For a small business, Internet marketing surveys can generate information that dramatically improves your brand’s offerings. A marketing survey is one of the most important and useful tools you use for your business. Surveys can be used for anything from determining prices for a new service launch, testing new product names, determining your company’s place in the competitive landscape, or changing your brand logo or color scheme. Marketing consultants charge a lot of money to create surveys, but if your budget is tight, here’s how to do it yourself.

Develop the correct questions.

Focus on your top business priorities and write questions about specific initiatives. Launching a new upcoming product or service? Wondering if you can charge more for your services? Deciding whether to shorten or change your business name? Some services you offer are not getting enough attention and you want to know why? Specific and timely questions will produce useful answers for your business. General or vague questions will get you nowhere.

Express your questions in a conversational tone.

Keep your writing informal but to the point. A survey is more fun for the respondent if their language has character and personality. A marketing survey written in a high tone can inhibit your effectiveness. Ask simple questions and you will get simple answers.

Keep it short.

Respondents are willing to help you by answering your marketing survey, but the competition for their time and attention is low. Isolate the most important questions on your brainstorming list that will generate useful information for your business right now, and put the rest aside.

Make it easy to complete.

Online survey software such as SurveyMonkey and FluidSurveys offer simple tools to assist respondents. Use check boxes, radio buttons, or sliders as interactive features. Use a progress bar to show respondents how close they are to completing it. Ask one question at a time and avoid questions that may have multiple or conflicting answers (for example, “Do you like our price and our logo?”)

Leave space for comments.

Some respondents will use the comment box; some will leave it blank. Once you’ve greased the wheels by asking the most important questions, some respondents will be inspired to give their opinions on additional topics that you may not have considered. This can be valuable information for now or in the future.

Offer incentives.

This is an old trick that all great marketing consultants use because they know it works. Setting aside a budget for response incentives will ensure that your potential customers actually read your marketing survey. Small incentives like a $ 5 gift card to a local coffee shop are great options. Or, offer to automatically enter all survey participants into a drawing for a jackpot, such as a tablet reader, a bottle of fine champagne, or a free dinner at an exclusive restaurant.

Don’t forget the demographics.

Basic demographic information will help you contextualize your survey responses. At a minimum, ask participants to submit their gender and age. Other useful information includes:

• Responder Industry
• Respondent’s occupation / function in the company
• Number of company employees
• Number of years that the respondent has worked in your company

This will help you identify trends and focus your policies on the type of customers you specifically want to target.

Very few companies use online marketing surveys to determine new strategies. By developing a survey with the right questions, you can prevent your business from rolling out new initiatives that don’t resonate with your customers. If you follow the suggestions listed above, you will narrow your focus and get an idea of ​​whether you are on the right track before you go too far down the wrong track.