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If question-branching is built in to
paper survey,make sure that your online version has it, as well. Also make certain method of scoring online and printed surveys is exactly same. Check CGI Resource Index for survey scripts.
3. Employee Satisfaction Surveys
How'd you like to automate tedious task of scoring hundreds or even thousands of employee satisfaction surveys? I thought so. Set up your employee survey online and you'll benefit from instant tabulation and on-the-fly reporting.
If some of your employees don't have regular access to a computer at work, then you'll need to make arrangements for this. Consider temporarily setting up a bank of PCs in a room for this purpose, or setting up PCs in departments that have a large number of employees without regular computer access.
4. Web Site Visitor Feedback
If you'd like to know what users think about your Web site and its services, then ask them with a pop-up survey. Use JavaScript or a CGI script to pop up a survey window for random users, or for everyone who visits your site during a specific time period.
You can also use scripting to launch survey window after visitor has spent a certain amount of time on site, or in response to some event, such as using a particular service. Likewise, scripting can open a survey browser window when user leaves site.
Limit number of questions and keep them brief. Don't ask for personal or identifying information unless absolutely necessary, as this reduces chance that someone will respond. As with any survey, be sure to thank user for participating.
See user survey examples on Health Pages and at Inland Hospital: http://www.thehealthpages.com/articles/feedback.html http://www.inlandhospital.org/survey.html
5. Targeted E-mail Surveys
Your company's opt-in customer e-mail list is ideal for sending personalized surveys. And unlike anonymous survey methods previously mentioned, customer surveys can be accurately targeted and therefore can yield more valuable information.
Send customized e-mail invitations to your entire list, or just to a random sample. This is easy to do because you can segment customer list according to any number of characteristics.
You can also program an automatic "trigger" to send an email survey in response to some event such as a product purchase or service use.
6. E-mail Newsletter Readership Surveys
Ask subscribers to your e-mail newsletter what they think about publication's content and format and what they'd like to see in future issues.
Send an e-mail to subscribers after a certain amount of time receiving newsletter asking them to participate in your brief reader survey. For example, subscribers to MedRocket E-zine receive an email after three months on list.
I supply link to a brief readership survey on Web site. The survey should have open-ended questions that invite comment. It's too easy just to click on a bunch of radio buttons. Fewer people probably respond, but quality of feedback is much greater.
You can also send an HTML e-mail with an embedded survey right in email. However, they'll need to be connected to Internet to submit their survey comments.
I've received survey requests that included a small "bribe" to participate, such as a free e-book or a chance to win a Palm Pilot or some other gizmo. Purists might say that this taints response, but hey, you're looking for feedback and testimonials, not really hard data. So try it and see if it increases your results.
© Copyright 2002, MedRocket, Inc.
Kevin Richardson is a healthcare marketing consultant, executive coach, and writer who provides fresh perspectives and expertise about online healthcare marketing. Sign up for his FREE "MedRocket Ezine" newsletter and discover how to profitably attract and serve healthcare consumers online. Subscribe at:
