Basic/ Digest...

1. Listen before you ask

Big Data—including what you hear on social media—can provide clues on what you should be asking people in the first place. Tune in to find out what people care about so you're not just asking about the known unknowns, you're also asking about the unknown unknowns.

2. Tell people what happened to their feedback

Because of high-profile privacy breaches, more consumers are wondering what exactly happens to the data they share with companies. If your customers see that the data they have shared is concretely affecting your business decisions, they'll feel better about sharing it with you.

3. Ask for permission

To avoid intruding on their customers' privacy, marketers should ask for permission before gathering data in the first place. Gaining consent will help build customer confidence—an important ingredient in encouraging people to speak to you.

4. Avoid using vague buzzwords

One consequence of heightened concern about the use of their data is that customers want more transparency. Marketing lingo is vague, and it does little to build public trust. Marketers may like words like "love," "authenticity," and "loyalty", but customers aren't always looking for love; they are looking for clarity on why you're asking for 10 years' worth of credit card statements.

__________________

► Receive a FREE daily summary of The Marketing Technology Alert directly to your inbox. To subscribe, please go to http://ineomarketing.com/About_The_MAR_Sub.html  (your privacy is protected).

Learn how to design an accurate and effective marketing survey that provides you with legitimate responses -- and results.

Summary outline:

1) Decide How You'll Use the Data

• Consider Question Formatting
• Consider Consistency
• Consider Respondents' Demographic Information

2) Draft an Initial Outline & Get Early Buy-In

3) Write Statistically Valid Questions

Common Structural Mistakes in Survey Design to Avoid:

• Avoid Leading Questions
• Prevent Assumptive Closes
• Don’t Imply Answers
• Never Coerce
• Pay Attention to Scale
• Clarify Your Language

4) Ruthlessly Edit Your Survey

5) Put Your Survey Questions in the Right Order

In addition to writing valid questions, you should also pay close attention to the order in which you present them. Here are three keys to making sure your survey arrangement delivers the data you want:

1. Put Demographic Questions First (And Make Them Mandatory)
2. Transition From General to More Specific Questions
3. Randomize Questions Choices

6) Incorporate a Separate Copy Edit Round 

Here is a brief list of questions I asked my team to review the final draft of my survey with:

• Can we make the questions clearer or more concise anywhere?
• Do all the verbs agree?
• Are the questions parallel? Beyond the verbs, are all the questions structured alike, like you would make sure all the headers in a blog post agree.
• Is the punctuation correct and consistent between questions? (E.g. Include all periods or none)
• Do the questions all seem to be written by one person? With so many people weighing in on a survey, check to make sure your survey questions have a consistent tone and style.
• Does the content in the survey align with our written style guide?

And they are (linked for your convenience)...

SurveyPro

iPerceptions

ForeSee Results

OpinionLab

SurveyMonkey