Email surveys have been a proven way for marketers to collect data from their customers for some time. Yet while email surveys are a standard in the industry, not all surveys are created equally. When it comes to survey design, not everyone writes questions that are effective at collecting data as accurately as others.
Survey Design
Questions are the foundation of your email survey, so making sure that they are created properly is an essential step. Also, make sure that whenever you are creating a survey you keep in mind that your respondents are doing something for you and you should make the survey as easy as possible for them to take.
To better develop your surveys, keep the following points in mind:
- List only a few questions per screen
- Eliminate unnecessary questions
- Reduce the amount of graphics used
- Consider how your respondents may interpret your questions
- Restrict response choices to reduce errors
- Make error messages specific to help guide responses
- Indicate the progress of the survey's completion
- Incorporate a method for respondents to complete the survey at a later time should they be interrupted
Lastly, test the survey thoroughly. Test using different browsers, email clients, and computer operating systems to make sure no respondent is left out.