I'm a Survey Monkey

With the success of cheap web survey tools like Survey Monkey (surveymonkey.com) and Zoomerang (zoomerang.com) research is starting to seem like an obtainable goal for even the cheapest budget. A few years ago it seemed like wanting to conduct research for any marketing or advertising project was completely out of the question. I remember pleading with clients that if we just did some upfront research our integrated marketing campaigns would be one hundred times better. So now I have the tools and its time to see if I was right. I'm two Zoomerang surveys in and I'm excited to finish my integrated plans to see if it really paid off. I'll keep you posted! But in the meantime if you're going to start a survey, check out this small article from MarketingProf.

Twelve Tips for Conducting Effective Surveys
by Brian Henderson
March 20, 2007

We've all been on the receiving end of far too many poorly constructed surveys that required too much time and energy simply to share our thoughts.

Recently, my favorite local brewery failed to retain my interest during its 20-page saga of a survey. Even though the subject was interesting (beer), I lost my interest when I realized my time was not being taken into consideration.

Here's a top twelve list of how to conduct surveys without losing contact with your customer.

1. Define the survey's purpose

Figure out exactly what you want your customers to tell you. For instance, you may want to find out whether they are satisfied with your service. So ask them. Do not gather any extra data if you aren't sure exactly what you are going to do with the results.

2. Keep it short and sweet

It shouldn't take a respondent more than 10 minutes to complete a questionnaire. Make it five or even two minutes or less, if you can manage. Also, keep survey respondents in the loop along the way by telling them up front how long the survey might take, including a progress bar and, maybe, even naming the survey something relative to how long it will take.

For the rest of the Top Ten click here:
http://www.marketingprofs.com/print.asp?source=%2F7%2Ftips%2Dfor%2Dusing%2Dsurvey%2Dsoftware%2Dhenderson%2Easp