| One of the key factors in a successful | | | | for small surveys. |
| business is to know what your customers or | | | | |
| clients are thinking - about your business, | | | | 5. OneMinutePoll - Software - available at a |
| your products, your services. As a business | | | | yearly subscription price - that teaches you |
| owner, you'll get feedback from your current | | | | how to write surveys correctly to find out |
| customers just in the course of day-to-day | | | | what your customers want, so you can provide |
| business. But the results can be skewed by | | | | it to them! Software automates your polls, |
| the interaction itself, and so most business | | | | generates code for your web page, and allows |
| owners find it useful to allow their | | | | you to see results in real-time. |
| customers to answer questions anonymously. | | | | |
| And that's where surveys come in. | | | | 6. Advanced Survey - Free and paid services |
| | | | that offer both web page surveys and email |
| Some businesses hire market research firms to | | | | surveys (where you invite participants - via |
| survey their customers or target customers. | | | | email - to take a survey). You can ask |
| For new or smaller businesses, this can be an | | | | multiple questions in one survey, and can ask |
| expensive proposition, and it's helpful to | | | | yes/no questions, open-ended text questions, |
| have a set of resources in your tool box that | | | | customizable number scales (Pick a number |
| offer the option of conducting your own | | | | from 1 to 10 with 10 being best, for |
| surveys. Here are some great online resources | | | | example), and multiple choice. |
| you can use for surveys. | | | | |
| | | | 7. Question Pro - Very sophisticated system |
| They range from the simplest polls which you | | | | for surveying customers. Has predesigned |
| can create and place on your web site to much | | | | templates for common surveys: Customer |
| more elaborate options. Many of them allow | | | | Satisfaction, New Product/Concept Testing, |
| the survey respondents to see the results | | | | Product Surveys, Conference Feedback, and |
| from themselves and others as soon as they | | | | more. These surveys can also be designed with |
| complete the survey. Some of these companies | | | | "branching," where the answer to one question |
| offer a set of services for free as well as | | | | is used in a subsequent question. No free |
| more powerful paid services; others offer | | | | options here, but there is a 30-day free |
| free 30-day trials of their most robust | | | | trial. |
| services. Some are geared towards smaller | | | | |
| businesses, other towards large enterprises | | | | 8. Relevant Tools - This company offers |
| with thousands of employees. There's also a | | | | custom web forms with automatic email |
| wide range of continuum between letting you | | | | response for as little as $10/month for a |
| design and add your own surveys to your web | | | | basic membership, which includes up to 500 |
| site, versus having them create a survey, | | | | database records and up to 500 email messages |
| find your target market, query them, and | | | | month. |
| report back the results. | | | | |
| | | | 9. HotScripts - A great resource for |
| 1. SurveyMonkey - If you have a large mailing | | | | programmers and webmasters. It has a host of |
| list or want to send a lot of surveys, the | | | | scripts in various programming languages and |
| best deal here is the professional | | | | is constantly being updated by programmers |
| subscription. For $19.95 month, you can send | | | | from around the world. If you search on |
| an unlimited number of surveys and receive up | | | | "surveys," you'll find lots of scripts in |
| to 1000 responses per month. | | | | lots of programming languages you can use. |
| | | | |
| 2. Zoomerang - I love their slogan, "Easiest | | | | 10.NetReflector - Offers a very sophisticated |
| way to ask, fastest way to know." Offers a | | | | self-serve solution for the do-it-yourselfer, |
| basic product (free) plus paid packages | | | | and assisted and automated solutions for |
| geared to education, non-profit, and a | | | | companies who need to survey customers and/or |
| professional version, which can send surveys | | | | employees worldwide on a regular basis. |
| in several languages, and has no limit on the | | | | Offers webinars, articles, and other |
| number of responses you can receive. | | | | resources on creating the invitation, the |
| | | | importance of regular surveys, and using |
| 3. SnapPoll - Simple site which offers you an | | | | online technologies for surveys. |
| easy way to put a one-question survey on your | | | | |
| web site and receive results. Requires no | | | | So whether you're querying current clients |
| sign-up, allows you to customize colors for | | | | and customers, a potential target market, |
| the form, and prevent multiple "votes" from | | | | vendors, or employees, these online surveys |
| the same person. Free - supported by what | | | | can provide valuable tools for smart business |
| they call "non-obtrusive advertising." | | | | owners. You can set up and monitor your |
| | | | surveys or pay someone to do it for you, but |
| 4. PHP Form Generator - This is a free survey | | | | online surveys are a great way for you to |
| generator that is written as open source | | | | gain information. The results may surprise |
| code. You can choose as many questions as | | | | you, or send you in a new direction you |
| you'd like - in any format - check, text, | | | | hadn't thought of. But one thing's for sure; |
| drop-downs, etc.) You do have to create your | | | | if you don't ask your customers, clients, or |
| own stats, but it's a fairly simple procedure | | | | employees, they probably won't tell! |