7 common mistakes in creating an online survey & ways to avoid them
Paper questionnaires and surveys have been the easiest method for all types of market research for the past twenty years until online surveys and questionnaires provided a different meaning of ease. Many questionnaires and surveys were prepared with the online survey software, and the new economy started its way to success with the appropriate use of this new gate.
After a while, it became clear that among the surveys, some receive unimaginable feedback, and others did not lead to desired results, contrary to expectations. Apparently, there were blind spots that were hidden from view.
Common online survey mistakes lead to reduced response rates or low-quality data collection. In this post, we try to examine 7 common mistakes in online survey design and present ways to avoid them.
1. Avoid not customizing the online form and survey
Organizations spend a lot of time and resources to customize and make content interactive through email marketing, website design, and the like. But don’t forget that online surveys are also a point of contact with customers and audiences. Customizing the form and survey is attractive to the respondents, increases the response rate, and collects high-quality data. In Porsline survey/form builder software, this mistake can be easily avoided by:
- Creating a friendly welcome page that briefly shows the response time, the types of questions, the reasons for asking and the purpose of using the survey.
- Assigning a special score to those who complete the survey can be a factor to attract and increase responses.
- Using the ability to pass answers and «Custom Variables» and address respondents by name either on the welcome page, in the text of the questions, or on the thank you page.
- Use the «Add Logic» feature to smartly display relevant questions based on user responses. In this way, instead of displaying all questions and making the respondents manually ignore irrelevant ones, each respondent sees only the relevant sections and answers them easily.
2. Avoid using dull designs and coloring
One of the biggest online survey mistakes that people make is that they don’t dedicate enough time to make the survey visually appealing. Filling out a form that does not have an attractive design or is not clear on mobile phones is considered an inappropriate and boring experience for the respondent.
The correct and appropriate design of online surveys helps the respondents to better understand the questions. To learn more about how to design an online survey and quiz, read this post:
On Porsline, use the appropriate icon, image, or video in each question. If you are not sure whether an image is suitable or not, it is better to first see some sample ready-made survey templates on Porsline.
3. Avoid using a large number of questions in online surveys
A large number of questions in online surveys make respondents either skip responding or even respond with low accuracy and without enough attention. Therefore, not only the number of responses collected will be reduced, but also the quality of the collected data will be poor.
As a result, it is better to include the minimum number of questions in the survey and form so that it can be completed in less than 10 minutes. Even more, if you can answer the questions in less than 5 minutes, the response rate will increase greatly.
Furthermore, it is preferable not to change the type of survey questions and their measurement scale as much as possible, so the respondents don’t have to read new instructions for each question and get bored.
4. Do not use different types of surveys and questions incorrectly and unrelatedly
A wrong survey type and the questions you choose can confuse the respondent and reduce the quality of the collected data. This error occurs in the following areas:
- In this common survey mistake, for example, instead of using a multiple-choice question, you use a prioritization question, or instead of using a numerical question, you use a text question.
- Of course, another survey mistake that can happen is sending survey questions to unrelated audiences. For example, asking someone who bought clothes from you for their feedback on an electrical device.
- Other examples are unreadable, unclear, ambiguous, or incomprehensible questions.
The simplest and least expensive method to determine the organization’s future plans and goals is to conduct an online survey. But this does not mean that every online survey can have such an ability.
The principles of setting questions must be considered when creating the survey. Learn some principles and tips for writing survey questions in this post:
Eight essential tips for writing survey questions.
The following strategies work well to avoid this mistake:
- Do not rush! Spend more time choosing question types.
- Use sample ready-made survey templates from a specialized site such as Porsline.
- Test the survey with a few people before activating and sending it out to the audience. If you like to send the link of the survey you created to the Porsline Customer Success Team, we will be ready to guide and help you.
5. Avoid creating a large number of questions that are mandatory to answer
For you, as an online survey designer, you can force the respondent to answer each question with just one click. However, a large number of questions with a mandatory answer – especially if they also relate to personal information – will cause the respondent to stop answering and leave the online survey.
There are three methods to avoid this survey mistake:
- Think carefully, based on the goals of the survey, whether the answer to each question should be mandatory, or is it better to just answer the question. If the last statement applies to the question of the survey, then do not make it mandatory to answer.
- In multiple-choice and Likert scale questions, add the option “I have no opinion”, “other”, etc. This method helps the respondents to find the appropriate option for answering if they have not found an answer among the choices.
- If you use questions with personal or confidential answers, explain to the audience that this information is kept confidential and will not be leaked.
6. Do not leave the audience at the end of responding to the survey
The response rate to the survey is the most important and necessary factor. But the second important factor is the new interactive window that has been opened with the customer by creating an online survey. After the audience and customers have answered the survey questions, it is better to direct them to the page you want by dedicating a thank you page. This page can be a new product introduction, an upcoming event, or a special discount page.
In addition, in cases where you use an online survey during an exhibition, seminar, or event, it is better to direct the respondent to the reports page at the end or set the form to be downloaded automatically for the next respondent.
7. Do not ask for unnecessary information
If you are looking to shorten the time of responding to the survey and reduce the number of questions, one of the best ways is to avoid asking unnecessary questions, especially questions such as the customer’s name, contact information, the date of his/her purchases and orders, that you have information about.
With the ability to «Use custom variables», you can use the information you have in the survey. Of course, you can also use Porsline API and integrate different databases easily.
Conclusion
Online questionnaires and surveys are simple tools to conduct different types of market research, customer and employee satisfaction evaluation, and other applications. However, if this important tool does not meet the required standards, it will not only lead to non-development of the organization but will also be a main obstacle to achieving its goals. If you do not have the required skills to create online survey questions and you want a faster solution to avoid survey mistakes, all you need to do is use the sample surveys from Porsline, in which the notes mentioned in this post have been taken into consideration.
