Top 15 Brand Checks for Web Surveys »

1. Tell people why you are doing the survey. If they understand what and why they are more likely to feel connected to you and your completion rate will go up.
   
   
2. If an average survey is 10-20 questions, and you do one question per page, that’s 10-20 opportunities to show your logo and/or slogan or other marketing message. Check that you are part of every page presented to every customer. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming, in fact subtle is often better, but being present is critical.
   
   
3. Give your brand standards guide or at least your website CSS file to the person programming your survey. It should look like it’s part of your website.
   
   
4. Keep your layout clean and readable, use lots of white space. Be rigorous in your efforts to reduce unnecessary words. I usually write my survey, then set a goal of reducing the number of words by 50% by the time I am done.
   
   
5. Crystal clear copy. Just as we all struggle to understand people who mumble or who use run-on sentences, so too will we struggle with unclear survey questions. Try reading the questions aloud to see how they sound. Get someone who has never seen the survey before and ask them to read it aloud to you.
   
   
6. Check for spelling, grammar and syntax. I know it sounds so obvious, but nothing kills trust like a typo.
   
   
7. Using a warm personal tone in your question style can help demonstrate that you really do 'care' about their opinions.
   
   
8. If you are asking for an email address, be sure to tell them how it will be used. Take this seriously. Tell them exactly what you will use their email address for, reassure them you won’t sell it or swap it or use it for any other purpose than what you’ve outlined.
   
   
9. Put a link to your privacy policy in your survey. In some countries it’s the law, in all countries it’s just plain good sense. Don’t forget to make it a popup window so when they close it, they are back in the survey.
   
   
10. Better yet, get and post a privacy seal. It’s the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval of the internet, a visual confirmation that you take privacy seriously. Check out www.truste.org.
    
    
11. Watch someone do your survey – better yet, ask them to talk out loud about how they are feeling as they do it.
    
    
12. Show you value their time, use a progress indicator and make sure it works. I added this last bit only after I just did a survey that showed 47% complete, BEFORE I answered a single question!
    
    
13. Go for a strong and sincere finish. I don’t know how many times I’ve done surveys and then felt let down when I was finished because of an abrupt ending, sometimes with the standard blah blah blah – “thank your for your feedback, your opinion matters to us, now please go away”. Spend time on the ending – try some unique words to say thank you.
    
    
14. Don’t dump them when they’re done! Consider using this moment to offer them a white paper, a signup to get your newsletter or a special offer, or at least give them some options on where they should go next on your site! Never let anyone leave too easily.
    
    
15. Offer them a chance to contact you at the end of the survey – surveys are wonderful because you can collect a lot of information from many people quickly and easily, but why not invite individuals to talk to you too? You’ll find a wonderful balance of quantitative and qualitative data if you do that, and you might just get some great ideas for your next survey.