Survey Research

USAA Survey says Shoppers Plan to Use Cash this Holiday Season USAA, the insurance and financial company who we've reported tops customer satisfaction surveys time and time again says shoppers are planning to use more cash and less credit this holiday season. Their insurance survey report shows 85% of shoppers plan to use cash and 62% plan to use more cash this year than last year.

They also found that 56% of consumers have been saving cash throughout the year to spend during the holidays. This jives with other survey research that Americans are, in general, saving more and spending less. Perhaps more important to USAA's financial services business, though, is their data which shows that 74% of those who plan to use a credit card for their holiday purchases plan to pay off the balance immediately. 

On a broader note, a retail survey commissioned by the National Retail Foundation reports overall holiday sales will be down about 1% and that two-thirds of families have adjusted their holiday plans due to the economy.

Online retailers continue to be the bright spot, however, with sales expected to increase about 8%, according to Forrester Research. 

It is tempting to include many similar question types with similar response options in your online survey design.  Matrix questions, for example, provide an efficient questionnaire design method to help you gather lots of data in a neat, brief survey form.  It is wise, however, to resist the urge to use too many uniform survey questions and response lists, namely because of two sources of bias that stem from doing so: habituation and acquiescence.

Habituation occurs when respondents begin providing the same answers to survey questions with the same response options.  They start to get in a habit and select the identical response choice for every question.

Acquiescence is related to habituation, and occurs when respondents passively agree with an interviewer or survey questions.  Agree-disagree scales are the most often-used response options in opinion surveys; it is important that you take steps to avoid the chance that respondents will passively agree with your statements in order to quickly complete the questionnaire or provide what they think may be the “right” answers.

To avoid these response biases, you can use online survey software that allows question randomization, break up your matrix questions with other types of questions and scales, and phrase some questions in a manner that makes respondents switch their thinking.  An example of the latter would be to ask a series of positive questions in your survey questionnaire, and then throw in a couple questions worded differently so as not to allow habituation or acquiescence.  Use care up-front in your online questionnaire design to be sure that you'll reduce error and bias in your results.

In the past several years, many market researchers have shifted to using online surveys more frequently. Traditionally, these online surveys were emailed rather than posted online to avoid data skewing.

When creating the online survey design, there are several things to consider. Make sure the electronic survey is simple and easy to use. Too often, online survey forms are cumbersome or technologically dated. Keep it simple, and you won’t run into any problems.

You must also plan carefully to make sure no questions are missed. You can design online surveys so they will not allow survey respondent to move on if mandatory questions are not completed. In addition to requiring survey questions, I would advise setting up the internet survey so respondents cannot complete the questionnaire more than once. Most online survey research software applications have features to create limits on how many times someone can fill out an online survey form. This prevents skewed data – some respondents will try to complete online survey forms multiple times if there is a giveaway or drawing offered as an incentive.

Make sure you read over your electronic survey a few times as well. Proofreading is especially important when designing online surveys. You must have members of your team proofread not only for grammar and clarity, but also functionality. Make sure all the links work, and the survey can be completed with all your caveats and mandatory questions. 

Online surveys have made it possible to gather information much quicker, and when used properly provide an excellent resource for market researchers.

All too often, we begin the survey creation process, but draw a blank.  How should we design a survey?  Should a survey design have the company look and feel?  Or should we design it to be a fresh look?

Having an online surveys tool that has survey templates built into the system is extremely important.  It eliminates the nagging question, "What is a survey design? How do I create a professional looking web 2.0 survey?"  This gives the survey builder that boost to get the creative juices flowing. In the Cvent Web Survey solution, there are over 50 graphical templates, ready to help you in designing surveys. Any color, any pattern, any style. They are all preloaded in the Cvent Web Surveys application. Definitely check these out the next time you are trying to figure out survey research design ideas for your next questionnaire.

Want to learn more about our survey design software? Sign up for a product demonstration.

Within the survey research process, a "Thank You" note is something that is sent a few days to a week after a questionnaire is sent out to your clients. This mailing expresses appreciation for responding and indicates that, if the client survey has not yet been completed, it is hoped it will be soon.

The postcard or email survey "thank you" note is not written in order to overcome respondent doubts or fears about taking the survey, rather, it is meant to jog memories and help re-arrange priorities, bringing your potentially forgotten survey back to the top of potential respondent's "To-Do" pile.

If timely and appropriately worded, the postcard "Thank you" note can arrive just in time to make an appeal that engenders a sense of importance about survey participation, without crossing the line into sounding impatient.

When possible, attempt to have your "Thank you" note be as different as possible from your original survey invitation request for participation letter. The goal is to create a stand-out piece of paper or electronic mail that contrasts with others, creating new stimuli for your potential respondent.

Utilizing these survey tips in conjunction with adding a "Thank You" note to your survey project outline are just some of the ways you can ensure your products are recognized as standing out from the crowd, especially in this all-too-hectic world.

The vast majority of survey research projects are studies at a single point in time of a specified population, such as employees, customers or the general public.  Fewer web survey designs track opinions over time.  This post outlines the different types of surveys carried out by researchers.

Point-in-time surveys are called cross-sectional studies.  They study a single population or sample size during a single specified time-frame, and give us a “snapshot” of opinion data.  Cross-sectional surveys comprise the largest number of projects that are undertaken. 

Longitudinal surveys, on the other hand, are those which study trends over time, and usually consist of cohorts or panel respondents.  These can be further classified into three distinct types of longitudinal designs (trend, cohort and panel).

Completing a study is just the first step in the market research process. A good researcher knows there is plenty of work left to be done analyzing survey data and taking action on survey results.

Stay in touch with the client and schedule presentations of the research. If you have a client contact assigned to the project, go over the preliminary survey data to see what key findings they feel are the most important to share. Create presentations around these key findings. You can also create separate market survey reports for different groups within the same company.

For example, if you have just completed a large product survey that includes feedback on customer satisfaction, the client may want a presentation simply on customer feedback for their customer service team.

A good researcher also has an eye for finding problems. If you notice an area for improvement in the course of your market research analysis, propose a solution to that problem for the client. Take this market research survey example, customers complain about being on hold too long when calling customer service. You could propose several ideas from hiring more staff to setting time goals for staff to talk to customers.

Even though the client may not agree with your solution ideas, ignoring problems you identify through the research is a bad idea. The client is paying you to compile and analyze research data, and they will likely appreciate all your efforts even if the information does not fit in with their current business plan.

I always recommend probability-based survey sampling techniques wherever possible.  Sometimes, however, companies and organizations want to get an initial feel for how consumers and customers will react to a new product or concept.  In addition, early in the process, you may not have the ability to comprehensively identify a target market or sampling frame, and there is no way to produce a representative sample of your population. 

In these instances, it may be useful to employ a snowball sampling technique as a pilot project, or to gain a rough, early grasp on what customers are feeling.  A snowball sample is one in which you use an initial group of respondents as recruiters for additional market research respondents.  In the survey, you ask your original respondents to list several people  they know that might be interested in completing a survey as well.   This is a case where an incentive might prove particularly useful, since you are asking your market research survey sample to provide contact information of their acquaintances.  Snowball sampling is also especially useful if you do not have a predefined list of people to survey, or if you are trying to identify key information-holders or opinion leaders.

Again, there is a significant caveat of snowball and other nonprobability-based business research methods for sampling techniques: they do not produce representative samples, and therefore cannot be used to generalize findings to the overall population.  But if you are just starting out, and do not mind that your market survey sample cannot produce generalizable findings, then a snowball sampling technique is a convenient survey data collection method to obtain larger amounts of preliminary data.

When performing a market research study for clients in certain marketplaces, it is important to remember the competition. If, for example, you were doing a customer market research survey for a fast-food restaurant, Burger One, you would want to gauge survey respondents’ feelings about the competition as well as your client.

You might ask restaurant customer satisfaction questions like:


If respondents frequent Burger One and four other fast-food restaurants, that gives you insight into the survey data provided. If respondents only frequent Burger One, that is helpful to know as well. Take this example of how survey results can be applied to the restaurant's over all marketing strategy:


On the other side of this equation is what Burger One's loyal customer base thinks. If customers who only eat fast-food at Burger One express no interest in the new sandwich, it may not be the best possible sandwich to launch. However, if respondents who frequent competitors more often than Burger One express high levels of interest in the new sandwich, it could spell an opportunity for Burger One to gain new business.

It’s best to analyze market research from all angles when launching a new product – there are multiple factors at play.

There are literally dozens of ways respondents can misread and even misconstrue survey questions.  Some potential errors may be easily identified, while other errors can go unnoticed all the way up until data collection begins.  The possibility of a large number of respondents skipping the same questions, or customers providing invalid feedback because of faulty survey questionnaire design and implementation, are just two of the many reasons you should test-run a survey before sending out the real thing.  Conducting a pretest is the single best way to identify phrases subject to misinterpretations (and question design flaws in general).

Pretests (also referred to as pilot tests) are used to test the validity and reliability of individual survey questions, the entire questionnaire, and/or response scales.  While carrying out a pretest adds a step to your task list, the benefits of sending out a valid instrument far outweigh the costs of a pretest (which for online surveys usually means only extra time, not dollars).

To conduct a pretest, you first need to select a smaller survey sample that is still fairly representative of your target population.  You then have this pretest sample complete their surveys, while providing feedback about your questions, any technical concerns and other elements you feel could introduce bias or error into the process and subsequent results.  These respondents will no longer be eligible for actual survey participation since they will have been exposed to the questions ahead of time, but the process is well worth it.  The final step in the pretest is to analyze your results and decide how you should revise the survey to make it better and easier to complete.

One big caveat: make sure you use people unfamiliar with your research.  If you use colleagues or acquaintances who are knowledgeable about any relevant topics or technical issues, they may overlook correctable errors such as leading and loaded questions, faulty transitions and overly technical terminology.

By taking the extra step of conducting a pretest, you can gain valuable information from a small subset of people.  This will allow you to make the necessary and appropriate revisions, and in turn produce valid, reliable survey questionnaires for your formal survey research project.

When working with a client who has already built a strong customer base, market researchers are often called upon to create surveys to aid with customer retention programs.

Customer retention surveys are a bit different than a new product or service launch survey because the survey respondent sample must consist of product users. There are several things you need to ask this group so your client can formulate the best customer retention strategies, including:


The recommendation sample customer questionnaire question is important. Often, this can be a company’s bread-and-butter when it comes to retaining customers and gaining new ones. If a good amount of current customers would recommend the product to a friend, that speaks volumes about the quality.

It is also wise to include some open-ended questions. Find out why people use the product, and would continue to do so. If they wouldn’t recommend the product, or use it again, it is important to know why. Your client can use the information to persuade customers on the fence, and keep current customers coming back.

Before creating a poll online for your client survey, sit down and gauge initial opinions and move forward from there. If there were original product launch studies done, it may be helpful to revisit those results as well, just for comparison purposes. Approach the questionnaire research with care and the resulting data analysis will provide information to create customer retention techniques and marketing strategies.

If you follow the bloggers on the Cvent Web Survey blog, you know we emphasize survey reporting concerns throughout the entire questionnaire project life-cycle.  This post outlines five general sections that comprise a good report or presentation for a survey research project.  By following this outline, you can be sure that you have a thorough summary of your research objectives, processes and results all in one place at the conclusion of your survey project.

Executive Summary
This is the "drive-by" version of the entire survey project.  It contains a brief summary of your main points, and predominately consists of broad research findings.  You can also think of this as the audience takeaway section: imagine if people had just five minutes to hear your results, and then had to make decisions based upon what they heard.  Include essential, bottom-line insights from your survey project here (and not much else).

Introduction/Background
In this section, you introduce your study, including its purpose, concepts, rationale and variable descriptions (where appropriate).  This is also the place to provide all the background information, as well as any prior research findings/citations upon which your current study is based.  If you have specific hypotheses, they can be placed here after you’ve established rationale.

Methodology
This is the part of the report where you get dirty with the details of how you went about designing and conducting your survey.  Descriptions of survey sampling procedures, survey question and response option/scale design, data collection activities and timelines all belong here.

Results
In the survey results section of your report or presentation, you provide all the survey findings.  This includes detailed tables, charts and other selected graphics that clearly explain what the data say, and can be quite extensive depending on how many survey questions (and research questions) you have.

Conclusion/Discussion/Recommendations
These sections can of course be listed separately, but I’ll group them together here for our general descriptive purposes.  This is where you take the step from findings to decisions.  You’ve detailed your results; now you draw conclusions, discuss anything that might have affected the research or your path forward, and make recommendations about where to go next based on the data.

Cvent’s online survey tool is like a treasure trove.  Every day, there are new features to discover, new ways to utilize different functionalities and, of course, a never ending feeling of adventure as you navigate your way through.  With all the excitement, it is easy to overlook some features or get stuck in a routine where you use the same survey question types, same images, etc.  for every survey.  Regardless of the purpose or goal of the internet research survey, you will find a way to make those features you are comfortable with work.  But, come on now.  What kind of Customer Support would we be if we didn’t educate you on features that may be underutilized but have enormous potential to change the way you look at surveys forever?

Cvent offers 19 different question types; that is 19 unique ways to ask a question and 15 unique ways to collect a respondent’s rejoinder (single and multiple select questions have 3 different formats each).  My recent favorite, which I have seen in very few surveys (and there are only so many formatting ways to stress VERY), is the File Upload question.  This feature allows respondents to upload additional documentation which will be stored in one, central location.  Think about the possibilities:

1. With the amount of free and easily accessible information available on the internet, online tests have become increasingly difficult to administer.  What is to stop a student or anyone for that matter from "just having a peek" at Wikipedia or "accidentally" having a Google page up with the pertinent information?  A study done by Donald McCabe and Linda Trevino found that schools that had an enforced honor code have significantly less prevalence of cheating (McCabe, D.L. & L.K. Trevino, 1993). How can this be accomplished through an online survey?  Have respondents sign your school’s/organization’s honor code then use the File Upload question to have them upload that document. 

2. When I mentioned that Cvent’s web based survey tool can do anything; I meant it.  You can use the survey tool to identify and confirm respondents eligible for rebates offered on a purchase.  I know personally I get a little perturbed when I see that an item costs $X but, when I get to the register, I find out that it actually costs $Y but I can get the appropriate rebate in 4-6 weeks if I just mail my receipt to the company.  Call me impatient, call me lazy, but I don’t like having to go through all of that.  “But, Dorian, how can we do this differently?” you must be asking...  Two words: File. Upload.  Customers can upload the receipt from their purchase which will be stored within your Cvent account instantly.  If your survey is a collect contact information survey, you can ask for their address and the only step would be to verify the receipt/purchase and then send out that rebate.

3. Respondents can upload images or graphics; photos for a high school reunion, anyone?

The possibilities are endless.  Any additional documentation can be collected and you don’t need to overwhelm your inbox with email attachments for each respondent.  So go forth, I say!  See what other survey treasures you can find, Captain Sparrow.

Before you select a sample or design a single question, the first step in a survey research project is to establish your goals and objectives.  With proper planning, time and attention given to this step, all subsequent steps will flow more smoothly. 

Ask yourself--and answer, in writing--broad questions such as the ones below, and then you can drill down into more specific research questions and move on to procedural matters.

What information am I seeking to gather?  Why do I need it?  What is the “end game” regarding what I’m trying to learn?

Who (exactly) can I get this information from?  How can I contact them?  How many people do I need to contact, and do I have an exhaustive list?  Am I interested in any particular subgroups?

Has anyone else done a similar project in the past?  If so, what did they find out and how could what they did help with my current project?

What kind of data and results do I want my questions to produce?  Am I interested in public opinion, actual behaviors, satisfaction levels, employee feedback/workplace surveys, etc.?  How will I go about collecting and analyzing the data?

How will my results be reported?   What will the report format look like, and who will receive the results?  What kind of summary data do I need, and how can I design questions with response options that will provide me with actionable data?

Establishing clear, attainable objectives and goals is of the utmost importance when undertaking a research study.  Your results will likely only be as clear as your objectives, for better or worse!

I was asked to complete a product market research survey today. The product survey asked me a series of questions about possible products related to improving my beer drinking experience. One of the many things I didn't like about this survey was they never asked me if I thought there was a problem.

For example, one of the possible products was for a different method of carrying beer. Unfortunately, I'm perfectly happy with my current method: keeping the beer in the package it comes in. The suggested product would make me move the bottles from their packaging to take them somewhere. I'm not interested in that extra step. Did they ask me why I wouldn't by the product? Nope. They only asked if I would.

Maybe for their survey research goals, that's all they cared about: Would I buy the product, Yes or No? Kelli mentioned in a post earlier today that it's important to gather product feedback on a smaller scale before launching a bigger market research study. The goal of this market research questionnaire easily could have been to identify which product ideas should be considered for further qualitative and quantitative research. Only products where more than 20% of survey respondents indicated they would be interested in purchasing will have more research around it.

On the other hand, I like to make sure my position is clear when completing attitude surveys. This is probably a respondent bias I bring to the table because I spend so much time sharing online survey best practices. I know that often survey questions are written in a way that doesn't always collect the data the survey creator wants. They just don't always write the right questions. So avoid being "mis-quoted" so to speak, I like to be able to answer a series of question about why I feel one way or another.

Believe me, there were a lot of poorly written survey questions in the feedback form, as well as other issues with their data collection method. I've found that where there is one serious problem with a survey template, there are others hidden as well. If you're worried your survey questionnaire may have problems, go ahead and ask our online survey Professional Services Group to take a look. We're always happy to help.

Looking for sample market research survey questions? Here are a few sample product survey questions you can use in your next product research survey:

Private businesses tend to guard findings from their research efforts very closely.  In some instances, where significant investment dollars and time were spent on sampling frames and reporting, this makes sense.  It's nice to have proprietary research at your disposal to impress clients and customers, and internal employee survey results, for example, may be reserved for senior leaders.

But in most cases, I suggest sharing your survey results with as many people as possible.  The benefits outweigh the perceived drawbacks.  After all, most survey research comes from of a specific point-in-time sample, and whatever narrow edge you may get from keeping the results private will be short-lived.

At minimum, you should share the results of your survey with respondents themselves.  People like to know what they're a part of (and why).  In fact, offering to provide respondents with survey results has been shown to increase response rates! 

It's a great idea to set up partnerships with community leaders before you even send out your community attitude survey.  Publicize your organization and your efforts toward being proactive.  Let your community know that you value them and are interested in feedback and suggestions about the process.  Create anticipation and eagerness to both complete questionnaires and receive the results after the survey is completed.

You can also organize a press release highlighting selected findings from your survey.  This can be posted on your website and in other locations (external websites, community hotspots, etc.).   Call local news organizations if you think the results would appeal to their audiences.  Tell all who will listen how you've made original contributions to the knowledge of your industry, and how you will improve business practices based on your results.

Market research is incredibly useful at any stage of the game. Though starting out small may seem like an unnecessary step, sometimes it works out better for you and your client. A thorough study is necessary for any new product or service launch. When dealing with a NEW concept, you may want to conduct a smaller initial study to gauge interest level before continuing.

When conducting the smaller study, set criteria for continuation of the study. Criteria for every client and every study will be different, but the goal of setting parameters should always be the same. Decide what percentage of respondents must be interested in order for you to further develop the concept before continuing the study.

For example, if you gathering product feedback for a major cleaning product company about a brand-new product, you might want 60% of product market research survey respondents to express an interest in order to develop the study further. A full product market research study is extremely time-consuming - the entire project will likely include multiple online product surveys, focus groups and other data-gathering methods.

Market research projects like this have a lot of moving parts - your team will have to write survey questions, compile results and create presentations based on their market research analysis of the data. If it turns out that only 20% of respondents are interested in the new product, it may be better to return to the development phase before continuing with the study.

Even though it might be tempting to forge ahead, particularly in lean economic times, your clients will appreciate you more if you save them time, effort and money by starting out small.

Most survey poll creators will agree that while respondents always prefer to have choices explained clearly in words and phrases, numbers are much easier and far more effective when drawing inferences from the data collected. Take this typical sample customer service satisfaction survey question:


The client satisfaction survey sample question above from a measuring customer service sample survey looks much better by listing the choices as "Very Satisfied/Dissatisfied" as opposed to asking respondents to check one of the numbers between 1-5.


However, when the survey data collection is complete and it's time for data analysis and running survey reports, many survey administrators are left scratching their heads. What analysis do they draw from the individual number and percentage of respondents listed as "Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied", how to they compare these percentages to last year’s survey on a category by category basis and still draw an overall inference? How do they know the percentage increase in the level of satisfaction? Is it better to have a large number of people fall into the neutral category?

The answer to all these questions is the same – Export Values. The ultimate tool for anyone looking to analyze the data they have collected. Using Export Values the survey builder can assign a number (or a different word or phrase if you like) to answers as well as questions in their survey! In other words, instead of going through the never-ending text of questions and answers trying to find some semblance of meaning in the data, the questions in your report could be listed as CS1, CS2, CS3, etc. and the answers as 1,2,3,4 and 5 for each question. After exporting the Expanded Answer Details for All Respondents (the survey report with Export Values) to Excel, you can even use these numbers to calculate a mean or average – how much easier would it be for the decision makers in your organization to see the response to the above question summarized into a single number:


A case in point is our survey clients who go a step further and used this feature to export just such a report to Excel and then analyze it using SPSS and other survey research analysis software. For those of you who are already drooling over the prospect of generating such accurate feedback for your organization, export values are pre-included in your Cvent Web Surveys Professional or Enterprise account. Go on, generate that perfect report – you can thank me later.

A recent article in Meetings & Conventions Magazine caught my attention this month: Survey Science, How to Craft more Effective Attendee Evaluations. Meeting planners are usually not survey experts, their expertise lay in planning and executing events, not crafting flawless survey research questionnaires. However, in the last year the value of meetings and events have been called into question after bad press surrounding some organizations' meeting practices. With meeting and event planners having to increasingly prove the values of meetings and measuring meeting results, being able to create event surveys to gather attendee feedback has become even more important.

While we've discussed several of these survey best practices in the past in reference to sample staff survey questions or customer feedback forms it never hurts to review them again. Here are the first five online survey tips from the article:

1. Set survey goals first. This shouldn't be a big surprise. On Friday I wrote about how to create a customer survey, and setting customer satisfaction survey objectives was the first step there too. If you don't figure out what your objectives are in the beginning, writing meaningful survey questions will be a lot harder later on. For example, if the survey objective is to figure out how to improve the event next year, only ask questions about things you can change for future events. It doesn't make sense to evaluate the location if you've already booked the same venue for next year; if you haven't booked next year's location, asking about the venue makes sense.

2. Write survey questions that are clear and ask what you really want to ask. Articulating a question to really collect the feedback you're looking for can be quite a challenge. Take these sample conference survey questions, if the planner wants to identify which sessions would be best to add to next year's lineup (assuming attendees must pay to attend the sessions):

If you've been paying attention to survey best practices, you'll know the third one is the wording you want. Why? Because it's the only one that explains the attendees will have to pay for the sessions. It's not a matter of which sessions sound interesting, it's a matter of which sessions present enough value to be worth the cost.

3. Find out why they're dissatisfied. It's not enough to know that an attendee was dissatisfied with the registration process. Planners should provide attendees with the chance to explain why they are dissatisfied - maybe it was a technical problem or there wasn't enough event staff to mitigate issues.

4. Keep it short. General survey best practices suggest keeping your online survey as short as possible. The best methods for making sure you're keeping it short is to only ask questions that have a direct link to your seminar survey objectives. The second method is to make sure you're using survey question logic, such as branch and skip logic. This allows you to keep the survey relevant to the respondent and only ask questions that make sense. We hinted at this in a recent post where we talked about using one survey to gather event feedback for all the sessions at your event.

5. Think about the survey's organization. When designing questionnaires it's important to keep the flow of the survey in mind. Start with general questions and work your way to the more specific questions. The survey should only focus on one topic at a time. In the example of multiple event sessions, it doesn't make sense to mix up the session questions. Instead, ask all the questions you have about one session, then move on to the next session.

In the next few days, I'll share the other 10 survey tips from the Meetings & Conventions article. As a meeting or event planner, how have you found pre- and post-event surveys helpful in planning events?

Did you know there are 6 steps in the market research process?  While this process speaks directly to marketing research professionals, the process applies to HR, customer or education surveys as well:

1. Identify and define the problem.  Before you start any web survey project, you should identify the key issues you hope to be able to solve.  This step should also include clearly defined objectives.
    
2. Develop the approach. In this step, you need to establish a budget, understand influencing factors such as the environment or economy, decide on sampling and survey methods, and formulating hypotheses.
    
3. Research design. Designing a survey or questionnaire is considered the most important step in any survey process.  Question design takes a lot of thought and time.  We like to say, "If you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out."  This means that if the questions are bad, the data will be bad as well.  During the survey research design, keep in mind sampling methods and data analysis factors you intend to use.
    
4. Collect the data. Don't forget to test your survey before to ensure you're fielding the correct data.  Thankfully, with the help of an online survey tool, this step is relatively painless.
    
5. Analyze the Data. The types of analysis you planned to perform on the collected survey data should have been decided in earlier steps, but after collecting the data you have to actually perform the survey analysis.  Analysis can be performed using survey analysis tools like office programs, such as Excel, or more advanced programs such as SPSS - the complexity of the questions will determine this.
    
6. Report, Present, Take Action.  The final step in the market research process is to present your survey research findings and draw conclusions.  While Step 3 is the most important because it defines the outcome of your survey, if you fail to complete this last step and act on the findings in some way, the previous steps don't matter. 

As I mentioned in the beginning, this same process can be applied to any type of project: product evaluations, customer satisfaction questionnaires, public relation surveys, etc.  If you give each step the attention it deserves, each of your online surveys should be a success.