What Makes An Engaging Survey?

What makes an engaging survey?

1. Format
2. Graphics
3. Answers
4. Relevance

It’s easy to make a survey. You just have to compile a list of questions that you need answers to and there’s that! The questions need to be specific to collect relevant information, and it has to be in line with whatever it is you’re researching. But with all that, if nobody answers it, it will be useless. You have to understand what makes an engaging survey to make people spare the time to answer them.
In this article, we talk about the factors that make a survey engaging with the respondent.

Survey Format

 

Many surveys are laid out to be plain, basic, and just boring. The questions are strict and often incomprehensible to some and it can be unappealing to answer. That is because the facilitator or the one who created the survey did not bother with the format of the survey whatsoever.

Understanding the format of your survey and knowing which one to use for a specific one will help people engage with it more. In most cases, surveys are better formatted like a conversation. This is because a conversation is natural and smooth. It will let the respondents answer with the first thing that comes to their minds.

Make your survey easy to read and understand just like how people would usually hold a conversation. Bear in mind that most surveys want to collect the first thing that pops into the minds of their respondents. With a survey that is formatted to be like a conversation, this will be a piece of cake!

Survey Graphics

 

We don’t mean just pictures or videos — these can be discussed later on. By graphics, we mean how the survey looks. Humans are visual beings. They have better reactions to things that they see. In the case of surveys, a better-looking one will almost always attract the attention of people.

Personalized surveys take it up a step further. They are more appealing to the people who are answering them. Make your surveys recognizable to your audience. That way, they will feel as if they are just interacting with a brand that they know.
There are a lot of survey tools out there that allow users to customize how their surveys look. Some of them have default themes, while others allow a bit more customization. Your surveys need to feel like a survey from your brand or organization. If it is just another Google survey link, then it will be a forgettable and unengaging one.

Survey Answers

 

Not including surveys that require explanations from the respondent, the answers, or choices, that you provide for your survey need to be concrete. It needs to be something that the respondent will easily understand and resonate with.
Yes, some surveys need the variability of the Likert’s scale, or the use of Very Likely, Likely, Not Likely. However, most respondents will not have a clear idea of what they should answer because they are at a loss. These questions force the respondents to think deeply to give a good approximation of their answers.

For a lot of people, even the slightest bit of unnecessary thinking can lead to them getting disengaged from a survey. It is a very important component for scientific research where every variable is important, but for organizational surveys or brand surveys, you can tone it down a little to the level of your audience.
Do not give abstract answer choices. Instead, simplify it to give the respondent an easier time answering the survey. You also get a more streamlined collection of data after all this is done!

Survey Relevance

People love to take part in relevant things. Surveys included. To not only make people take the survey but also ensure that they finish them is to make sure that your survey is relevant to them.
This may be done by selecting your audience. Companies usually encourage their employees to answer their surveys.

For the employees, it is because it’s a survey by the company that they need to answer it. For brands that sell cars, they should focus on sending out surveys to their customers and people who are known to drive or own the car brand they’re selling. Because there is a connection between the facilitator and the respondent, the survey becomes something more than just another thing to answer. Rather, it is something that, when answered, might benefit them both.

Key Takeaway

A survey is most useful when it brings in the relevant information. To do that, those who take it must make it through from start to finish. By creating engaging surveys, you ensure that you get people to answer it.

You give them an easier time, and you also collect the information that you need! What makes a survey engaging, is how you create it with the audience in mind. Think of this while creating your next survey!