As web becomes more and more a part of both our personal and business lives, business people and marketing professionals have turned towards web surveys to do research, plan projects, get feedback and develop new products and services. The emergence of excellent web survey applications, complete with wizards to make creation fast and simple, templates to ensure attractive designs, and full suites of reports and statistical analysis, make this method of interacting with your customers very attractive and extremely cost effective. However, as with all computer applications, old adage "garbage in, garbage out" applies to surveys as well - if you do not know how to design an effective survey, results will leave much to be desired.

Introductions, first

Whether on first page of survey, or in cover letter inviting people to respond, it is important that you introduce theme and purpose of survey. This establishes in advance what types of questions you will be asking and puts audience in right frame of mind for answering survey. Additionally, it helps to tell them why they were chosen, to establish understanding and trust, and assure that their input will be confidential, and personal information will not be shared.

Organize Yourself

It is important that questions you ask fit within theme and purpose set down in introduction. Create an outline, when you are first planning your survey, and then subgroup questions into logical categories.

First think about what information you want to know, and develop your questions from that. Experiment with different groupings, until each question flows from previous, in logical order.

Give careful thought to how much you need each question - fewer better, because people generally do not have time or inclination to answer long questionnaires.

Respect your Respondents

Be careful not to use jargon and buzzwords, but also avoid being too simplistic by knowing your survey audience and finding appropriate balance. Remember that respondent is taking time out of busy day to help you. Tell them in introduction approximately how long it might take to complete, and let them know, as they go, how far along they are.

Carefully Craft Questions

When surveys are delivered by phone, trained surveyors usually conduct them and respondent can get clarification without being led towards a particular answer. With self-administered surveys on web, every question must be completely clear and understandable. Keep each question as short as possible, without losing meaning, and avoid jargon unless you are sure your audience understands it.

Be careful to ask only one thing at a time. If you have to ask additional questions on same topic, do it as separate questions to avoid getting muddled responses. Be aware of inserting your own biases and intentions into question, and try to keep questions neutral so that a "right answer" is not evident. The idea is to get truthful answers which go straight to heart of subject, and simplest variations in a question can make this happen, or not.

Know Your Type