I love surveys. I feel empowered when I take a survey to express my opinions and suggestions. I make better catering arrangements when I know the preferences of the employees in my office. When my favorite brands send me a survey it makes me feel like they care about my opinions and that my vote counts.

I’m no marketing expert, but I can tell you there is an art to surveying. The quality of your survey will determine the quality of the data you’re able to collect. Here are some basic tips for creating a great survey.

Learn the system. Decide which survey system you’ll use. I recommend Survey Monkey. Learn the survey system’s options and restrictions so you can keep these in mind while creating your survey. Also, learn what type of answer choices they offer.

What’s your point? Think about the goal of your questions and how you will use the feedback you receive. Brainstorm all the questions you want to ask, and then start figuring out what is the most important topic for your survey.

Keep it short. People don’t have “extra time” to sit around filling out surveys. The shorter the survey, the more likely people are to fill it out for you. I recommend keeping it to 10 questions or less.

Stay focused. Choose a topic and stay focused on the most important information on which you need feedback. You can always send another short survey on another important topic in the future, provided you keep them short and simple. If not, your survey will likely be put off until the respondent feels they have “extra time” (which is never).

Be clear. Don’t make your audience think. People can skew anything you say, so don’t leave any room for interpretation. Be clear and concise when you ask your question.

Comments count. Include as many comment boxes on your questions as possible – let them tell you what they like/want/need, so you don’t have to guess. You may also get more feedback by allowing your audience to respond anonymously to your survey.

Offer a prompt. When asking for comments, you may get more dialog if you provide prompts within the question itself. For example, instead of asking “Do you have any additional feedback?” you can be more direct by asking “Please provide feedback regarding your experiences with the service (ease of use, relevance of communications, your perceived value of the company, etc.)” Credit: SYC survey

Find a Guinea pig. Crowd source feedback related to your survey before you send it to your target audience. Ask a friend, a colleague or a few of your employees to take the survey, proof read it, and give you their feedback. If they are confused, chances are your audience will be too.

I hope this is helpful. It is by no means an all-inclusive list of ways to create or improve your surveys. Survey Monkey has a blog about surveys which is chocked full of helpful info.

Happy surveying!