How to Create an Original Survey
Companies usually create surveys or questionnaires to garner feedback to help make business decisions. Many of these surveys measure customer satisfaction or to plan new products. The first step in creating an original survey is identifying your survey audience. You can target current customers or a combination of current customers and non-customer consumers. However, the non-customer consumers should be people who would likely use your product. Include non-customer consumers when introducing a new product, or when measuring your company's overall brand or advertising awareness among consumers. Also, make sure you survey at least 300 people for more reliable results.
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Instructions
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Define the key objectives of your survey, advises the Small Business Administration. Meet with other company managers, if necessary, to discuss objectives they want for the survey. Use objectives such as, "To find why customer usage has fallen 10 percent this year" or "To measure customer satisfaction of our new cell phone line." Use objectives that are clear and measurable, then start thinking of questions that will address these objectives.
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Choose which type of survey will best reach your target audience, such as phone, mail or Internet surveys. Use a phone survey, for example, for more timely and controlled responses. Make sure you tailor your survey to the specific type of survey you use. Write your questions so surveyors can read the instructions and responses to people, for example, if you are going to conduct phone surveys.
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Start your survey by explaining what company you represent and the information you will be collecting. State in the survey that all information is confidential and that the respondent's name will never be revealed. Follow the introduction with a qualifying question to ensure that the surveyor is speaking to the right person. For example, ask, "Are you the person who shops for cosmetics" if you sell cosmetics.
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Write your survey questions in a logical order. Divide your questionnaire into various sections like product, price, service and demographic questions. Use about 80 or 90 percent closed-ended or multiple choice questions in your survey. Create closed-ended questions with responses such as "very satisfied," "somewhat dissatisfied," "neither," "somewhat dissatisfied" or "very dissatisfied" to better gauge your customers' satisfaction levels. Add a few open-ended or "fill-in-the-blank" questions to get more detailed information. Ask an open-ended question such as, "Why are you somewhat dissatisfied with our customer service department," for example.
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End your survey with a question about purchase intent, like "How likely are you to purchase our products again?" Use the purchase intent question as a gauge for continued success. Ask customers why they will not purchase from you again if they say "no."
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Tips & Warnings
Keep your phone surveys limited to five minutes, and mail and Internet surveys limited to one or two pages. People will be more likely to hang up or quit answering questions if your surveys are too long.
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