You do not need to be an expert at creating surveys, but following some best practices for surveys will ensure that you are
collecting the best data. If you would like to read more about using the Qualtrics Survey Tool to build your own surveys, and
also about the other things they can do — see our blog post about How to Build Free Online Surveys with Qualtrics. In this
post, we will cover how to build a survey that is easy to fill out, encourages the collection of feedback, addresses your
desired research questions, and produces data that is easier to work with during the analytics phase.
With a blog feedback survey, you can get a true understanding of what your current customers are eager to know more about,
what types of content they are interested in, what their pain points are, and more. With reader feedback, the possibilities
for blog posts are virtually limitless. A great example of a blog creating consistent, viral content is Upworthy.
You can curate content from a variety of online sources, including trade publications, social media profiles, blogs, academic
journals, news outlets, and others. Relevant, time-sensitive, third-party sources: You can include articles that you have
curated through your own blogs and social media profiles. You can share content with your audience through a variety of
different channels, including websites, social media feeds, blogs, mobile apps, widgets, and email newsletters. Recent,
original pieces: Recent pieces could include blog posts, infographics, webinars, or anything else that would be helpful
and/or interesting to your audience.
Using data curation techniques helps to simplify data discovery and data access. Data may be collected from one or multiple
sources, depending on what is needed to deliver the desired information. Set up a plan to collect data, including what
methods of collection will be used.
Having a framework for your experiments–because, yes, your survey is one kind of experiment–will make sure you are
collecting and analyzing only the data you really need to help answer the research question and to proceed with your survey.
This is a key distinction between a questionnaire and a survey: They can exist together or apart, but when together, the
questionnaire is a tool used within the survey. A questionnaire may still be used for reasons that go beyond analyzing the
data.
Keeping the survey on the blog brief (including the questions themselves, along with their numbers) and simple to complete
will help to spur responses. Typically comprising about 10 questions, the blog survey requests candid feedback from the blogs
visitors about what they are reading, how they are accessing the blogs content, how usable and the blogs design is, etc. For
instance, in order to analyze sales volumes and the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, a retailer may gather data
about customers through transactions records, site visits, mobile apps, their loyalty programs, and online surveys. Companies
also conduct surveys and monitor social media for customer feedback.