Customers often ask us,
Under what circumstances do you prefer multiple choice surveys or fill in the blank surveys? Are multiple choice surveys more (mis)leading?
In general, I’m a big fan of closed-ended questions, which are generally multiple choice.
Are they misleading? That’s a REALLY important question.
They are, if you don’t know what you’re doing and you write bad questions. And “loading” questions or writing “leading” questions can actually cost you money.
Why?
- Because the bottom line is that you need to know what people think.
- The more accurately you find that out, the more money you’re going to make:
- Knowing exactly what people want, what they’ll pay, when they’re satisfied (and when they’re not) can double, triple, or even quadruple your profits.
So you’ve GOT to write good questions.
The thing about “leading” questions is that it’s often not obvious when a question is “leading” or “loaded.” Sometimes, they’re really tough to spot, particularly when you’re writing questions about your own products and services.
Here are some tips to avoid that problem:
- Use neutral language, avoiding any terms might get an emotional response. After you’ve drafted your survey, make a pass through it JUST to look for strong language that might “lead” someone.
- Balance your response options. If you’re asking people whether they agree or disagree with a statement, make it “Agree strongly, Agree, Disagree, Disagree Strongly,” not “Agree strongly, Agree, Disagree.” You want both “sides” to have the same number of responses.
- Review, review, review. Go through the survey yourself, then put the survey away for a couple of days, then come back and look at it again. Then, ask a couple of other folks to look it over for you and get their input.
- Once you’ve reviewed it, pretest it. Get a small “subsample” of your customers (20 or so is usually enough), have them take the survey, then give them a few questions that ask THEM whether they thought anything was leading, whether they saw any problems with the survey, and so forth.
Have more questions? Just ask MySurveyExpert !
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Success Stories
“A wonderful offering for busy entrepreneurs and business owners” "Jeanne Hurlbert's survey system is a wonderful offering for busy entrepreneurs and business owners who want to be in continual, 'customer-centric' dialogue with their prospects and clients, a systematic approach you can build on for years to come. Even better, Jeanne practices what she preaches — she goes the extra mile again and again to serve us, and I'm confident she'll do the same for you."
Author of Healing the Spirit/Matter Split
~ Saniel Bonder, spiritual author and teacher, Pres. of Extraordinary Empowerments (www.heartgazing.com).
“Jeanne’s Really Been a Genius at Showing Me How Important Surveys Are.” "Jeanne's an amazing gal who truly is an exceptional, unique person who really understands the power of surveys. Surveys are just a different way to talk to people and ask them a little about what they're doing and why they want to do it with you. The more you know, the better you can serve people. Jeanne's really been a genius at helping me realize how important that is. She's helped me put a structure into place so when I'm on the Internet working with people I can find out what they really want so I can do a better job of giving them what they want. That's the key—but sometimes we think people want to do "this," and in actuality, they'd rather do it "this way." Whatever it is you're doing, whether it's finances or dating or relationships or just business on the Internet, and you want to find out how to do it better, Jeanne's programs are fantastic. Anything she does, I'm always dialed into. She's just a genius at taking what you're doing and making it better, so you can do it more effectively and you can reach the people you want to more effectively. If you get Jeanne's stuff, read it, be disciplined at it, it will transform your business, as it has mine."
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~ New York Times #1 Bestselling Author, Jorge Cruise
"Had I Done a Survey on My Own, I Would Have Wasted a Ton of Time and Potential Opportunity."
- Steve Fultz, Stuph Clothing
"Jeanne’s Really Been a Genius at Showing Me How Important Surveys Are.”
- New York Times #1 Bestselling Author, Jorge Cruise
"…surveys are the newest old way of cutting through the clutter on the Internet and getting the information you need to double or triple your sales"
- Susan Harrow, CEO of www.PRSecrets.com & author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul
