Surveys are commonplace in the e-commerce world. You might have a customer satisfaction survey on your website, be conducting product satisfaction research, or be seeking feedback on product improvements. No matter what the reason for conducting a survey, or the extent of the survey, you need to ensure that the questions match your research question and fully gather all of the data that you need.
The simplest steps to do this are the following:
First, ask what your research objective is. What kind of information are you looking to receive?
Next, define your audience. Who will you be getting this information from, and where/how can you do so?
Next, craft your questions. Remember to use open-ended questions (eg. “Why?” or “Please elaborate.”) to gain deeper insights.
Lastly, check your questions to ensure that they are relevant to your research objective and do not leave any gaps in information. Envision yourself reviewing the data after it is collected, and make sure that you are not leaving out any important questions.
Crafting questions is sometimes easier said than done. While it can be pretty straightforward in short customer service surveys, it’s still important to make sure that you are not doing things like including leading questions. Take time to look into survey do’s and don’t before crafting your questions, and your research analysis will thank you!
A final note: Make sure that everyone in your organization that will be affected by this research has had time to review the research objective, audience, and questions. This will ensure that everyone is on the same page, plus offer an opportunity for constructive advice.