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Can I increase shipping costs without adversely affecting my sales? Is my shopping cart clearly defined and easy to follow? Are there additional products or services that my customers want?
Web surveys are essential tools to help you answer questions like these to better understand your customers and strengthen your sales. While Web surveys are inexpensive and able to produce results quickly, they still require proper project planning to maximize their effectiveness. The six simple steps for conducting Web surveys that get results are outlined below:
1. Identify Your Objective
Clearly identify your research objective up front. The ideal objective has a narrow scope and can be clearly stated. The wider the scope, the more complex your survey will become and the less meaningful the results will be. To define your objective, ask yourself, "What problem am I trying to solve?" For example, "What is the primary reason why 60 percent of my customers abandon their shopping cart before completing the sale?"
2. Decide What Information You Need
Once you have defined your objective, identify the information you need to reach it. Be specific and avoid the temptation to gather additional, "nice to know" information that does not help to solve your problem. You may be able to tie vital information that you already have in your database to your survey, such as whether it's a new or returning customer, their most recent purchase, how much they have spent on your site, etc.
3. Develop Your Questions
The beginning of your survey should include an introduction that is enticing and clearly states the purpose of your research. Because Web surveys are self-selecting (i.e., you have no control over who decides to participate), make sure that you write an introduction that grabs the attention of potential respondents and encourages their participation. Include instructions on how to complete the survey and an estimate of how much time it will take to complete.
After the introduction, it is time to ask questions. Like their traditional counterparts, Web surveys allow you to use many different formats for asking questions. Web surveys also add new formats, such as drop-down lists, that enhance the appearance of questions with long lists of alternative answers, support for skip patterns, and automated branching and data validation.
As with any survey, the way you phrase questions will have a major influence on the answers you receive. Biased, unclear, or ambiguous questions will lead to misleading responses. To maximize results, questions should be asked with the following in mind:
- Ask questions that will provide the information you need to solve your problem.
- Use plain, easy-to-understand language.
- Avoid technical terms, jargon, and acronyms.
- Organize your questions in logical groups.
- Ask important questions first, demographic questions last.
- Be sensitive to the feelings of the respondent.
As a general rule, keep your survey short, simple, and to the point. Finish your survey by thanking participants for their assistance.
4. Conduct the Survey
Once you have built your questionnaire, test it to determine that is clearly written and can be understood by your target audience.
The two primary methods for distributing a Web survey are from a Web site or as a link in an email message. If you send the survey out as an email attachment, or you use an email message to invite people to your Web site to take the survey, make sure your message is clear and compelling. In addition, you should also:
- Address the invitation to a single person when possible.
- Never list more than one address in the "TO" or "CC" fields since all recipients will see the entire list.
- Include a valid email address in the "FROM" field or recipients will consider your message "spam".
- Provide the URL that will take people directly to your survey.
- Tell recipients how to contact you if they have a problem or concern.
- Identify the source of purchased email addresses so recipients know whom to contact if they want to be removed from the list.
Once you have sent out notifications, responses will begin to come in immediately. Most responses will arrive within 72 hours of receiving your invitation.
5. Analyze the Responses
You can begin to analyze results as soon as responses are received. Results are received in electronic format and are graphed automatically. Most online survey tools allow you to review, filter and cross-tab the data in real time, or export the data to a detailed analysis program like SPSS when detailed statistical analysis is required. Remember to always relate your analysis back to your objective.
6. Recommend Action
With the results in hand, you are armed and ready to recommend specific actions. You may have learned that your shipping rates are too high, or that you need to make your privacy policy more prominent. Whatever you learn, make sure that you communicate the results of your survey to your customers. Tell them what you intend to do as a result of your survey. This will reinforce that you value their feedback, and will help to encourage future participation. Good luck!
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