You’re working hard on your survey, and you want to be as thorough as possible.
But, suddenly, you notice you’ve created a lot of questions. Have you ever wondered how many are too many?
In this article, we look at how many questions your online survey should have for great results.
We’re going to highlight some tips for keeping your surveys short and focused while getting you the information you need.
Focus on One Objective
To get the best results for your survey, focus on one objective. (tweet this) Know exactly what you want to learn before crafting your questions.
For example, let’s say you want to know what customers think about your website because you’re thinking about building a new one. This would not be the time to throw in product questions.
Make sure your questions are specific and easily answerable. Keep away from biased, misleading or confusing questions.
If you want to know about other things, make another survey.
Keep Your Survey Short
With your clear objective in hand, craft your survey with as few questions as possible.
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all number of questions a survey should have, a good rule of thumb is to keep your survey short enough that the average person can complete it 5-10 minutes. This usually amounts to 10 questions or less.
Most of your customers will abandon surveys with too many questions – think more than 10. This is especially true if your questions are long and detailed. If they’re short and focused, you can often get away with a few more.
We do recommend keeping your questions short as respondents tend to abandon long-winded, complicated surveys.
Final Thoughts
Consider letting your respondents know upfront how many questions they can expect and how long you estimate it will take them to finish.
This lets them know your value not only their opinions, but their time.
Tell them why you are conducting your survey and let them know their opinions count.
No matter how many ultra-focused questions you decide to ask, offer survey respondents a small incentive for taking your survey, and you’ll find you just might have fewer dropouts.
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Image: Evan Dennis