survey tips

How to Use QR Code to Get People to Your Survey URL

Survey Tips

You’re ready to send a survey to your restaurant customers, and naturally you want as many responses as possible. You know the more responses you receive, the more valuable your data.

So, how can you increase your survey response rates? The answer is to send your survey out in as many digital ways as possible. (tweet this) Many people send out their survey link (URL) via email, SMS text messaging, social media and their website. Yet, there’s another way.

This unique way is using a QR code, and it makes survey responses super easy for your customers.

Let’s look at how to use a QR code to get people to your survey URL. First, let’s define the QR code.

What is a QR code?

A QR code is a code the camera on your smartphone reads. It consists of an array of black and white squares. Store within these squares is your chosen URL or other information.

QR stands for quick response.

Basically, they’re a two-dimensional barcode that stores information. Many marketers use them to direct customers and their target audience to online content. You can use the QR code to direct customers to your survey link.

When someone scans your QR code with their camera smartphone, it will bring up your survey form. People can then fill it out and submit their response.

You can store up to about 7000 digits or 4200 characters, including punctuation marks and special characters on your QR code. This means you can use words, phrases, and internet addresses, too.

How Do I Create a QR Code?

It’s easy to create a QR code.

You simply need to find a company online that generates QR codes. Generally, you’ll want to pay for this service, especially if you’re generating a lot of clicks.

You choose the type of code you want, enter your data, and select “create QR code.” Then, the system asks you what format for your QR code, and you download the file.

Afterwards it’s easy to share your QR code on receipts in your restaurant, flyers, emails, text messages, and more.

How Does a Customer Use the QR Code?

Again, this is easy.

Your customer just scans the code with the camera on their smartphone. Most phones these days don’t need a scanner app because their camera is fully capable of reading the code. If they have an older phone, they can download an app.

Once your customer scans the code, the link to the restaurant survey opens up.

Now let’s explore some best practices for telling your customers about the QR code.

How Do I Share the QR Code?

You’ll find multiple ways to share the survey link to your customers through your image code.

First, you can add it to your printed receipts. Just be sure to add a bit of text with it to tell your customers why it is there.

You can always add the code to your table tents. This gives you ample space to provide a nice background image with your code. You can also use this space to tell customers why you are surveying them. In addition, you can tell them about the perk they get for completing the survey.

Next, you can include the code on your to-go menu or even your to-go packaging. This helps you send your survey to customers who aren’t dining in.

Tell People What the Code is For

You wouldn’t welcome guests into your restaurant and not provide them a menu. So, you don’t want to throw out a code without telling people what it’s for.

Your restaurant guests should know exactly why you want them to scan the code. This is important because your guests can’t look at those squares and know what you want of them.

Tell your guests to snap a photo of your code to take a quick survey.

You may even offer them a coupon for a free appetizer or other sort of discount or reward for taking your survey. This gives them an extra reason to take the survey.

Make Sure Your Survey is Mobile Friendly

Your restaurant diners are scanning your survey on a mobile phone, so make sure your survey is responsive to screen size as well.

You definitely don’t want to send your mobile guests to a survey built for a desktop computer.

The response rates will most certainly be better if your survey is mobile friendly. If not, you risk rapid dropout rates.

Don’t Resize the QR Code

You really don’t want to adjust the image size of your QR code, or you may break it. When you resize it, you change the dimensions of those little white and black squares, and you also reduce the white space between them, leaving your code unreadable.

Many generators will let you pick image size, and this is your best bet.

Test Your Image

Before you send your survey through a QR code, you want to test the code on multiple devices.

What if you found out it works on Android devices but not iPhones? Test your image to make sure it works on different devices and different browsers.

Final Thoughts

Gathering feedback about your restaurant has never been easier than using a QR code to get people to your survey URL.

As with any surveys, do make sure to thank your customers, send them their promised reward, and follow up with your results.

One of the most important aspects of collecting survey data from your restaurant guests is reporting on the data and then telling your customer what you’re going to do about it.

For example, if the majority of your customers tell you your service is bad, send out an email to your respondents and tell them how you are going to change it, asking them to give you another chance.

On the other hand, if you send a link to a Net Promoter Score survey, and your results are very positive, send an email thanking your customers for their loyalty.

By using a QR code, you increase your chances of more survey data so you can respond to the needs of your customers, increase retention, and the profits of your restaurant.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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10 Tips for Encouraging Survey Completion by Customers

Survey Tips

Are you looking to increase your survey response rates for better data? Check out these 10 tips for encouraging survey completion by customers.

Why the Survey Channel Impacts Your NPS Score

Survey Tips

The Pew Research Center says that sending online surveys is one of the cheapest, most convenient means of data collection for businesses today.

Not only can you send product and customer service surveys, but you can send Net Promoter Score surveys and more with a full-service online survey software.

While sending surveys is the easy part, getting responses can be a bit more challenging. One way to get more responses is to have an effective plan for the distribution of your surveys.

In this article, we look at why the survey channel impacts your NPS score.

Texting Your Survey

If you use SMS (text messaging) to send your NPS survey, you’ll find it’s an easy way to send a survey. Simply craft a text, insert a link to your survey, and send it.

Although, with this channel, you have to have an SMS service for your business, and there are legal limitations. For example, your customers have to opt-in to receive your messages.

Because you have less likelihood to reach all respondents, text messaging should be a supplementary channel for your NPS surveys.

Emailing Your Survey

This is the single best channel for sending your surveys, and it impacts your NPS score because you’re more likely to see a higher response rate.

If you look at your customer database, you’ll find that you have an email for nearly all of your customers, while you may not have opt-ins for all of them when it comes to text messaging.

Emailing your survey is the best way to distribute your survey online. You can target customers for the most accurate data.

Because you’re sending an email to your customers who have already opted in and want what you have to offer, you have a better chance of getting high-quality responses.

Final Thoughts

The survey channel does impact your NPS score, so choose wisely.

In addition to email and texting options, consider sharing your survey through social media, putting it on your website, and including it in blog posts.

Ultimately, the more ways you get it out there, the more responses you’ll get.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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What To Do If Your NPS Is Below 0

Survey Tips

So, you sent out a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, and you got a zero. First, all is not lost. It’s only hopeless if you choose to do nothing about it.

Getting a number that’s at or below zero is a unique situation. It tells you that your customers care enough to complete your survey. At the same time, they’re sending you a very clear message. This message says they want to shop with you, but they’re sending a fair warning that you aren’t doing something right.

Ultimately, they have no reason to shop with you or recommend you to anyone, so it’s time to make some changes.

In this article, we look at what to do if your NPS is below zero and look at how you can recover from it.

The Point of the Score

First, the NPS is not a score to hang on your wall. When it’s low, it tells you that something is amiss, and you have a great opportunity for improvement.

Since the Net Promoter Score is the measurement of your customers’ loyalty to your company, a low score tells you they’re unhappy, and they are not going to recommend you to others.

Once you send out your first NPS survey, you can use this initial score as your baseline. If you get a zero, great, you aren’t in the negative numbers, but you do know you have a long way to go to get to 100. If you get below a zero, that’s negative territory, and the climb is longer.

On the positive side, your zero or negative zero may even be well above the competition. But that doesn’t mean you rest there. It’s time for some strategizing to improve your score over time.

Now let’s look at how to improve your Net Promoter Score if it’s below zero.

Get Your Employees on Board

If your score is low, it’s time for a team meeting. It’s important that everyone at your company understands your NPS score is too low, and you must improve.

Your staff should understand that improving your score means making your currently unhappy customers happy. Anyone who has direct contact with your customers needs to understand this. (tweet this)

Converting unhappy customers into your loyal promoters is going to take everyone, not just your marketing team.

Give Your Customers a Hand

Your social media pages come into play here.

Find your happy customers and ask them to share their good experiences on your social media pages. You might ask for good reviews. Or, you can ask them if they’ll do a video testimonial as this really helps legitimize the review.

Don’t get into paid reviews as this can end up causing you problems in the long run.

To encourage customers, make sure they feel appreciated and do what you can to make leaving a good review easy for them.

Be Responsive

Have you gotten complaints in the past and ignored them? Do you have un-responded-to negative (or positive) Google reviews?

One of the most important things you can do with customers is to respond quickly. Communication is key to a great relationship. When customers are angry, respond with empathy and find them a solution.

Always respond to all feedback in a timely manner. By actively engaging with your customers and cultivating relationships, you’ll make great inroads improving your NPS.

Listening to your customers and making effective changes is key to improving your score.

Offer Training

Oftentimes your NPS score is low because of how your customers were treated when working with your staff.

Be sure to offer comprehensive and ongoing training to your team. You also want to ensure they understand their responsibilities when it comes to providing excellent customer service every time.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to your net promoter score, you want to stay on top of it. Make a plan for improving your score and stick to it.

When six months have passed, send another NPS survey, and see if your score improves. If it does, super. Keep up the good work to keep improving.

If it doesn’t, revisit your plan and implement new strategies to increase your score.

The NPS isn’t a once and done. You want to keep making improvements in your customer experience, so you can increase customer loyalty, your NPS score, and ultimately your profits.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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How to Know If You Have “Good Survey Questions”

Survey Tips

You’ve done your research. You’ve drafted your questions, and you think you’re ready to send your survey.

But, how do you know it’s good enough to elicit the kinds of responses you need?

While online survey tools make it easy to send surveys, you still need to do the legwork and create a survey that actually works. This requires careful planning.

Without it, you may not get the meaningful data you’re looking for.

To help you evaluate your survey, in this article, we look at how to know if you have “good survey questions.”

Take a look at the following and then look at your survey questions. If they meet these qualifications, you have good survey questions.

Have a Goal

Do you have a goal for your survey? It’s best practice to have a goal in mind before you start crafting your survey questions.

For example, ask yourself about the objective of your survey. What’s the most important thing you want to know? What else are you looking for?

Once you have your goal, you can craft questions to go with it.

Keep It Simple

We can almost promise you that your customers won’t answer long surveys (unless the reward is overly beneficial).

Because of this, you want to keep your survey as simple as possible. If your survey is simple, and short, you’re more likely to have a larger pool or respondents.

People are busy, and you want to provide them easy access to your survey. Make sure they can complete your survey in under 10 minutes. (tweet this)

If you want to ensure the best results, keep your survey well under five minutes. Show your respondents you care and respect their time, otherwise your abandonment rate will skyrocket.

Stay Away from Yes/No Questions

Otherwise known as a polar question, the yes/no question in most instances isn’t going to provide you much data.

With this question there are only two possible answers, and that is all you’re going to get.

You leave your respondents without a voice. They can’t tell you what they think, and they have no other choice by yes or no. It may be they are somewhere in between.

What’s more, this question is leading. If your respondent isn’t squarely in the yes or no corner, they are forced to pick one of those answers, creating bias.

You’re after real, authentic data, and the polar question isn’t the way to get it.

If you are really set on a closed-ended type of question like this, at least give your respondents multiple items to choose from. The multiple choice question is certainly a better option because you are giving them more choices.

In addition, you may also want to include a line for “other,” so they can add their own answer. After all, you may not have thought of all possible answers.

Use the Right Type of Question

When working with surveys, you’ll note there are many different types of questions.

In order to get the best data, you want to use the right type of question.

Qualitative questions are open-ended. Use these types of questions when you want a written answer.

Quantitative questions are closed-ended, and you offer options for respondents. These may include:

Check boxes
Drop down menus
Radio buttons
Rating scales
Ranking scales

Often, you’ll find that a mix of questions is ideal for your needs. You might even follow up with an open-ended question after a respondent answers a closed-ended question in a particular way.

Use Open-Ended Questions

This type of question can be very valuable because your respondents provide a comment. It can be one sentence or many and often gives you insight into how your survey respondents really feel about your business or your products.

The open-ended question allows you to really dig deep for data.

As we just mentioned, not all of your questions have to be open-ended nor should they be. Consider one or two open-ended questions so as not to overly tax your respondents.

Do be careful when wording this question. You want to ensure you aren’t leading respondents to a particular answer.

Ask One Thing in Each Question

This is a problem that derails many survey writers.

It happens when someone writes a question that actually includes more than one question. For example:

Do you like product x? What is your favorite thing about it? How is it beneficial?

Not only are you asking too many similar questions, but you’re confusing your respondents.

If it was open-ended, you might expect to only get one of your questions answered. If it was closed-ended, your respondents wouldn’t know what to answer, so your data will be skewed.

Each question should pose only one thing. Don’t make it hard for respondents to answer you accurately and precisely.

You might reword the above example like this: “What do you find most beneficial about product x?”

Don’t Use Leading Words

Great writers know that words can have very different meanings depending on their context.

Good survey writers are aware of the same nuances.

In order to get the most precise data from your survey, be very careful with your wording. Make sure your questions aren’t leading and that they say exactly what you mean.

Have others look over your questions to see if they interpret them differently than you meant them.

Avoid Double-Barreled Questions

Similar to the leading question, this one shows great bias.

For example, if you own a hotel, a double-barreled question might look like this: “Is our hotel your favorite place to stay?” Or, “What is the most economical hotel for you to stay at?”

Not only are these questions leading, but in the case of the last question, one person’s economical isn’t always the same as another.

Final Thoughts

Some sources attribute the following to Albert Einstein, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

As you craft your survey and look for good survey questions that produce the best data, consider this quote.

If you ask the right questions and in the right manner, you’re sure to get the data you’re looking for to meet your overall goals.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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5 Unique Survey Questions

Survey Tips

Surveys are a terrific way to gather vital information for your business. You may have already started surveying your customers with this popular data-collection method.

You may have found that surveys can help you survey large groups of people in a cost-effective manner. Perhaps you’re getting ready to send another survey, and you’d like to send one that isn’t predictable or boring.

Asking unexpected, fun questions is a great way to encourage more survey responses. You might find that shaking things up a bit increases your response rates.

We put together this list of five unique survey questions so you an reduce your survey abandonment rates and encourage more respondents to not only start your survey but finish it.

#1: Picture Question – Choose One

The image choice question is fun for respondents, and it’s especially useful for your more visual customers.

This type of question is a simple, closed-ended question where your survey respondents can choose from one or more image answers.

You provide the images, and they are free to pick their favorite(s).

We like the image-based question because it’s highly interactive for your survey respondents and encourages engagement. This is especially helpful if your customers are suffering from survey fatigue.

Because your customers are hit every day with surveys, the interactive image-based question can energize your customers and make them want to complete your survey. This can reduce your survey abandonment rate and increase your response rate.

The picture question can help you break through the survey clutter and show your customers their opinions matter.

#2: The Constant Sum Question

With this distinctive survey question, you allow your respondents to express how valuable or important something is to them.

A constant sum survey question helps you collect a ratio of data showing it in comparison to other data.

For example, you might offer respondents a sliding scale that they can move themselves. You could ask them to show how likely they are to do a series of things.

Let’s say you own a clothing store, and you want to know how likely your customers are to spend money on individual items. They can move the slider showing how they spend their money. You might ask them to slide the scale on the following:

Pants
Shirts
Undergarments
Pajamas
Jewelry
Hats and Belts
Shoes

You can use this question when you are relatively sure your customers will make a purchase from you, but you want to know on what.

#3: Upload a File

There are times when you may really want to engage your survey respondents and asking them to upload a file on their cellphone is one way to do this.

Perhaps you’re looking for photos, documents or other information. If so, you can add an upload question to your survey.

Using this question allows your respondents to not only provide you a survey response but upload a file as well. It allows you to collect data that might not be available to you through standard survey questions.

While your customers will find this question fairly easy to deal with, you want to make sure to restrict the type of file your respondents can upload. For example, if you’re looking for an image, you don’t want them to upload a spreadsheet.

Be sure to provide hints and tips for users who may not be well-versed in mobile uploads.

#4: Reword the Question

Another way to make your surveys more unique is to get your creative juices working. Find fun ways to rewrite your standards survey questions so they inspire your respondents and elicit higher response rates.

Consider this survey question example:

How likely are you to purchase this product again?

Heck yeah!
Stuck in the middle.
Wishy washy.
No way.

By using clever choices, you give your customers a smile and create a survey they might actually want to complete.

Note, though, that this doesn’t work for all survey questions, and you should remain serious where it’s called for and if your industry wouldn’t work well with a bit of creativity.

Know your audience and use your best judgement.

#5: Throw in Some Humor

Yes, surveys are important for your data collection, and you don’t want to venture too far away from getting your results, but in the right circumstances you can consider using a little humor.

For example, if you have a long survey of 10 questions, and you want to add a bit of levity to the seriousness of it, you might through in a humorous question in the middle.

Do make sure the question still gathers data but ask it in a unique way. Perhaps halfway through your long survey, you might ask customers, “Are you tired yet?”

For the answers, make it apply to your business:

Choice #1: Yes! I’m as tired as I was walking from one end of your store to the other to find what I needed.
Choice #2: Of course not, you would never tire me.

From this question/answer, you add some humor, but you’re still able to take away vital data. If they chose choice #1, you might rethink your store layout for ease of use.

Bottom line have fun with your wording but do make sure you’re still getting valuable data about your customers’ experience with you. (tweet this)

Final Thoughts

Hilary Swank, a well-known actress, said, “If I’m going to do something different, and if I want it to meet someone’s needs, I really need to go the distance.”

If you take this quote to heart, you can see how important it is to first, survey your customers so you ensure you’re meeting their needs. Second, you want to create a survey that is engaging enough your customers will want to take it.

One way to do this is to throw in some unique survey questions to increase your response rate and engage your best customers.

Now that you have some survey questions to help you step out of your response, you’re well on your way to getting responses while making your customers feel that you went the extra mile to make sure their survey experience was one of a kind.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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How to Use Survey Webhooks to Meet Your Business Goals

Survey Tips

You want to meet your business goals, and the survey is a terrific way to gauge whether or not your products and services are meeting the needs of your customers.

Along with your survey is another tool called the webhook that can help further your goals.

In this article, we look at how to use survey webhooks to meet your business goals. First, let’s define the webhook.

What is a Webhook?

A webhook makes it so you can receive notifications when something happens inside of your SurveyTown account.

For example, you might get a notification that a customer completed a survey. This then allows you to do something with your data, perhaps updating your systems as well.

Webhooks can be incoming or outgoing. For incoming, you’d be notified when something happens. For outbound webhooks, the system might be sending notifications to other apps about specific events.

Once you dive in, you’ll find that webhooks are incredibly powerful. They are an effectual way to send data between two systems. Webhooks allow you to push data from one system to another.

Finally, think of webhooks as you would a relay race. When one “runner” is triggered, it starts another sequence of events. In the case of webhooks, data can pass between platforms.

What Can You Use Webhooks For?

With webhooks, you increase your businesses ability to connect with customers. Here are a few ways webhooks can help:

By using webhooks you know when a specified event took place. For example, a survey was completed.

Webhooks help you let another software platform know the event took place. This is that outbound webhook.
You can ensure that your data is synced across your platforms when you use a webhook.
For businesses that utilize webhooks, they find they can set off a workflow in another platform.

Webhooks Help with Customer Service

Let’s say your customer contacted you through customer service. You might want to send them a survey to see how well they liked or disliked their experience.

This is where the webhook comes in. It can trigger a customer satisfaction survey after a specific event. You’ll find this action serves to improve your business while helping you better train your staff.

The webhook allows you to better understand your customers experience and pinpoint any areas where you might improve.

In addition, you can solve problems with unhappy customers. For example, a negative survey response might trigger you to open a support case with your customer.

By following up, you show your customers you value their feedback, and you have an opportunity to change negative feelings into positive ones.

Webhooks Help You Target Customers

You’ll find that webhooks also let you analyze your customers interactions with your business.

For example, when a customer first uses your app, first makes an order or first talks with your customer service staff, you can trigger a survey.

By triggering surveys for specific segments of your customer base, you get more actionable data to help drive your business.

As another example, let’s say you want to introduce a new product. You might use a webhook to set up a survey for customers who bought something similar. The webhook allows you to survey those customers to see how likely they’d be to purchase the new product.

Final Thoughts

As you get ready to plan your webhooks, map out your customer’s journey. Decide where the best place is for the webhook.

Do consider survey fatigue and make sure you aren’t sending the same customers repetitive surveys. The last thing you want to do is bombard your valued customers’ inboxes.

Use webhooks thoughtfully and with purpose, and you’ll find you’re not only meeting your customers’ goals and needs but your own in the process. (tweet this)

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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Should You Reward Customers For Taking Surveys?

Survey Tips

There’s a fine balance between giving rewards for taking surveys and not giving them at all. The most important thing to consider is your results.

You don’t want to skew your results by offering rewards, and you certainly want to avoid tainted data as much as possible.

So, this begs this question, “Should you reward customers for taking surveys?”

First, let’s look at the distinction between reward and incentive.

Rewards vs. Incentives

An incentive is often given to respondents for completing a survey. A reward may be seen as a thank-you for finishing a survey.

This distinction may be important to consider when offering them to respondents. For example, big survey companies offer monetary incentives to random survey takers, and the results have a higher probability of being skewed.

A reward may be offered by your company to your specific customers for taking your survey, and it may be less skewed than the incentive.

So, one can deduce that it may not be the value of the incentive or reward that increases the responses, but it’s the way it’s offered that makes a difference to your respondents.

How to Decide

As you ponder the question of whether or not you should offer a reward, you want to consider the following questions:

Who is your target? Is it existing customers or a specific demographic? Will these people have something important to offer? If so, you might consider offering a little boost for taking your survey. Yet, if you’re sending out a blanket survey, an incentive isn’t a great idea.
What’s your relationship with your respondents? If you’re sending it to customers after they make a purchase, a thank you reward in the form of a coupon may be a good idea. On the other hand, you might not want to offer an incentive for a survey that isn’t specifically targeted.
Are people interested in my business? If so, a reward is a bonus. If they aren’t, then the reward will attract the wrong respondents.
How long is your survey? Short surveys don’t need a reward. A longer survey certainly merits one because you want to show respondents you value and appreciate the time it takes to fill out your survey.

When to Offer the Incentive

Should you offer it before the survey or after?

To increase your response rate, you can offer it before the survey. But, beware that this may cost more because you provide the incentive before anyone even takes your survey.

Your audience may take the incentive and leave your survey unfinished.

Conversely, offering the promise of the reward for taking your survey is a much better option because it’s a true reward provided after the work of taking the survey.

Final Thoughts

Offering rewards for taking your surveys may make respondents more likely to complete your survey, but you want to be careful with your offer.

For example, you don’t want to attract the wrong type of respondent. Consider the boat dealership that attracts online shoppers with the wrong type of incentive or reward.

The best way to avoid problems is to know who you’re sending your survey to. The reward should match the audience. (tweet this)

This way you won’t end up with people who misrepresent themselves. These folks may not know or care about your services or products. They simply want a reward.

Offering survey rewards should be well thought out. You want to consider the survey, your audience, and the results you’re after before deciding to offer a reward.

Finally, consider the type of reward you offer. It should fit the survey and the audience. These may be monetary, in the form of a coupon, or something that benefits a third-party like a charity.

Surveys help you make the best decisions for your business. Are you ready to get started with your free Survey Town trial? Start with your free account today, and you can upgrade at any time.

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