Creating A Successful Survey Introduction Is Easier Than You Think!

Surveys are an interesting way to interact with your targeted audience be it your customers or your employees. When I say ‘interesting’ I mean you get to employ so many types of questions, themes, techniques to reach out to people in such a way that you won’t normally do in your day to day life. Therefore, you construct surveys in order to attain some genuine feedback from them.

But surveys can more easily be made boring than interesting for the respondents. If you don’t do your homework properly enough then you will have trouble maintaining their focus and/or even them.

Survey introductions prove to be very fruitful when it comes to keeping the survey lively to your customers. Even if the overall layout is cleverly constructed, your survey will be incomplete without an introductory paragraph.

• Why Is It Important?

People argue about the significance of survey introductions but in reality, they just become neglectful of a very crucial step. According to research, most of your respondents will decide right then and there whether they want to proceed with the survey or not. That means lower dropout rate and higher rate of honest replies. We will show you in a bit exactly why.

In other instances, when you are writing a report or an article, you are required to give a thesis statement, revealing the purpose of the write up. It is supposed to be a gist of all that you are trying to say to help the audience understand why they should read it in the first place. Similarly, in meeting or interviewing someone, people are supposed to give a quick introduction to assure the other person that they are worth their time.

Similarly, unless you provide some sort of opening intro about why the survey is being conducted and who it is that is going to read and assess their answers; chances are, you won’t find many enthusiast to indulge in your survey.

• How To Get Started?

There are hundreds and thousands of surveys being created by professionals and amateurs around the world in order to collect data. Each surveyor wants to entice people into giving an honest and accurate feedback. Many of them, who understand the significance of introductory paragraphs, create them whichever way they like or deem correct. All of them produce surveys as per their own understanding and need. This often leaves the beginners to speculate about the right way to go about it.

• How much intro is sufficient?
• Should the tone be more formal or informal?
• How to encourage people to stay on the survey after reading the introduction?

More questions would arise in a surveyor’s mind as he would become more familiar with the concept. It’s easier to educate people about a standard procedure but when it comes to something as diverse as a survey introduction, it’s simply impossible to set any particular rules.

There are, however, a few things which should be covered in every good survey introduction. Let’s have a look at them.

• Thank the Respondent

You don’t need to thank profusely but a genuine statement of thankfulness is important. You owe it to your respondents for choosing to spend time on your survey instead getting involved with some other activity. Their participation provides you with invaluable information and feedback that go a long way to help you improve your product and consequently its sale in the market. If improvement in the office environment is your motive than your employees basically give you a favor by expressing their concerns that won’t reach your ear otherwise. A small thank you on your part will help the respondent feel that his feedback actually means something to you.

• Explain the Purpose of Study

A survey introduction is no place to be vague about the topic or philosophy of your survey. Be very explicit and concise while explaining the purpose of your study. Also, tell them how and where the acquired data will be used. The respondent is more likely to hook up if he clearly understands the reason behind the survey and its importance. This will create a bond of trust between the surveyor and the survey-taker.

• Privacy Assurance

This is rather important when it comes to conducting a firm’s internal evaluation. Nobody wants to be the ‘bad guy’ by criticizing the company’s management. Therefore, unless you assure them of the confidentiality of their responses, nobody is going to be honest in their answers. You also need to explain who will have access to their feedback and whether it will remain anonymous or not. They would want to see the guarantee of privacy in black and white. They won’t just assume it.

• An Estimation of Time

Yeah, definitely! That’s one of the most important points to be included in the survey introduction. Respondents are more likely to attempt right away if they know how much time it will consume. They would really value your appreciation for their time. Also it would develop their trust that you are not simply trying to waste their time.

• Clearly Describe The Incentives

Make the survey even more irresistible by flaunting any offered incentives. If there are any, it’s always a good idea to engage the respondents right from the beginning and entice them into taking your survey by offering a reward. If you follow the above mentioned points then they would already be hooked by then. Still where there are incentives or prizes involved, there is no way a person would leave your survey or drop out of it in the middle.

Do you have anything more to add to this list? Don’t forget to drop us your comments and suggestions because they are greatly appreciated!