It's All in How You Ask

Exploring the types of questions you can use in an online survey
by Eric Groves, Constant Contact Senior Vice President, Worldwide Strategy & Market Development

It doesn't matter how I ask my 12-year-old child a question; the answer is always one of the following: "it's alright," "whatever," or "uh huh." However, when it comes to your customers, how you ask a question will determine what kind of answer you receive. In the case of online surveys, the goal is to ask questions that will help you get responses that are truly useful and that you can take action on.

You have a number of question types to choose from when creating an online survey. Each type has its own benefits (and in some cases, drawbacks), so consider the possibilities before deciding which ones you want to use. And remember that a good survey has a mix of question types.

Even if one type is your favorite, your respondents will get bored answering the same type of question again and again. Engage them by using a variety of the following question types.

1) Single-Select Multiple Choice: This type allows the respondent to pick one answer from a provided list. This format works well if you ask a question to which there can be only one answer, such as age, birth date, and gender. The other ideal situation for this question type is when you want to force them to commit to one thing. A single-choice option compels them to identify their top priority. See the example below.

Example: Which is the most important consideration when purchasing a laptop?
Price
Memory
Weight
Screen size

2) Multi-Select Multiple Choice: This question type permits the respondent to select all the answers that apply (make sure to indicate that expectation in the instructions). The benefit of this format is that the respondent can tell you all of the options they are familiar with. Also, it's wise to include an "Other" option in multiple choice along with a text box to see what you missed (the box will appear automatically when using Constant Contact). You may find that there is another important category you didn't think of.

Example: Which of the following radio stations do you listen to? Select all that apply.

94.5
98.5
90.9
96.9
106.7
Other: ____________

3) Rate Item(s) on a Scale: Questions with a rating scale measure the participant's feelings about one or more items, for example your newsletter, your company's customer service, your website, etc. The scale offers a range of statements from which the respondents select their feelings, from strong satisfaction to strong dissatisfaction. These measurements are widely used and are helpful for getting feedback about individual items.

Example: Please rate your satisfaction with our customer service.

Extremely Satisfied - Somewhat Satisfied - Neutral - Somewhat Dissatisfied - Extremely Dissatisfied

4) Rank Items Numerically: This question type asks the respondent to take a group of items (products, services, topics, factors that go into the decision-making process, etc.) and put them into an ordered list with the first item being most important and the last item the least important. The list does not indicate the distance between the ranking numbers or the intensity of them, but it does help you to understand your customer's priorities or preferences.

Example: Please rank the following newsletter topics in order of importance, with 1 being most important.

Early bird dinner specials
Recipes
Event announcements
Coupons
Wine buying tips

5) Open-ended text: These questions are a great way to understand what respondents are really thinking. Because open-ended questions don't offer a list of choices and respondents can reply using their own words, you will get a response that is not influenced by your approach or mindset to the topic. The positive responses you receive can be used as testimonials (with the permission of your customer) on your website or in brochures. A word of caution with open-ended questions: use them sparingly. The answers are much more difficult to quantify than the others covered in this article.

Example: How has using our service helped you grow your business?

A successful survey starts with determining your goals and what it is you want to learn. The next step is to write questions and choose the question types that will give you the knowledge you seek. Weigh the choices and consider which will give you better insight, not necessarily more information.

Whichever of these question types you use, I'm confident you will get more informative answers than I get from my 12-year-old!