Website Survey

Over the past year, I have run into many new Cvent Web Surveys clients with the same issues or problems with their employee satisfaction surveys.  Most of the clients have the same story: in the past, using a different online survey solution, they released an employee satisfaction survey and were not able to follow up in a timely manner. 

The workplace employee surveys were conducted in a number of different fashions: paper-based, with different online survey tools, and even website survey forms.  All of these previous methods had one tragic flaw: reporting.  The survey administrators waited untill the survey was closed to run survey reports or review the paper surveys.  The problem inherit in this approach is time.  They would wait weeks before pulling reporting and discovering an employee had a problem in the workplace or in the case of paper based methods, sometimes months before they scanned the surveys.

When they finally discovered a problem that needed attention they would act, but what they discovered was:

Both of these resolutions are horrible.  If the employee solves the problem themselves they feel the organization is powerless and does not care about their situation.  If they quit, we all know that it costs 10 times more to train a new employee than to retain the old one.

A simple solution to these problems is a feature that Cvent's online survey solution embodies: Triggered Email Alerts.  Most other survey tools out there do not contain this feature.

The beauty of this feature is the survey administrator can have an email alert sent to whomever they designate; Human Resource Manager, Employee Liaison, etc...  In this manner as soon as an employee answers the appropriate question and then clicks finish on the survey an email is sent to the designated person, who in turn can then immediately follow up with the employee and solve the problem.  Thus, boosting employee retention rates, making them feel like a needed part of the organization, instilling employee loyalty, and finally creating a better work environment.

The triggered email alert feature in Cvent's survey solution solved these client's employee retention nightmares and resulted in a better workplace and a more cost effective future.

Marketing departments love client testimonials and customer quotes. They're great to share with the sales team when prospects need referrals, they're helpful to put in powerpoint presentations, and can be a critical piece of any marketing website. Getting those sound bites from clients can be a challenge, however. As you can imagine, the challenge only gets bigger if your organization sells consumer products. Admittedly, the growth of social media has made finding people who are saying good things about your product, services or organization has gotten a little bit easier. But, it could be easier still.

Imagine a world where you had a plethora of client sound bites and quotes to share with the outside world. A marketers dream. No more tracking down sales reps to talk to their clients and mangle their words. Everything is already done for you. Well, if you're conducting client satisfaction surveys or consumer surveys, you should be gathering those sound bites already. You can even consider using website polls and website usability surveys to get those sound bites. Depending on the online questionnaire design, you may still need to contact the customer to get permission to use their quote, but the hard part is still done. You have the quote.

Question remains, how do you pull these customer quotes out of your survey web form? You make sure to add an additional comment box. Customers who love you will typically share those sentiments in the additional comments area, particularly if there are not other open ended questions in the survey for them to share why they like an organization.

Still wondering why your marketing department needs sound bites? Opinions for others is one of the driving forces behind purchasing decisions. If you want to learn more about the importance of customer reviews, check out this past post. It's also worth mentioning, this same idea can work for employee surveys and your HR department for recruiting purposes.

I spoke to a client recently who had made a great online survey for distributors of two distinct products – Widget A & Gadget B. The web survey had attractive graphics and insightful questions. However, there was an issue regarding how the survey function. More specifically, which survey respondents (read: different distributors) should see which questions. Survey questions #3-34 were for distributors of Widget A and survey questions #35-67 were intended for distributors of Gadget B. Seems easy enough, but there was a little catch: some survey respondents distribute both products and were therefore required to answer all questions.

It seemed simple enough at the outset, and the client understood what each type of survey question logic did. The second question asked the respondent whether they distributed Widget A only, Gadget B only or Both Widget A and Gadget B. Depending on how this question was answered, the survey respondent would be shuttled down the correct survey path using branch logic. Widget A only and Both Widget A and Gadget B went to survey question #3 and Gadget B only distributors went to survey question #35. However, at question 34 skip logic is used take survey respondents to the survey website's Thank You page. This was fine for Widget A only distributors, but a major headache for Both Widget A and Gadget B distributors.

This is where Cvent Web Survey's Client Services team can be a life saver for survey creators. I was there to help the survey writer create a survey that met their survey project needs.

The first option I thought of involved Advanced Logic. Once the initial branch logic was used, we simply use advanced survey question logic on the client's survey questions #35-67 to make sure anyone who responded Widget A only to the initial question (Q2) would not see these questions. This achieved the desired user experience but was tedious and time consuming. The client wanted to launch their surveys soon as possible so this was not the ideal solution in this case.

I then suggested a second option: make two separate questions with branch logic. The existing survey question (Q2) would be changed to Do you distribute A? and another survey question would be added before #35 that asked Do you distribute B? If a respondent selected Yes for Q2, they would see survey questions #3-35 and if they responded No, they would see the new survey question. If survey respondents answered Yes on the new survey question, they would see the remaining questions. The client was no on her way to a great survey with an excellent respondent experience. To top it off, it only took a minute!

Cvent offers a varied range of survey question logic, you just need to decide which will work best for your particular survey project. If you need help deciding which question type or logic type will work best for your survey, never hesitate to give our Client Services team a call.

One important question you need to ask yourself when planning your online survey is who can answer the survey? Do you want your survey to be open to anyone who is interested or do you want to restrict the survey to a certain group? There are pros and cons to each approach depending on your survey goals, for example restricting your survey can be useful if there is an incentive associated with the survey questionnaire.

Cvent offers you the option to select who can answer the survey. You can choose - Anyone can answer the survey for an open survey and Only individuals on a targeted list can answer the survey for a private survey.


Using Cvent Web Surveys software gives you several ways to increase survey security and limit which survey respondents are allowed survey access.

• Limit responses. Cvent Web Surveys tool allows survey administrators to limit responses to ensure data accuracy. This option is extremely helpful if the planner wants to avoid duplication of records (aka each person only gets to vote once to avoid ballot stuffing). As an online survey creator you have the option to limit responses three different ways:



• Password Protection. Survey administrators can also set a password for their online survey questionnaire. This automatically eliminates any unwanted respondents from the mix. During the survey development, you can decide whether or not you want to use the password protection survey security setting. If you choose to, you can send out the password along with the survey invitation or you can share it in a different manner. For example, if you have an employee job satisfaction survey that is always open for employee feedback collection, you may want to host the survey password on your intranet. Since the survey is hosted on the internet, password protection keeps out respondents who may have happened on the survey via a Google search. In this case, you may not be using email survey invitations so you need another method other than only individuals on the targeted list to secure your survey.


• Include a Verification Process. A verification process is used to help prevent computer generated responses. An image of five characters is displayed to the user, also known as a CAPTCHA. The user must correctly type the characters to continue.

• Use Secure Socket Layers (SSL). SSL uses a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data − a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer support SSL and many Web sites use the protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. By convention, URLs that require an SSL connection start with https instead of http.

On Tuesday, the public opinion survey results were released by the Wenatchee research firm hired by East Wenatchee and Douglas County. The survey project's goal was to gauge community opinion concerning the development of the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail in East Wenatchee, Washington.

According to the survey findings that were released 55% of survey respondents opposed any development along the trail and 15% favored some development, including waterfront shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the community attitude survey findings are being questioned. They think those who support some development may have been under represented in the survey sample.

The quantitative market research method used for data collection included both paper surveys and online surveys hosed on the More Than a Trail website. The website survey collected survey responses from respondents willing to identify themselves, it was not an anonymous survey. All parties involved in the survey project, according to The Wenatchee World article, agree even though the survey results are not significant there were a huge number of survey respondents. How many is a huge number of survey respondents? 1,249.

Here's how those involved view the survey: like a public hearing. You can only do so much to encourage participation, and 1,249 responses exceeds local government standards. With a public hearing, typically the decision makers only hear from the people who have objections the others don't show up, so they don't get heard. This survey allowed everyone a chance to "show up." The public opinion survey was well promoted with data collection techniques that included publicizing the quantitative research survey on local radio station, newspapers, association chapters, employee newsletters and signs were posted along the trial.

I really like that East Wenatchee is turning to online survey methods as well as paper questionnaires to get an understanding of public and community opinion for issues that will affect, well the community. Their analogy of an online survey being like a public hearing is a pretty good one. But I see where there could be concern about the overall results of their survey questionnaire. It does seem unlikely that 55% of any survey sample or population would be completely against anything - not have various degrees of how much development is too much.

My first reaction would be to look to the fact the website survey was not anonymous. While I understand it's hard to guard against "ballot stuffing" with a website survey online, the fact that it was not anonymous could have deterred people from responding. Why? Well, if they felt their opinion differed from the majority they may have declined to take the survey in case responses were traced back to them. On the same note, survey respondents may have felt social pressures to respond in a certain way. It's a tough call. When you're deciding on your quantitative methods to collect feedback, you need to weight the pros and cons of available survey methodologies and go with what you believe will result in the best, unbiased results.

I was out to dinner with a friend the other day and had an odd thing happen when the check came. Our waitress asked us if we would complete an online survey about our experience. Now so far being asked to complete a restaurant survey on customer satisfaction and overall experience with the dining establishment, pretty normal. But the link to the survey wasn't on our receipt. It was on the receipt the restaurant keeps. Huh? Did they expect me to memorize the website survey link and the validation code? Obviously that was not going to happen.

But I was hooked. Because of my desire to pass on survey best practices and tips, I'm always curious about organizations' surveys. I always want to take them - who knows what great idea or technique they'll have that should be shared. Or on the reverse, what faux pas was committed that should be used as a survey example of what not to do.

Before I let you in on what I did to be able to take the survey, lets pause for a moment so you can allow this concept to sink in: it's a bad idea to not give the customer something they will take way that contains the survey link. It's your job to make it easy for patrons to give customer feedback. I'm not a fan of paper surveys or comment cards, because I think online surveys are a better solution. But if you cannot handle passing along the website link generated by your online survey software tool, use comment cards and feedback forms instead. The key: Make it easy for respondents to complete your customer survey.

Obviously, I took the survey, so I must have somehow taken something home that had the information on it. I suppose in hind sight I could have just written the information down on my receipt, but I did not. I ripped off the middle section of their receipt and took it with me.

Finally, while I'm talking about making it easy for customers to complete your feedback survey questionnaire, try to use an easy link. You can do this one of two ways:

1. If you're a Cvent Web Surveys software customer, you can brand your URL to include your organizations name and the name for the survey.
    
2. You can set up a redirect on your website, or another domain, that will redirect to the longer online survey link. For example, instead of having to type in http://guest.cvent.com/v.aspx?3B,Q3,2c85db16-4ab4-45a2-ae17-... they would only have to type in www.example-survey.com.

It's a good idea to always review the online survey respondent experience. It may not seem worth the time because no one else does, but if it's too difficult to take your survey, no one's going to take it.

Yesterday I was out to dinner with a friend, and we started talking about retail surveys. She was expressing her frustration with the survey questionnaire design for her company's retail surveys. Apparently, they always score low on this one question:

Most people don't come into her store looking for pants, so the sales associates don't harass customers asking if they need the fits explained. Makes sense. Then why is their online survey asking for customer feedback from all consumers regardless of their primary purpose in visiting the store?

Oh, wait! There's the problem. The survey writer neglected to ask survey respondents why they came to the store. Because of this omission, the survey question in question (Were pant fits explained?) isn't presenting very valuable survey data. The clear solution would be to add a new question and use some form of survey question logic (perhaps branch logic might be ideal here) to only ask those people who were shopping for pants if the pant fits were explained to them. Ideally, when you're testing your survey, you should think through the question flow and catch situations like these.

Another minor point about this question, what about those customers who were asked if they'd like the pant fits explained and declined? How are they going to answer this question to give you accurate data? Even if you would answer "Yes" because it was offered, not all online survey respondents will. This would be a more useful question, after being paired with a screener question, if it asked if a sales associated offered to explain the pant fits.

This same concept applies to hotel surveys, customer satisfaction research, website surveys, etc. The reason why a guest stays at a hotel (business or leisure travel) matters. What someone was looking for when they visited your website (trying to purchase X vs. looking for information about Y), makes a difference. If they are looking for information about Y it does not make sense to ask them if they found information on Z.

One type of online survey questionnaire we don't talk about a lot is website marketing research and web usability surveys for your web pages. Often times we narrow in on market surveys, customer surveys and employee surveys leaving out a wide range of other types of surveys. Web site survey tools can help you quickly build surveys and polls to gather visitors feedback to help you improve your website. According to an article published in the current issue of BtoB Magazine, websites rank at the top for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketers when it comes to online marketing tactics. If websites are so important, how can you not take the time to gather feedback about your web pages?

You can use the website feedback survey questions below as a site survey template for gathering user feedback. For many of these questions, you will need to change the options so it makes sense for your particular website.

It's pretty frustrating when it comes time begin your survey results analysis using either the survey reports built into your online survey software, excel or another survey analysis tool and you find your survey has a high partial response rate. You spent a lot of time writing survey questions then building the survey in your survey tool. You thought about your survey methodology (including your survey analysis methods) and determined sample sizes using a sample size calculator, because you wanted to ensure you had a representative sample. However, survey best practices tell you that you should not use partial responses in your survey analysis. It seems unfair after all your time working on the survey project that you should have to throw out partial responses and fall short of your estimated sample size.

This is one of the reasons you need to test your survey to a small segment of your email list prior to fully launching your survey. A small test would allow you to catch this problem early. I typically see survey abandonment stem from an online questionnaire being too long, the topic of the questions are too personal or the respondent knows little about the topic.

You know how frustrating it is for you to see a high abandonment rate? It's equally frustrating to an online survey respondent to begin to completing a customer survey, website market research or web usability survey and find out it's long. Particularly because most survey invitations promise a short survey.

Solution? Ask survey respondents the most important questions on the first page (keep it to just a few, I would try to stay under five. Think about a comment card at a restaurant, would your questions fit on a comment card?) Then ask if they have time to give additional feedback. I've seen this method used on a number of customer satisfaction marketing surveys, but the same customer satisfaction survey methodology could be applied to employee questionnaires, product feedback forms and website surveys as well. Each question in your survey should have a purpose and contribute towards meeting your survey project's goal, but some may rank higher on your "need to know" scale. Offering respondents an out will not eliminate survey abandonment but it should reduce it without forcing you to throw out that respondent.

How many answer choices are too many? Whether you're using a multiple answer or checkbox survey question (Select all that apply) or a single answer or radio button survey question (Please select the statement that best describes your feelings towards XYZ), the number of answer options available for the survey respondent to select matters. But there are a couple things you should consider:


Nothing is more frustrating when a question requires lots of scrolling. Not only do you tend to forget what the question is you're answering, but it takes a lot of time. Depending on the question type (multiple vs single answer) it can be difficult to answer. If you ask, Which of these products are your favorite? and supply the survey respondent with 50 choices, it will be hard to just pick one - they wont even remember them all when trying to decide. At some point respondents will stop reading and pick one so they can move on to the next survey question.

If you are going to ask survey questions which require many answers, make sure they're organized in a meaningful way. For example, if with the help of website polls, I'm using surveys to generate leads for a sales team, I may want to ask a question about which products the website visitor is interested in. It makes sense, in this case, to have a longer list sorted into groups or perhaps alphabetically if you have that many product offerings.

Many demographic questions make use of many survey response options. One that always comes to mind first is What state do you live in? There is a standard for this type of question because it gets asked so frequently. This makes it easy for the respondent to quickly find the correct option and move on.

I can't tell you how many options are too many for your particular survey question. But my suggestion to you is to try to look at it from the respondent's perspective: Would you be annoyed by this list? Could you honestly answer that question? If you were not using an online survey method and instead were creating a paper survey, would the list be manageable in a paper survey?