7 tips for a successful survey

Do you want to create questionnaires that captivate your respondents from the outset and encourage active participation until the end? Do you aim to gather authentic responses for your marketing studies? The key to an effective questionnaire lies in two words: conversational and engaging.

Conversational, because there is nothing better to make your respondents forget they are participating in a marketing survey than to give them the impression they are conversing with someone! A conversational tone ensures their engagement and the authenticity of their responses.

Making your questionnaires dynamic and adapted to social media survey methodology is part of our expertise: discover our 7 best practices for engaging respondents and collecting their authentic responses.

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1) Clear objectives, precise targets: the secret to an effective questionnaire

The success of a survey primarily depends on a clear definition of your final objectives and target audience. Effective marketing requires clear objectives and an appropriate target, especially when it comes to consumer studies.

Clearly defining your target audience (gender, age, geographical area, interests, etc.) ensures the relevance of the data collected, and also allows for the construction of a questionnaire with an appropriate tone. For instance, if respondents are under 30, it is preferable to use informal address (tu) when speaking to them.

🎯  Clearly defining your target audience already provides the keys to effectively surveying them.

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2) Reinforcing the impression of conversation with a natural tone, varied questions, and emojis

The best way to construct the questionnaire is, first and foremost, to envision it as a fluid conversation on an instant messaging platform📱.

Regarding natural tone and with this conversational approach, in addition to using informal address (tu) for those under 30, the first person singular should be favored for writing response options.

Adding rhythm to your questionnaire also involves varying the types of questions asked:

• Matrix questions are an excellent way to offer a playful response mode (and to obtain structured and quantitative data on complex subjects).
• Closed-ended questions are ideal for obtaining specific answers and percentages,
• while open-ended questions allow respondents to express themselves freely and provide more nuanced responses.

By varying question types, we ensure a smoother and more engaging survey experience for respondents.

Finally, nothing beats emojis 😉 to make the survey as visual and engaging as possible – resembling an instant messaging conversation. They are now an integral part of digital language and an ideal way to bring questions to life and illustrate different response options.

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3) Clear questions and careful transitions: how to best guide the respondent

While focusing on an engaging conversational tone for the survey, the importance of a clear and coherent structure must not be overlooked. To achieve this, each specific theme should feature clear questions and constitute a distinct section introduced by a transition.

A prerequisite for its success, a survey must contain clear and universally understandable questions. Therefore, overly specific jargon, complex sentence structures, anglicisms, etc., should be avoided. Furthermore, each specific term introduced in the survey can be accompanied by a short definition, thereby adding an educational dimension to your respondents' experience!

Between each section, transitions such as: 'Thank you for your responses, let's now move on to the section concerning topic X' will help respondents understand their progress within your survey 📍.  

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4) Encouraging respondents to express themselves: the importance of open-ended questions

Even the most well-constructed survey cannot anticipate all possible respondent answers. Include open-ended questions to learn from your respondents and give them the opportunity to express themselves freely 🕊️.

A well-structured quantitative survey can incorporate a few open-ended questions. The comments and insights might surprise you, and these collected verbatims will also be valuable for illustrating the data!

However, be careful not to overuse them, as you risk losing your respondents and ensuring a tedious analysis phase... 🥵

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5) No room for boredom thanks to multimedia elements

More than effective remedies against monotony, multimedia elements (images 🖼️ , videos 🎞️ and audios 🎵 ) further enhance the feeling of conversing with someone. A great way to make the experience enjoyable and engaging, maximizing respondent participation!

Multimedia elements are also essential for advertising post-tests. Showing respondents different posters or the TV commercial from an advertising campaign will allow you to ascertain their preferred visual or their feelings about a specific creative element.

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6) Nuanced and exhaustive responses: how to formulate response options?

The binary nature of yes/no responses should be avoided whenever possible, as respondents' opinions are rarely black and white.

Nuance should be favored with response scales such as these, for example:

• yes, absolutely 👍👍
• yes, somewhat 👍
• no, not really 👎
• no, not at all 👎👎

Quantitative studies that best reflect respondents' opinions are those that allow them to express nuanced answers.

Among the possible responses, it is important to include options such as 'I don't know 🤷‍♂️ ' and 'other'. In addition to the engagement, clarity, and user-friendliness of your survey, its exhaustiveness is crucial. It helps to prevent, at all costs, the frustration of respondents who cannot find themselves in the proposed answers. Warning: not finding a response that matches their situation can be a reason for abandoning the survey.

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7) Don't lose your respondents with an overly long survey

Pay close attention to questionnaire length, as it is a key factor for its success. If the questionnaire is too long, some respondents may become discouraged and abandon it before completion, which risks extending the data collection period 🕒 and increasing your study's cost 💸 .

Therefore, take ample time to define realistic objectives based on the questionnaire's length. This approach ensures a satisfactory experience for respondents while yielding valuable feedback! Do not lose sight of the fact that respondents are often not compensated.

⌚ What is the ideal questionnaire length? It is advisable to favor questionnaires with a maximum duration of 15 minutes (approximately 40-50 questions).

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Key takeaways

In summary, what are the key takeaways?

• Clearly specify the questionnaire's objectives and target audience
• Favor a natural tone and clear questions
• Vary the types of questions
• Add emojis
• Design transitions between different themes for a smooth flow
• Offer comprehensive and nuanced response options
• Do not hesitate to integrate multimedia content
• Maintain a reasonable questionnaire length (40-50 questions max)

Regardless of your questionnaire's initial form (from embryonic to highly developed), our Customer Success Managers will be there to support you, from its adaptation to conversational technology through to its programming!

As you have understood, the key to success lies in a conversational tone. This is a unique characteristic of Episto questionnaires, fostering respondent engagement and enabling the collection of highly authentic responses from your target audiences.

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