Five Hints for Effective Survey Design

Published on April 23, 2007

Surveys are a great way to learn what customers think of your business. Brian Henderson of Prezza Technologies cautions that all surveys are not created equal. As you design your own, consider his advice:

Less is more. Even eager participants will become less-than-enthusiastic if they know your survey is going to take more than five or 10 minutes to complete.

Clarity counts. Keep your sentence structure concise and your words simple; the more straightforward, the better. Stick primarily to yes/no questions and multiple-choice selections. These produce the most usable data. Limit the number of open-ended questions (e.g., "What do you like best about this product?"). You’ll get a different answer from each respondent, and deciding what matters might give you a headache.

Better safe than sorry. Recruit family and friends for a trial run. Their input can help you fix glitches in advance.

Timing is everything. Don’t broadcast over a weekend. Recipients are most likely to respond between Tuesday and Thursday. Surveys sent on Mondays and Fridays might be set aside for later.

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