Improve your survey questions to get better results. Whatever kind of online survey you are creating there are certain things to keep in mind when you write the questions to ensure your results are useful. Try to imagine one typical person in the group you’re sending the online survey to. Put yourself in that person’s way of thinking and try to write the online survey questions for them.

Simple improvements in survey questions can give big results

If you want a high response rate and a few dropouts, it is important to help the respondent as much as possible and therefor improve your survey questions. Different kinds of surveys require different options to be answered. A slider makes it easy for the respondents to choose their answer on a scale and a dropdown menu facilitates selecting age. The most common ways for respondents to answer a text box where they write their own answers, responses where they are forced to choose just one alternative or where they can select multiple alternatives.

7 things to think about when writing your online survey questions

1. Write simply and clearly

Writing in a way that every respondent can understand the question is the most important thing to think about. Write clearly and try to avoid industry-specific words.

2. Cover as many options as possible in the response options

Not giving the respondents enough options in your survey can give you frustrated respondents and misleading results. Of course you can’t add response options for all people, which leads us into…

3. Complement the alternatives with “other”

If you also want to know which alternative, add the possibility for the respondent to write it themselves.

4. Avoid emotive words

Emotive words, both positive and negative, can affect the respondent’s answer. Try to be completely impartial when writing your online survey questions.

5. Don’t try to save time by combining several questions in one

Don’t ask: How was your experience of the support service and their knowledge? If the respondent found the service excellent, but their knowledge poor you make it  impossible for them to answer the question and that will only give you unreliable results and irritated respondents.

6. Be specific about what you are asking

If you write questions about a certain product or event, make sure you are very clear about which one you mean. Describe the product or event if there is a possibility that the respondent does not know about it.

7. Test your questions

Let a few colleagues read and answer your questions and come back with feedback. Ask them to highlight everything they don’t understand or think is just a little bit unclear.

Want to read more useful survey tips? Read on at  How to write better email texts for your online surveys.

Why should you choose Netigate?

With an online survey software such as Netigate, you already have templates for most of your customer, client, employee or course evaluation surveys ensuring that the survey setup goes faster and you can get your survey setup faster and with professional support for any additional questions you may want to ask.