue that many people find easier to understand: the budget deficit.

Doubts About the Deficit
President Obama’s proposed budget calls for $3.8 trillion in spending with a deficit of $1.56 trillion. By way of comparison, the 2009 budget had a deficit of $1.41 trillion. Obama predicts that the deficit will peak in 2010 and will begin to decline the following year as the economy recovers. How do Americans feel about these astronomical numbers? More than a little uncomfortable.

The public’s opinion of the way the President is handling the deficit has taken a significant turn for the worse in the past year. According to polls conducted for CNN, in March of 2009, 52% of the public approved of the President’s approach to the deficit while 47% disapproved. When asked the same question in January 2010, 36% approved of the President’s performance on the deficit and 62% disapproved. Only 2% expressed no opinion.

More Debt or More Taxes?
Despite concern about the deficit, a plurality of people believe that the projected deficit is acceptable if it means taxes can be reduced. In a recent Rasmussen poll, 41% of respondents would rather have higher deficits and lower taxes than a balanced budget and tax increases. A slightly smaller proportion, 36%, would rather see a balanced budget and higher taxes. And 23% are not sure which is better.

Opinions about this trade-off show some correlation with political ideology. Among people who consider themselves conservatives, 50% are willing to accept higher deficits if taxes are cut. Among people who consider themselves liberals, 63% favor raising taxes to achieve a balanced budget.

But are higher taxes the only way to balance the budget? In the same poll, 37% of respondents said that the budget can be balanced without tax increases, but 42% disagreed, saying that a balanced budget is not possible without higher taxes. Again these views show some correlation with ideology. Among Republicans, 47% believe that it is possible to balance the budget without raising taxes, while 53% of Democrats believe it is not.

Do It Yourself Polling
Large national polls like these are widely reported and discussed in the media, but political polling is no longer restricted to a handful of well-funded organizations. Online survey software, makes it possible for smaller groups to conduct their own polls. Local news organizations, advocacy groups, and other do-it-yourselfers are using online surveys to take their own reading of the public’s pulse.

Online questionnaires are used extensively to collect information about customer preferences, employee satisfaction, and other business-related topics. But a growing number of creative individuals are applying online questionnaires to tasks that have nothing to do with traditional business purposes.

They are using these powerful tools as convenient, cost-effective aids to education, communication, personal organization, and just about anything else they can think of.

Surveys in the Classroom
Online surveys have found a variety of applications in college classrooms, in subjects ranging from statistics to sociology.

For courses in statistics, students can apply the statistical principles they are learning in class to surveys they construct themselves. This type of exercise gives them an eye-opening appreciation of how abstract concepts can be used to make sense of real world data. Mineful’s questionnaire software allows students to employ some basic tools of data analysis, including such things as cross-tabs and frequency distribution. The professor can create and upload data and all students can access this information and do homeworks and analysis based on this data.

Online questionnaires are also becoming widely used for courses in sociology and political science. They provide an easy, relatively inexpensive way for students to conduct research on political opinions and a variety of personal preferences. By seeing first-hand the complexities involved in sampling public opinion, students can gain a healthy skepticism about survey results they see reported in the news.

Academics pursuing research in public health are using online surveys to learn more about such topics as exercise habits, drug use, and eating patterns. Just about any type of research involving human activity can benefit from online surveys.

Surveys as Communication Tools
Businesses have traditionally used surveys to collect information from customers. Now, with the growing popularity of social media, surveys are also becoming a communication tool.

For example, a hotel chain might send a quick survey to all of its Facebook “fans” asking about their favorite vacation destinations. Typically such a survey will take less than a minute to complete, and respondents will have a chance to win some type of prize. Respondents will be encouraged to check back in a few days to see the results of the survey. Using tools such as those offered by Mineful’s questionnaire software, the company can easily compile the results of the survey and present them in eye-catching charts.

Such a survey serves several purposes. It reminds customers about the company’s hotels. It shows customers that the company is interested in their preferences. It encourages customers to come back to the company’s Facebook page. And it serves the more traditional purpose of collecting information from customers.

Your Personal Database
People are even using online surveys to keep track of personal data. For example, they might use an online survey as a spreadsheet to keep track of their weight or time spent exercising.

Serious dieters might use questionnaire software to record the number of calories they consume, even when they’re traveling.

Online questionnaires offer a number of advantages as personal organization tools. They are easier to use than most spreadsheet programs, they produce colorful charts with just a few clicks, and they can be accessed from anywhere.

Like so many other digital tools, online questionnaires are finding a wide range of applications that their creators never intended.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) January 26, 2010 — Marketing professionals are making better use of consumer feedback, demographic data and purchase history. By understanding the relationship between consumer characteristics and opinions businesses can better target marketing campaigns, understand consumer needs, and improve current products and services.

Read the rest of the article…

The past few years have seen explosive growth in the use of online surveys. The reasons for this development are obvious. Online surveys cost less to conduct than in-person or phone surveys, response times are faster, and the results are easy to compile and analyze because they are already in a digital format. But no survey method is perfect, and online surveys have been criticized by some as being biased because they collect information only from people who have access to the Internet.

Is Sampling Bias Inevitable?
In fact, most surveys must deal with this type of bias. For example, telephone surveys collect information only from households that have land lines, a shrinking percentage of the population. Paper surveys require that respondents have a certain level of literacy. Online surveys have the same requirement, as well as the obvious additional requirement that respondents have access to the Internet. As Internet access becomes more and more widespread, this is becoming less of an issue. According to recent estimates, more than 74 percent of people in North America have access to the Internet, and the number is growing steadily. Still, there is no question that Internet users represent a more affluent, well-educated segment of the population.

Online surveys must also deal with the common sampling problem of non-response bias. In most surveys, a certain percentage of those solicited will not respond. Survey administrators must somehow determine if non-respondents skew the survey population in some way.

Survey administrators must also have some means of excluding responses from people outside the target population. Because the Internet is such a wide-open, boundary-less medium, the response to a survey may be coming from a broader population than the administrator intended.

Finally, survey administrators may have to deal with sampling bias because of the sites they use to solicit responses. For example, the population of Facebook users includes more women and young people than the population of Internet users in general, so it seems likely that these groups would be over-represented in a survey conducted through Facebook.

Removing Sampling Bias
Mineful software offers a simple but effective way to deal with sampling bias. Post-stratification allows a survey administrator to correct for groups that are over-represented or under-represented in a survey population. Here’s how it works.

Survey respondents are divided into homogeneous subgroups (strata). For example, respondents might be divided into the strata male and female. Responses are recorded separately for men and women, and then a sampling fraction is applied to give each group its correct weight in proportion to the target population.

For example, suppose that a survey administrator wanted an equal number of responses from men and women. As it turned out, sixty percent of respondents were men and forty percent were women. The sampling fraction would allow the administrator to take all responses into account, but would give proportionally more weight to the response from each woman. This would allow the survey results to be an accurate reflection of the target population: half men and half women.

The same method can be applied to correct for imbalances in race, education, age, and other factors. The key to using post-stratification is to identify areas of potential sampling bias and then use survey questions to determine if respondents accurately represent the target population. In the example we used, the survey would ask about gender. Such questions would allow the survey administrator to use post-stratification to reduce the effect of sampling bias.

When people look for ways to trim their expenses in tough economic times, they turn first to discretionary spending, and at the top of the list for many people is money spent eating out. Most restaurants have taken a big hit in the current economic slowdown, but many are holding their own and a few are actually prospering. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2008, McDonald’s reported that its sales increased 5 percent in the U.S. and 7.2 percent globally. Why are some restaurants doing well while most are struggling? One of the answers is effective market research.

Focusing on value
It should be no surprise that customers are paying more attention to value in these challenging times. When people spend less on non-essentials, they want to be sure the money they do spend buys something worthwhile. But what does value mean to restaurant patrons? Is it primarily the quality of the food or the quality of the service or is it something else that might be a little harder to define? Restaurant research provides some interesting answers to these questions.
At its most basic level, value means meeting expectations. People have definite expectations for different types of restaurants — fast food, casual dining and fine dining. In these tough times, some restaurant managers might feel tempted to cut back in some areas, especially staff expenses. But if a restaurant fails to live up to customer expectations for service because it has cut staff, it will have a hard time keeping customers.

Creating a satisfying experience
Restaurant surveys that attempt to measure customer perceptions of value often focus on some obvious things. Was the food hot? Was it served promptly? How long did you wait to be served? These are important questions, but they represent only part of what is involved in restaurant satisfaction.

Most people go to a restaurant because they are looking for a certain type of experience. They might be looking for fun or elegance or just the pleasure of enjoying certain sights, smells, and tastes. Even patrons of fast food restaurants are looking for more than food. The kids’ menu at McDonald’s features “Happy Meals,” but adults want to have happy meals too. An effective customer survey attempts to evaluate all the factors that go into creating restaurant satisfaction.

Building customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is important for any type of business at any point in the business cycle, but it is especially important for the restaurant business when times are tough. Restaurant research has shown that customers who have a “highly satisfactory” dining experience are twice as likely to return to a restaurant than customers who say their experience was just “satisfactory.” They are also three times as likely to recommend the restaurant to their friends.

Highly satisfied customers also spend more, especially on items such as appetizers and deserts. This suggests that they may be enjoying their dining experience so much that they want to prolong it. Highly satisfied customers also tend to tip more, which in turn leads to highly satisfied wait staff.

So how can a restaurant determine if it is creating a highly satisfying experience for its customers? Some restaurants hire “mystery diners,” while others use comment cards or questionnaires. Another highly effective alternative is to conduct an online survey of recent diners. Online surveys provide a convenient way to ask about a variety of factors that affect customer satisfaction. Survey results can easily be analyzed to determine which combination of factors is most likely to create highly satisfied customers. See this restaurant satisfaction survey example to help you get started: http://restaurantsatisfaction.nisurvey.com.

Long-term restaurant trends
In times like these, it is understandable that restaurant managers are focused primarily on short-term results. It’s still important, though, to pay attention to long-term restaurant trends. In recent years, restaurant customers have shown a growing interest in two things: greater convenience and healthier menu choices. These trends are likely to continue.

You have conducted a well-designed customer satisfaction survey, and you’ve collected mountains of data. Now what? You’re not just going to let the results sit on a shelf in your office, but do you have a comprehensive plan to get the most value out of your investment? Here are a few suggestions about the next steps to take with the results of your survey.

Respond Quickly to Urgent Customer Problems
Often a customer satisfaction survey will include a few questions meant to identify issues that need to be addressed immediately. For example, a hotel chain might ask how long it took a customer to reach a representative on its toll free reservations line. If this is a crucial issue for the company (and it should be), then this question will be flagged for immediate analysis and action.

Other factors that might call for a quick response are very low overall ratings or the use of key words (such as “dirty” or “rude”) in written answers on the survey. If the survey was not anonymous, it may be worthwhile to contact people who responded very negatively to gain a better understanding of what went wrong. This will also show dissatisfied customers that you take their concerns seriously and you want to do something about them.

Make Someone Responsible
One way to sort responses to a customer service questionnaire is by area of responsibility in your organization. For example, certain questions may point out problems with accounting or sales or billing. By making individuals responsible for dealing with specific issues that come up in a survey, you are much more likely to get the issues resolved. If everyone is responsible for solving a problem, then no one is.

Assigning responsibility for specific issues also addresses a common problem with customer satisfaction surveys: the results don’t filter down to people who can do something about them. Too often managers circulate summaries of survey results or key findings without giving front-line staff the information they need to improve customer service.

Implement Customer-Focused Changes
Any response to customer feedback should be developed with the customer in mind. This includes setting goals for improving customer satisfaction. For example, if a customer purchase survey identifies shipping delays as a problem for your online store, you need to do more than just revamp your shipping procedures. You need to set specific goals for shipping a certain percent of orders within a day or two.

When you make customer-focused changes, let customers know about them — especially those customers who took the time and trouble to respond to your survey. To keep your message positive, present the changes as an improvement in service rather than a response to a problem.
Keep Track and Keep Asking
It’s easy to think of customer satisfaction as something you check on with a survey once a quarter or twice a year. But to get the most of out of surveys, you need to constantly keep track of how well your organization is responding to the issues customers raise. You also need to keep thinking about how to refine your survey process so that you can continue to get the information you need to keep your customers satisfied.

Savvy managers realize that employees are a vital source of information about what’s working well in the business and what needs to be improved. A growing number of businesses are using employee satisfaction surveys to identify both problems and opportunities. Surveys can also give managers useful ideas about how to improve the job satisfaction of employees and boost employee morale.

Human resource surveys can be valuable any time, but they are especially worthwhile when:

• A business is growing rapidly and job responsibilities are frequently changing.
• A business is experiencing a high employee turnover rate, which may be a sign of employee dissatisfaction.
• A business is plagued by excessive rumors, which may signal a lack of trust among employees or poor communications from management.
• A business is planning a major reorganization or other change that may create anxiety among employees.

Here are 5 tips to help you make the most of employee surveys.

1. Incorporate surveys into your planning cycle
   You can learn a lot from employee surveys, but you need to make sure the information is available when you need it. For example, if you make budget decisions in April, you might want to conduct a survey in January so that you will have time to analyze the results before you make decisions on how to allocate resources. In scheduling surveys, work backwards from the time when you will need to use the results.
2. Use existing templates to develop survey questions
   Developing survey questions does not need to be a difficult or time-consuming task. You can use Mineful’s Employee Satisfaction Survey Templates to sample questions on common employee concerns, including such things as:
   • Compensation
   • Health benefits
   • Having adequate resources to work efficiently
   • Retirement benefits
   • Opportunities for professional growth
   • Communication with management

It’s easy to customize these questions to meet your specific situation.

3. Keep survey responses anonymous
   Employees need to feel confident that their responses to a survey will remain anonymous. If they fear their responses may be used against them, they will not respond candidly. Avoid asking too many demographic questions, such as, “How long have you been in your present position?” Employees may fear that their responses to these questions will enable you to identify them.
4. Use online survey software to boost value and efficiency
   Online survey software offers a convenient, efficient way to conduct employee surveys. Online programs such as Mineful’s make it easy to try out questions on a representative sample group. That will enable you to fine tune your questions and determine how to analyze the data you collect. These programs also make it easy to create charts and graphs to clarify your findings.
5. Always respond to survey results
   Employees will be more willing to take part in a survey if they feel that you are prepared to act on the results. David Chaudron, an expert on human resource management, makes this point simply and clearly: “Never survey without acting”. Many businesses distribute a summary of survey results and an indication of how they plan to respond to employee concerns. Of course, sometimes you may not be able to give employees the response they were hoping for. Still it is important to let all employees know that you take their opinions seriously and that they are making an important contribution to the decision-making process.

Marketers would love to be able to read the minds of consumers. They would love to know what precise combination of price, features, benefits, wants, and needs triggers the decision to buy a particular product. There are many ways to approach this mysterious subject. One that lends itself nicely to online surveys is what is often called a “purchase intent survey.” Here’s how it works.

A survey might ask a question using a five point scale such as:
Which is most true about this product?