I was recently served a follow-up “usability” survey for a redesigned website I was on. As a marketer, I was intrigued and excited to give my input. I like the idea of how this process worked and I of course was happy to answer marketing-focused questions. Then, ten minutes into the survey, the excitement waivered and I became uninterested. I started trying to answer the questions quickly just to be done and get it over with.
The questions were never-ending. I finally gave up and exited the survey completely. This was unfortunate because this company will never receive my feedback, even though I had spent 10 minutes previously filling out part of the survey. I found it ironic that a company who was concerned with the ease and accessibility of their website was asking their visitors to fill out a survey that was anything but easy.
With that being said, quick polls, surveys and questionnaires are a great way to gather customer feedback and engagement when done correctly. And with websites such as Survey Monkey, it is free or inexpensive to do so. However, before you begin adding surveys into your marketing efforts, it is important to remember the objective of the survey and create the questions around content that helps you get the information you are trying to gather.
Also, remember the key to valuable customer feedback and engagement is to keep them interested and not take advantage of their time. Try not to steer off course or do too many things at once, and keep the questions brief and easy to understand.
For a more tips and advice on marketing surveys, click here.
What survey tips do you have?