This brief article touches on the 8 different switch on/off options available when creating surveys using the Mineful’s online survey software. If you are currently a user of Mineful’s survey software, you can benefit by learning all available options to you. If you are considering Mineful as your survey software provider, you can learn all available options to create and publish online surveys.

Online Survey Software “Switch On/Off” Options When Creating Surveys
After you have created a survey, you can access the survey options by clicking the Options menu button at the top of the page.

• Create Page Progress Bar – Turn on this survey option to allow respondents to see the percentage of questions they have responded on the survey.
• Display Question Numbers – By default, your survey includes the question number on the question text. Switch of this option to make the question numbers disappear.
• Display Borders – Do you want your survey questions surrounded by boxes? Turn this option off to make the borders around each question disappear.
• Allow only one submission per user – This option can be turned on to allow only one survey submission for each recognized cookie. We also call this the Duplicate Entry Protection when online surveys are published via links.
• Allow user to exit Survey – Turn this option on to display a link on the top right of the survey respondents’ page that would close the browser window and exit the survey.
• Disable back button – This option disappears the back button link so users cannot go back to a page and edit their responses.
• Notify me of new entries – For every new entry to your online survey, you will receive an email to the address provided in the account with each new individual response.
• Share with Company (Business Account) – Share your survey with all users of your company. Alternatively, you can select each individual user by clicking the “Share with individual users” option and selecting which users to share the creation, publishing, and viewing of results with.

Whether you’re selling hot dogs or homeowners insurance, keeping your customers satisfied is essential to the survival and success of your business. Fortunately, the latest online survey software simplifies the task of collecting and analyzing data on customer satisfaction. These are powerful tools, but to use them most effectively you need to be careful not to define customer satisfaction too narrowly. Let’s take a broad look at this topic and then consider some specific aspects of customer satisfaction that you should probably be measuring.

More and more businesses are relying on online surveys to learn what their customers want, need, and value. Well-constructed online surveys can be effective market research tools, but they do have some disadvantages. Learning more about the pros and cons of online surveys can help you make better use of these powerful tools.

What’s So Great About Online Surveys?
Many things. For one, they can be very fast. A survey posted on a popular website can generate thousands of responses within a few hours. People who respond to email invitations to take a survey usually reply in a day or so. Contrast this with the painfully slow process of conducting a survey by snail mail, or the labor-intensive process of conducting a phone survey.

You can improve response time by keeping online surveys short, with “powerful” questions and smooth transitions. Powerful questions are ones that provide valuable knowledge. In constructing a survey, take a hard look at each question. Ask yourself if it will yield information that you will be able to use somehow. If it won’t, leave it out. In designing surveys, remember that shorter is usually better.

It’s also a good idea to try questions out on a small sample before using them with a broad population. That way you can see which questions provide useful information.

Another important advantage of online surveys is that they are relatively inexpensive. Once the survey has been constructed, it costs very little to administer it. You don’t need to pay for postage or telemarketing services, and you don’t need to hire someone to tabulate the results. Survey software makes collecting and analyzing responses easy, accurate, and inexpensive. Online surveys can be do-it-yourself projects. There is usually no need to hire expensive consultants to conduct them.

Online surveys give you greater flexibility than surveys conducted on paper or over the phone. You can use photos, video, sound, and just about any interactive medium you can think of. Sophisticated survey programs let respondents easily skip questions that don’t apply to them. For example, if a respondent checks “male,” he will automatically skip questions about pantyhose.

Online surveys are also flexible in the sense that people can complete them on their own schedule. In that way, they are less disruptive than phone surveys or in-person surveys in a mall.

Survey experts believe that people are more willing to answer questions about sensitive topics, such as sex or drug use, when replying to a computer rather than a person. Answers to such questions are also more likely to be honest.

Last, but certainly not least, responses to an online survey can be easily tabulated, sorted, analyzed, and converted to graphic representations.

The Down Side
Most of the disadvantages of online surveys are really no different from the disadvantages of surveys in general. For one thing, there is always a question about the sample. Is it large enough and does it accurately reflect the population you are interested in? Screening questions at the beginning of the survey can help ensure that you are asking the right people.

Then there is the question of honesty. While many experts believe that people are more honest when responding to a computer than to a person, there will always be exceptions. For example, landlords might under-report the number of tenants in an apartment to skirt residency laws. If people are being paid to complete a survey, they might just fill in answers randomly to finish as quickly as possible. (A carefully constructed survey can check for such “non-reliable respondents.”)

There is also sometimes a difference between what people say and what they do. For example, people might tell you that they floss their teeth religiously once a day because they know that’s what they’re supposed to do, even if they don’t.

Finally, you might find it easier to compose a survey using a word processing program rather than survey software. That is why it is important to choose user-friendly software with people behind it who are willing to help you construct truly efficient surveys.

On balance, the advantages of online surveys far outweigh the disadvantages. They are an efficient, economical way to get to know your customers.

1. Keep the language very simple. A survey question is not a test of your vocabulary skills. The use of language that is incomprehensible to the participant will only distort the findings. So avoid framing a question like “What is the frequency of your culinary visits to the nearest non gourmet eatery in a week”. Keep it simple with “How many times per week do you go to the nearest fast food joint”.
2. Ensure Answers are Consistent. Answers should be structured so that there is only one way to answer. For example, the open-ended question “What type of shampoo do you use?” can be answered with a brand, a shampoo type, or none-I don’t use shampoo. Also ensure that all possible choices are included, if you suspect there could be other choices, include an “Other” category. Mineful’s online survey software allows you to include the “Other” category and adds a space for the respondent to elaborate.
3. Avoid using negatively worded questions. Double negatives are a no-no. Instead of asking “Should the government not provide free medical support to pregnant women?” rephrase the questions as “Should the government provide free medical support to pregnant women?”.
4. Use close ended questions as much as possible. Any marketing analyst knows that analyzing close ended questions provides more opportunites for advanced analysis. Yes, open-ended questions allow for text analysis, but survey reseach methodology goes far and beyond when analyzing close ended question. As an example, avoid using a question like “What kind of food do you usually order in a restaurant?”. Instead change it to “Which of the following do you usually order when you visit a restaurant?”.
5. Avoid leading questions. Adding a personal opinion to a question when it is not necessary can bias the answers of the participants. For example, the question “Has the new, modern and state of the art audio system installed in the auditorium improved the voice quality” is sure to lead the participant to answer “yes”. This can be avoided by just asking “Has the voice quality in the auditorium improved”.
6. Do not assume participants know. There are some terms that not everyone would be familiar with, or have sufficient knowledge about. For example while asking” Are you in favor of Proposition 13” it has been assumed that everyone knows what it means. Who is your sampling frame (the total population you are interested in describing)? Do they understand what these technical terms mean? Is the language adequate for them?
7. Minimize choices. Survey questions like ranking items by importance should not have more than 5-6 options. As the number of items increases the reliability of the answer falls. If a choice is likely to obtain less than 5 responses, it is recommended to merge it with another category or inside an “Other” option.
8. Pre-test your questionnaire. Once the survey is complete, before sending it to the target audience, send it as a test to a small group of people you know to check if the responses obtained are consistent. They will also be able to tell you if any question was confusing or should be altered to make it easier to answer.
9. Ensure responses are valid. There are several ways to determine if the responses you obtained are reliable and trustworthy.
   • Evaluate the strength of anticipated relationships - if you expected 50% and got 80% that should ring a big alarm.
   • Compare to similar questions - Surveys sometimes include similar questions at the begining and at the end to ensure that the respondent is consistent with their answers. Similarly, one can compare responses of the same person at different points in time.
   • Construct test questions that lead respondents to only one answer - For example, “This question is very long…Answer the third choice for validation purposes”. This helps validate that the respondent is not speed responding the survey in order to obtain their incentive.
   • Reinterview in person or by phone – Only for highly speculative responses that carry significant weight. For example, at BLS, they would reinterview companies like Boeing and GE before releasing the unemployment rates since their employee numbers carry significant weight for the national unemployment rate.

Online surveys have transformed the field of market research. Retailers in particular are discovering how the latest internet survey software can provide valuable insights into how customers make decisions.

Going Beyond Sales Data
Traditionally retailers have relied mainly on sales data to determine their customers’ preferences. While this approach certainly has merit, it leaves many questions unanswered. Would customers prefer different brands if you offered them? Would they visit your stores more often if their shopping experience was more pleasant? Would they come more often if stores were open longer hours? These are the kinds of questions that online surveys can address.

A simple “Where would you go to buy…?” survey can give you a good idea of how customers think of your stores. In this type of survey you give customers four or five options — your store and three or four of your competitors. Then you ask a series of questions. If you operated a department store, you might ask:

An attractive email subject and survey invitation message will increase the number of recipients that complete your survey. Based on information our clients have shared with us, in this brief article we intend to provide useful recommendations on how to design email survey invitations in such a way that will attract more recipients to complete your questionnaire.

It is no coincidence that all the features you need to put these recommendations into practice are part of Mineful’s online survey software and analysis package.

1. Test email subject, incentives, and messages

AB testing is the easiest and most productive ways to find out which subject or combination of subject and incentives best entices recipients to open the survey email. You can send different email subjects, incentives, messages, survey length, etc. and find out which one receives the highest completion rate.

How to improve open rate of your survey invitation?

2. Make your From Name recognizable. Mineful uses the company name as the From name on the email. The email to reply to can be manually changed on the ‘Create Message’ page, this way you can write a reply to email like admin@surveysoftware.com.

3. Avoid words that trigger spam filters. Words like “free” and “save money” can automatically send emails to the “junk” folder. For a complete list search “words that trigger spam filters” to see hundreds of list people have put together.

4. Make subject lines short and direct to the point. The subject line is usually your ticket to opening or ignoring an email. Write a short subject line, but do mention the benefits of completing the survey.

5. Send reminders. On average, sending reminders can increase response rate 2%. Do not send more than 3 reminders and send these every 3 to 5 days.

6. Increase readability of your message. Format the text using bullet points, use various short paragraphs, and make the first sentence relevant.

7. Test your invitation. When creating an email message, Mineful’s online survey software has a “Test” button that allows you to send an invitation to the email you write on the “From” box so you can see how it looks like before sending to your list.

How to increase the click rate on your survey link?

8. Include personal information. Include the recipient’s name and last name on the subject and/or message for a more personalized message.

9. Mention the purpose of the survey. For example, “Mineful invites you to participate in a brief survey about your recent experience with customer service.”

10. Indicate how long the survey will take. Time yourself and colleagues and give them an interval on how long the survey will take; “between 8-10 minutes” or “less than 10 minutes”.

11. Provide full disclosure on the incentive you offer. This means when, how, and what will they receive. Set a deadline to complete the survey. For example, “Complete this survey by November 18th and you will be entered into a drawing to receive a $125 gift certificate you can use at giftcertificates.com.”

12. Sign the invitation and provide a link to your website.
“We appreciate your input and look forward to serving you better in the near future.

Sincerely,

The Mineful Survey Software Team
http://www.mineful.com/

13. Assure confidentiality of responses. Researchers can assure e-mail survey respondents of confidentiality by informing them that their e-mail addresses will not be recorded with their survey responses and that the online survey data will be considered only in the aggregate.

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Creating an online survey might seem simple at first. The latest online survey software makes it easy to construct an online questionnaire and chart the responses. But this process is not really as simple as it seems. To get the most useful results, you need to become familiar with online survey best practices.

To get the most out of online surveys, follow the best practices outlined here.

• Begin by giving some careful thought to what you need to learn from your survey.
• Keep your survey brief; make every question count.
• Beware of bias.
• Experiment with different kinds of questions.
• Utilize the powerful analysis tools available with online survey software.

What Do You Need to Know?

The first step in creating an online survey is to decide what you want to know. What is the main thing you want to discover? Start by brainstorming everything you hope to learn from the survey. Then prioritize the topics you have listed.

In deciding what you want to learn from your survey, you need to think about how you are going to use the data you collect. What actions are you prepared to take to address the responses you receive? Will you create new procedures, start a new training program, and change your marketing plans?

Brief is Better

People have a limited attention span. Ideally, an online survey should take no more than five minutes to complete. In a typical online survey, people answer an average of five multiple-choice questions a minute. This means that you should probably limit your survey to no more than twenty-five questions. (In building online surveys, remember that one open-ended question equals three multiple-choice questions.)

To determine how long it will take to complete your survey, try it out on five or six people. Don’t tell them they are being timed. If you do, they might run through the questions faster than they normally would. If some people take much longer than others, ask them if there were any questions they didn’t understand.

Make Every Question Count

To get the most out of your survey, you have to make every question count. Don’t be satisfied with your first draft. Once you have written a question, try asking the same thing in three or four different ways. This exercise forces you to decide if your first attempt is really the best way to get at the information you want to know.

Your questions should be clear, brief and easy to read. Avoid unusual vocabulary or jargon that some people might not understand. Keep sentences short and simple.

Beware of Bias

If you really want to know what people think, you need to be careful not to steer them in a particular direction with your questions.

The most obvious example of biased questionnaires is the “push polls” used in some political campaigns. A push poll question might ask, “Do you think that Candidate X’s plan to raise taxes will place an unfair burden on the middle class?” The intent here is not to solicit anyone’s opinion on the candidate’s tax plans. The intent is to suggest that the candidate’s plans are unfair.

Push polls are obviously slanted, but bias can sneak into your online questionnaire without you noticing it. Sometimes “loaded” words can have a strong influence on how people respond to a question. For example, if you ask people whether the check-in procedures at your hotel “should be improved,” they are likely to say yes. But wording the question this way doesn’t really tell you how happy or unhappy people are with the current procedures. Instead, you might use a rating question, such as, “Please rate the convenience of our check-in procedures.” Possible responses could range from (1) “Inconvenient” to (5) “Very Convenient.”

Be Specific

Sometimes questions are so general that they are not really useful. For example, consider the question, “Do you like salmon?” What does this mean? Do you like the taste of salmon? Do you like the health properties of salmon? Do you like the price of salmon compared to the price of other fish? Do you like salmon more or less than other fish? The question is so general that the responses you get will not really tell you much.

Also be careful to avoid “double-barreled” questions, such as, “Which of these vehicles do you consider to be the safest and most economical?” Here you are really asking two questions. People might consider a particular vehicle safe but not economical, and vice versa.

Try Different Question Types

In building an online survey, don’t limit yourself to a particular type of question. The types of questions you choose will depend on the subject and the kind of information you want to collect.

Multiple-choice questions are common in online questionnaires. They can be answered quickly and they make it easy to collect and compare data. But sometimes you don’t want to limit responses to four or five choices. In those cases, you might ask an open-ended question, such as, “How can we make visitors to our facility feel more welcome?”

Sometimes multiple choice questions allow the respondent to choose multiple answers. For example, “Which of the following products are you likely to buy in the next year?” These questions can give you more useful data for marketing purposes because they are a more accurate reflection of actual consumer behavior.

You might also try using ranking questions, such as, “Rank the following five vehicles in terms of overall value.” These questions can give you a useful picture of how a product or service matches up with the competition.

Rating questions typically use a tool called a Likert Scale to create a picture of how people feel about something. For example, a Likert Scale question might ask, “How important do you think it is to have a fingerprint security reader on your laptop?” Possible responses might range from (1) “Not Important at All” to (7) “Very Important.”

Matrix questions combine two or more variables. For example, a matrix question might ask people to rate five different online travel services on a scale from (1) “Inconvenient” to (5) “Very Convenient.”

Basically, the type of questions you use will depend on what you want to know.

Question Branching

Question branching allows you to build flexibility into your survey. Here’s how it works. A question might ask, “Do you own your home?” A “yes” response will take the person to a new set of questions about home ownership. A “no” response will take the person to a new set of questions about renting a house or an apartment.

Branching simplifies questionnaires because respondents don’t see questions that are not relevant to them.

The Online Advantage

Online surveys offer a number of advantages over surveys done over the phone, by mail, or in person. They can include a larger sample size at a reasonable price. They make it easier to collect, analyze and present data. And they allow you to use video and images in a way that is just not practical in other types of surveys.

The best online survey software makes it easy to create attractive, user-friendly formats. You don’t need a background in web design or graphic arts to create a polished, professional questionnaire.

What Kind of Response Can You Expect?

The response you get to your survey depends mainly on the type of survey you are doing and your target audience. For example, if you are doing a customer satisfaction survey, you are likely to get more responses from people at both ends of the satisfaction spectrum – people who are very satisfied and people who are very dissatisfied.

In surveys aimed at a broad population, your response profile will probably mirror the profile of internet users in general. In broad terms, internet users are younger, somewhat more affluent, and more tech savvy than the average adult. They are about evenly divided between men and women. In terms of residence, approximately 54% of internet users are suburban, 30% are urban and 16% are rural.

If you are interested in narrowing this profile, you can include in your survey a few simple questions about age, gender, residence, etc.

Analyzing Survey Responses

Online survey software makes it easy to analyze responses. The best packages offer a broad range of statistical analysis tools that are simple and easy to use. Advanced users can customize the analysis by modifying the default options to suit their needs. Here are some of the analysis tools that are currently available.

Frequency Distribution simply tells you how many people chose particular responses to a multiple choice question.

Survey Cross-Tab Analysis allows you to see how responses to one question affect another. For example, you could see how what percentage of people who responded “college graduate” also responded “employed at the same job for more than five years.”

Average by Category lets you compare the average response for different categories of people. For example, you could compare the average annual income range for men and women, or for high school graduates and college graduates.

Cross Tab Means is a more sophisticated measurement that allows you to see the relationship among three variables. For example, you could see how highly SAFETY is rated by WOMEN who own a FORD.

Post-Stratification allows you to adjust results to reflect the true population. For example, suppose that 25% of respondents say that they own more than one computer, but you know that the average age of the respondents is 27. Using Census data, post-stratification can give more weight to the responses of older people, so that your survey will be a more accurate reflection of the true population.

Segmentation identifies groups of customers who share similar needs and who demonstrate similar buyer behavior. This allows marketers to target different campaigns to different groups of customers based on their survey responses.

The results you obtain with these tools can be presented in tables, charts or graphs. These displays can be customized to present data in a way that will be most meaningful for everyone who needs to use it.

A Survey for Every Purpose

Online surveys are used extensively for marketing and market research. The online approach works particularly well for marketing surveys because it allows a business to reach a large number of respondents easily and economically. Online survey software with market research forcus also makes it easy to analyze responses and adjust marketing plans accordingly.

Online questionnaires have also proved extremely effective for customer satisfaction surveys, advertisement effectiveness surveys, and product evaluation surveys. These tools give businesses a wealth of information about who their customers are, what they want, and how they decide what to buy.

Businesses also use online employee satisfaction surveys to learn how their employees feel about everything from pay grades to parking.

In summary, always remember… online survey best practices yield best results.