I try not to buy anything from Amazon, but I can’t get too
morally offended about winning a voucher to spend there. To this end, I take
part in Survey Monkey Contribute. Something like 50p goes to charity, and I get
a chance to win the voucher.
It’s not just one of my many procrastination techniques (although
this blog was due to be started some considerable time ago…) It’s also a good
way for me to look at other people’s surveys.
And do you know what? They’re rubbish.
They’re badly written and badly formatted. The questions often
make little sense, and there’s almost always too many of them. It’s a shame.
Survey Monkey is a great tool, and I sell it a lot.
But I’ve just taken three surveys and for two I had to click
the “I can’t answer the question” button. One asked me to rate things on a 1-8
scale, but didn’t tell me if one was good or bad. The next asked me if I wanted
feedback; I didn’t. Next question: “How would you like this feedback?” I should
have been piped out, or given a “not applicable” option.
The final one - on attitudes to China -asked me to name the
three best characteristics of the Chinese people. That’s too big a question for
me to give a sensible answer to, when I’m coming at a survey cold, and I have
only a small incentive to carry on. So I gave a non-answer.
And that’s exactly what happens when you ask bad, imprecise
or too many questions. People – who let’s not forget are massively lazy – give up.
They may carry on with your survey, but by now you’re getting non-answers. They’re
clicking right down the middle of the scale, or “n/a” or just entering “dunno. Lol”
into the text box that you’re hoping is going to unlock great insight.
Put yourself in the user’s shoes. Read it back out loud. Take
it yourself. How does it feel? Would you know what to do? Would you want to
carry on?
Surveys are cheap and quick, but it doesn’t mean they’re
easy. Take time. Craft them.
