Is Any Survey Better than No Survey?
Short answer: no.
Online surveys are an easy and affordable way to conduct market research in today’s age. According to an article on Survey Monkey, “[surveys] can be used to access key demographic information, and then you can find out just about anything—from what customers like about your brand to what kind of product your market needs.” Marketing research can help inform decisions, which may ultimately lead to increased ROI.
“Bad” surveys are not only useless, but can be misleading. As part of your marketing research plan, poorly conducted surveys can result in data that can mislead your marketing efforts. That means time and money could be wasted on marketing measures that do not help you get closer to reaching your marketing goals.
What makes a survey bad?
One of easiest way to end up with skewed survey results is to use a survey audience that’s not representative of your target marketing audience. This problem is more common than not, as finding sound participants to complete your surveys can be especially challenging.
Other factors that lend to poor surveys include mobile-friendliness. As our generation becomes dependent on smartphones, it’s especially important that surveys are easily accessible via mobile. Also, it’s important to limit survey length. The perfect length is that in which you get all the information you need, without turning participants away before finishing. Lastly, complex question formats can also lead to poor surveys. Keep things simple and straightforward.
While there are many other factors to be wary of, creating good surveys is a fairly straight-forward process, and good surveys can lead to insightful marketing research.
To read more about which question types are best suited for your marketing research goals, check out my last blog post.