Author Archives: SoGoSurvey

Distributing Your Survey: Collecting Lots of Data

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If you’ve ever run and managed an online survey, you’ve likely spent time worrying about what questions to ask.While the questions are certainly important, you also need to make sure that your survey reaches a lot of people and that you obtain high-quality data.

Over the next few days, we’ll be discussing the importance of:

1.Getting your survey out to as many survey-takers as possible. If they don’t see your survey, how can they participate?

2.Ensuring that the data you receive is reliable and of good quality. Many surveys become victims of Garbage In, Garbage Out. In other words, poorly designed and distributed surveys return worthless data.

First, let’s talk about data collection. The most important rule is to collect lots of high quality data — the more the better.

Here are some ways to achieve that:

Beat spam filters
If you’re scratching your head wondering why your response rate is so low, keep in mind that people can’t take surveys they don’t receive. The most likely culprit — too many of your survey invitations are ending up in spam filters.

One of the key reasons for survey invitations getting stuck in spam filters is the MX record mismatch. I’ll spare you the technical details, but it’s very likely your current survey tool has this problem. If your email is being trapped, and your technical support has no idea why, you must relay your email through your own mail server.

Open all channels
It’s essential to have multiple ways to launch your survey.

SoGoSurvey helps you reach a wider audience through the following ways:

•Text message invites allow people to complete their survey on their smartphones,tablets and other mobile devices
•Send Email invites to email addresses you have on record
•Chain invites allow all your participants to send survey invites to up to 10 of their contacts
•Social Media platforms are integrated with our system so that you can publish your surveys on Facebook and Twitter
•Embed a link to your survey in every website that grants you permission
•Send passwords on postcards via snail mail to those for whom you don’t have email addresses

You see the pattern here; it’s best if you can reach your participants every way possible, from wireless to carrier pigeon.

Most survey software platforms don’t offer Chain Invites, SMS Invites or even Social Media Integration, thereby limiting distribution options.

SoGoSurvey not only lets you collect data using all these channels, we also make it possible for you toanalyze the data individually by each channel or by combining all the channels.

Check back tomorrow to learn about leveraging your distribution channels.

Why Conduct Online Marketing Research Surveys?

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Marketing-Research

Ever wonder why a marketing survey is so important?

Since the internet and mobile technology have made it possible to reach people on the go, marketing surveys are a perfect tool to take your customers’ pulse.

Here’s why SoGoSurvey advocates conducting these types of surveys:

Revise Product Offerings or Pricing

Send an online feedback survey to design effective product improvement strategies that will boost sales. It will also help you set customer satisfaction goals and implement achievement strategies. Market research surveys provide critical information about your target market, as well as their buying habits and product feedback.

You can also learn about customer awareness and identify potential customers.

Social Media Presence

There’s no denying that leveraging social media is a critical business strategy. Running surveys is a good way to locate your target audience, while identifying the benefits of Facebook and Twitter will help you devise productive social media strategies to maximize your online survey results.

By running a market survey, you can also:

  • Gain insights into customer demographics to identify potential customers and increase the satisfaction of your existing customers.
  • Understand market segmentation based on demographics in order to design aggressive market strategies for segments that may share common attributes such as demographics, geography, lifestyle, product usage and brand affinity.
  • Decide how and when to launch your creative campaigns.
  • Decide branding, positioning and naming guidelines.
  • Embed your survey on your website or another web page. This is another avenue to drive traffic to your website and boost revenues.

Use SoGoSurvey to run your next online marketing survey, and watch your participation rates soar!

 

Employee Engagement Surveys — They’re Kind of Important

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employee engagement

Despite the massive success of Black Friday and Cyber Monday — consumers spent nearly $60 billion — you don’t need an Employee Engagement Survey to know that hardworking people do not like being forced from their beds at 3:00 a.m. in order to accommodate an out of control consumer culture.

But it definitely would’ve helped.

With the boycotting of big box retailers and the demise of the beloved Hostess Brands, workers are increasingly expressing their frustration with their perceived mistreatment. Once this news reaches the public, both sides — management and employees — are intent on a showdown. This can have negative consequences for the company and its workers. How can you avoid a similar fate?

The first step in conflict resolution is listening.

Employee Engagement Surveys are not some touchy-feely, New Age solution. They are an invaluable tool that will help you address problems and conflicts before they get out of hand. Ultimately, obtaining feedback about your employees’ questions, suggestions or concerns has a positive effect on your bottom line.

Businesses large and small can benefit from conducting these surveys. SoGoSurvey provides an easy and intuitive platform that creates online surveys and automatically graded assessments. We also have a repository of expertly crafted employee assessment surveys that will meet your business needs.

In addition, you can distribute your surveys in a variety of ways, including SMS, and receive instant feedback from your employees. This versatility ensures that you receive reliable data that you can immediately act on.

Don’t wait until you’re down to your last Twinkie before you begin communicating effectively with your workers. Growing your profits demands that you respect your employees. That respect begins with a constructive dialogue. That dialogue begins with listening.

Writing Effective Survey Questions — Why It’s Important

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Nothing contributes to the success of your survey as much as the right survey questions. So, it’s important to spend time crafting your questions. Good questions provide you with high quality, reliable data.

On the other hand, poorly structured questions lead to incomplete surveys, unfocused responses and biased results. Such responses will render your research incomplete, inaccurate and ineffective.

Here are a few dos and don’ts of writing effective survey questions.

Write sharply focused questions.

Each question should be concise and focused. Clear questions elicit clear and relevant responses.

Write direct questions.

Don’t ask rambling or confusing questions. Your participants may become confused and frustrated, causing them to drop out. Keep your questions short and direct.

Don’t write leading questions.

Never write questions that suggest the answers, as that introduces bias into your results. It is important that you maintain the accuracy and objectivity of your survey.

Use neutral language.

Don’t use loaded or emotive words in your questions.

Avoid double-barreled questions.

Double-barreled questions are ineffective because they have two possible responses, which can easily confuse respondents. Instead, use branching for convenience and clarity.

Don’t use absolute words.

Stay away from absolute words such as all, best and ever because these words force respondents to fully agree or disagree with your questions. Take a more nuanced approach in order to obtain more specific responses.

Writing effective survey questions leads to higher participation and better data — and that’s what it’s all about.

Increasing Response Rates for Your Online Surveys

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To increase your survey response rates, you must make your survey interesting and interactive. It should be visually engaging and follow certain guidelines:

Respect Other People’s Time

It is imperative that you respect your survey participant’s time. Make sure your survey is short, crisp and relevant, in addition to providing clearly visible information and instructions. SoGoSurvey’s Pre-Population feature allows you to pre-fill known fields such as name, age and email address, which shows your participants you know who they are and are not wasting their time.

Personalize Your Invitations

The famous television show, Cheers,said it best. We want to go where everybody knows our name. Personal touches play an extremely important role in higher response rates. Use SoGoSurvey’s Customized Email option to add a personal touch to your survey invitations.

Get it, Got It, Good

SoGoSurvey offers you many ways to distribute your online survey invites. These include publishing your survey via email, SMS/text message, social media sites and webpages. Having multiple ways to distribute your survey ensures that you reach the most participants.

It’s All In the Name

Your survey title or subject line should accurately convey what your survey is about. This is not only an ethical obligation but also a legal one — the Can Spam Act of 2003 outlaws the use of false or misleading headers or subject lines. And, by creating an accurate, catchy title, you’re sure to grab your participants’ attention, thereby increasing survey response rates.

Eliminate GIGO

We are human; mistakes happen. But be careful because sending out error-ridden surveys will lead to participants dropping out and opting out. Avoid these issues with SoGoSurvey’s test invites. This level of quality control helps you eliminate mistakes before your survey goes live.

So what are you waiting for? Choose SoGoSurvey and watch your participation rates soar!