How Online Questionnaires Can Improve Your Business

Online questionnaires have become a vital addition to any B2B and B2C marketing toolkit, helping to achieve significant improvements in business. Surveys enable companies to learn the opinions of their valued customers, an essential requirement for improving the quality of products and services and allowing organisations to drive business forward.

Here, we will take a look in more detail at the types of questions to include in your online surveys and some tips for getting the best results.

A guide for online questionnaires

The choice of questions to include in an online questionnaire will prove the cornerstone to success in your efforts to understand customers’ opinions, likes and dislikes. Questions drawn up with the aid of insight about your relevant market segment will provide you with actionable data to make successful decisions to improve business. Data gathered from asking appropriate questions is a more powerful source of information than word of mouth referrals.

The questions that online surveys focus on, is what information is needed to improve a specific business area. The answers to such questions will help to provide insight on various aspects of that business sector and provide specific information which will help to enhance the level of productivity.

Choose the right survey question

Typically questions are related to finding out the level of customer satisfaction and what suggestions, if any, would lead to improvement. With well-structured online questionnaires, using a variety of question types, it is easy to flag up negative areas of business.

Companies should not be offended by negative feedback or criticisms, and they should not ignore them. By taking note of undesirable opinions, criticisms and recommendations, companies can make beneficial decisions to improve the level of their business.

Popular Types of Survey Questions:

• Multiple Choice – individuals can select one or more answers
• Single Textbox – respondents are able to write a short free-form text answer
• Ranking Questions – place answers in order of preference
• Likert (Rating) Scale – research popular opinion and attitudes
• Net Promoter Score – measure customer loyalty
• Slider – select a value by dragging a slider to a certain point
• File Upload – upload files as part of the answer

With a selection of question types and smart logic features to help you avoid survey abandonment and make surveys as relevant as possible, you can gather valuable data. It has become common practice for businesses to rely on online questionnaires to demonstrate that customer satisfaction is important and part of the strategic focus of the company. Launching online questionnaires related to your specific products and services shows customers and suppliers that their opinion matters and that continuous improvement is the prime goal.

Benefits of online questionnaires

Online questionnaires are an invaluable resource for improving profitability. Customer responses can provide great ideas which can significantly boost business, and savvy companies are quick to take up such ideas and introduce innovative, original methods that move their business forward.

Surveys are an efficient tool that businesses can use for attracting new customers. By embedding a questionnaire on a company website, you can collect useful data by asking them to fill in an online form. These simple registration forms give you the perfect opportunity to find out what potential customers would like to know more about and how they would like to be contacted. Flexible questionnaire design tools can also ensure your survey perfectly reflects your brand, service or product identity.

Finally, with respect to saving expenses and time, online questionnaires can offer further opportunity for business improvement. They can be created using a free online questionnaire creator, and provide the following benefits;

• You can collect fast responses compared to traditional methods, such as flyers or mail shots
• Customers enjoy the ease of using questionnaires to be filled online
• Results can be viewed in real time for quick action
• Information collected can be downloaded for further analysis

To sum up, online questionnaires can help boost and improve business for companies that utilise the numerous benefits they offer and apply them to learn more about their customers.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2012 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.