Mastering Survey Questions: Tips for Effective Feedback Collection
Learn to craft clear, specific survey questions, build a solid survey strategy, and avoid common pitfalls to gather actionable insights for your business.
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How to Write Good Survey Questions
Added on 09/28/2024
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Speaker 1: Do you have what it takes to write great survey questions? Surveys are a fantastic tool to use when collecting helpful feedback and gaining actionable insights. But not every survey is created equal. In fact, poorly written, vague, or confusing questions will impact the quality of the answers your survey receives. I'm Alex, and in today's video, I'll teach you how to write good survey questions, build an effective survey strategy, and which harmful pitfalls you need to avoid. Let's get into it. Let's discuss what separates a good survey question from a bad one. You should consider these five elements each time you write a new survey question. First, you'll want to keep it as simple as possible. Don't use flowery language that can confuse your audience. Instead, keep your question easy to understand. We're talking a 5th or 6th grade reading level. This way, no matter who your audience is, they'll be able to understand and answer effectively. You also want your question to be super specific. You don't want survey participants guessing or making assumptions about what you're asking. For example, instead of asking, do you eat a healthy diet? You could ask, on average, how many servings of vegetables do you eat each day? Like a wedding reception dance floor, you want to break it down. Don't pack too much into one question. Instead, break things down into a series of related questions. Instead of asking, how satisfied are you with this service? Ask a series of questions about specific topics like product quality, customer service, delivery timelines, etc. Another way to write a great survey question is to give clear choices. If survey participants don't have clear choices, they'll get stuck giving answers. Instead of listing multiple choice age groups like 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, and so on, try structuring the options so they don't overlap, like 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, and so on. Lastly, when creating questions, give participants an option to not answer. If a question seems too intrusive or personal to the participant, they may not want to answer and in turn not complete the survey at all. Allowing them to skip the question by using an I prefer not to answer option will keep participants on track and more likely to complete the survey. Now that you know what it takes to write the perfect survey question, let's take a look at creating an overall survey strategy. When you have a unifying purpose behind your survey, it's more likely to be successful. Here are some helpful tips to help you design a survey strategy. Try using different types of questions. By including a combination of multiple choice questions, open-ended questions, and rating scales, you'll be able to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Implement the funnel technique. Start your survey with broad questions that are easy to answer. Simple questions warm up respondents before presenting them with more complex questions. Then taper back down with simple responses at the end of your survey. This encourages each participant to answer all of the questions presented. Just like with your survey questions themselves, keep your overall strategy short. The length of your survey will affect your completion rates. Aim for just a few short questions. Your respondents are more likely to complete your survey if it takes less than five minutes to complete. Incorporate conditional logic into your surveys. Conditional logic uses the participants' responses to guide them to the next questions that are relevant to them. This tactic will boost completion rates so you can gather more responses. As important as it is to know what to do when creating surveys, it's also important to know what not to do. There are three common survey pitfalls you should avoid. First, eliminate that bias. Avoid writing survey questions that make assumptions about your respondents' experiences or identities. Second, avoid writing leading questions. If you want an honest and true answer, don't phrase your questions in a way that encourages respondents to give a specific answer. Let's say you want to gauge customer satisfaction using the question, How satisfied are you with our customer service? That assumes that the respondent was somewhat satisfied. Instead, ask questions like, did we solve your problem today? Third, make sure to check for errors. It's important to avoid errors like the use of double negatives, typos, run-on sentences, and punctuation mistakes. Being error-free will set a professional tone in your surveys. The cherry on top of your amazing new survey is utilizing user-friendly survey tools. Optimize the user experience and improve your overall survey outcome with JotForm's SurveyMaker tool. It has a plethora of features that'll improve the quality of surveys like 200-plus mobile-friendly templates, customization options, conditional logic, embedded codes, progress bars, JotForm Reports Builder, and JotForm Tables, data security, offline surveys, payment options, and so much more. There's a lot that goes into creating high-quality surveys, from writing great survey questions to implementing a survey strategy and making sure to avoid common pitfalls. By mastering these three areas, your surveys are sure to provide helpful insights for your business. Let's review. When it comes to building a good survey question, keep these elements in mind. Keep it simple, be specific, break things down into a series of questions, give clear choices, and offer an option to not answer. On top of that, hone your overall survey strategy by incorporating conditional logic and using the funnel technique. Make sure to avoid common pitfalls like creating bias, using leading questions, and not checking for errors. Until next time, I'm Alex with JotForm. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe to watch more JotForm videos.

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