Online questionnaires made easy

Surveys are easy, fast and inexpensive; but without good planning these benefits can be lost. So we've put together some guidelines that will help the success of your survey.

1. What are the goals of the survey?

Before doing anything, consider what you want to know and how you will use the information. Write these goals down. Also consider what title suits your survey.

We have also found that offering prizes really encourages people to take the survey, so organise a giveaway if you can.

2. What do you want to know for these goals?

Once you have your goals sorted, focus on information that will help you meet them. List these topics and order them by importance, with the most important first. 

These will be the sections of your survey. Logical sections to a survey make it easier to fill in. Also consider what you want to say at the introduction and thank you message.

At this stage, check out Before you Start - there is a very useful checklist to download.

3. The questions

Always review the questions and refer back to your goals to ensure your survey will meet them.

It is common to complete a few revisions at this stage, editing and reducing the number of questions. As a general rule, if you can reduce the length of the questionnaire you will get more responses.

In most cases it is best to ask important questions first and more sensitive questions last.

Having the questionnaire proofed by another person will catch anything you may have missed and ensure your goals are met. Read each question and ask yourself if the information gathered will help your decision making processes after the survey is complete.

If you are sending email invitations to your survey, you will also need to write your email text and collect the addresses to add to a Go Fetch Address List.

4. Launch the survey

You are now ready to launch your survey - we wish you all the best towards meeting your goals and please let us know how you get on!

Download this PDF to use again later.