Surveys are a crucial part of every business/marketing strategy as it allows them to test and measure the performance of key factors. One of the biggest struggles businesses face with surveys is getting them completed. More and more companies are ditching traditional survey techniques and implementing Text Surveys due to people being 8 times more likely to respond to a text message compared to email. Results are not only high in volume, but also quick with completion. Studies also show that results are more genuine as recipients typically feel less pressurised and are able to respond to the survey in a time and from a place which is most convenient for them.
So how can you create the perfect SMS survey to benefit your business? We’ve created over 15 idea templates that you can use below for your inspiration when designing your survey.
Market Research
Are you a start up/entrepreneur? Or maybe looking to learn more about your current customers? Either way it’s important to find out who your audience is so you are able to communicate yourself appropriately from your marketing strategy right through your overall business goals.
- Customer demographics: find out who your customers are asking relevant information such as: age, gender, location, profession, household size, income, education.
- Psychographic Questions: Ask about their interests, hobbies, opinions or anything else that will help you learn more about your customers.
- Buying Patterns: want to learn more about their buying patterns? Are you researching for a new product? Start by asking some of these questions to find out more:
- Do you ever purchase X?
- Where do you go when you look for X?
- How often do you purchase X?
- How long does it take for you to make a purchase decision?
- What is typical budget for X?
Customer Satisfaction
Gaining feedback from your customers about your product or service is crucial. It allows you to see what is currently working within your business and what appropriate changes you should or shouldn’t take. It’s the perfect test and measurement tool! Some ideas you can use is:
- Find out how satisfied are your customers are with a particular product/service you offer and want to improve. Examples:
- How many times a week do you use X in your home?
- Name 3 things you would like to see improved from X.
- What do you think of X new feature?
- Do you like the improved packaging from X?
- Run a survey to find out what you done well during their experience with you such as visiting your online/offline store and how you can improve their visit next. Examples:
- From a scale of 1 – 5 how would you rate the staff of today’s store?
- How would you rate your experience visiting us via our app today?
- How useful was the live chat service on our site today?
- Send a survey when a customer has completed a customer service call. For example:
- From a scale of 1 – 5 how would you rate the overall call?
- From a scale of 1 – 5 how would you rate the waiting time?
- Did you gain all the information you needed from today’s call?
- What improvements would you suggest for next time?
- Looking to launch a new product/service? Ask your customers their thoughts on potential new ideas to get a feel for the market.
- What are the 3 key problems you find when X?
- Are you using any products to help assist with X? If so please name them.
- Would you use a product that would help prevent X?
- Would you be interested in testing a X?
- Send a survey once a delivery has been completed. Find out how customer experience was using the delivery service. Examples:
- Please can you rate your satisfaction from today’s delivery?
- How helpful was the driver in assisting you with your shopping?
- Did the driver explain why some items were swapped from your food order?
- Would you use this service again and why?
Event Planning
When running an event it’s important to sure that you meet your attendees needs. Using a survey can help maximise your event planning by obtaining feedback before, during and after your event to make your next one is even better!
- Before the event – whilst planning the event you send a short survey to potential attendees asking them questions to help you prepare and plan to fit their needs accordingly. For example:
- Name 3 speakers who would love to see attend the show?
- How do you feel with X location? What are your likes and dislikes?
- What are your overall goals that you would like to achieve attending the event?
- Do you prefer a sit down meal or buffet?
- What price range do you feel is reasonable for X event?
- Can you name any other topics that you think would be suitable for this event?
- What things would you like to see in a goody bag from this event?
- During the event: Get interactive and run a survey during the conference you are running. Your audience will become more engaging within your conference/event and have real time interaction.
- For example if your doing a presentation and want to get people responses quickly get them to quickly text into your TextInbound number and display results on screen with our reporting tool.
- After the event – how do you measure a success of an event? Asking your attendees is the only way to truly find out! Taking feedback can ensure that you maximise growth for your next show:
- From a scale 1 – 10 how would you rate the event overall?
- What 3 things did you love the most from the show?
- What 3 things do you feel needs to improved next time?
- Would you attend again next year?
- What was your favourite talk/discussion?
- From a scale of 1 – 10 how would you rate the location/venue?
Employee/HR
Employees are the heart of every business and they are the ones that keep the business going. Without them no business could survive! If your staff are feeling unsatisfied this will reflect in their work performance which will then impact on your business performance and therefore your customers. Nearly 70% of employees think their organisation should use text messaging to communicate with employees!
- Staff Satisfaction: How satisfied are your staff? Happy staff means a successful business, if your staff are demotivated this will lower productivity and efficiency of your company. Ask them questions such as:
- Do you like the new office layout?
- What changes would you like to see the cafe offering for staff lunches?
- What activities would you like the business to part take in?
- What rewards would you like to be offered when group/personal targets are met?
- Are there any aspects of the business you feel need to be improved on?
- Career Development: find out how satisfied your employees are with their career development.
- From a scale of 1-5 how satisfied are you with your training and personal development
- How satisfied are you with the work opportunities you have?
- Are you pleased with the career advancements available?
- Recruitment: use SMS surveys to assist you in your recruitment process. You can send applicants an initial questionnaire which will assist in your selection process.
- Do you have experience in working with X ?
- In the last 3 years have you attended X ?
- Are you comfortable using X software for day to day business?
- Do you live X miles away from X?
- Are you available to start working from X?
- What are your 3 key skills that you
Healthcare
A recent study shows that over half of healthcare providers measure employee satisfaction as part of their effort to offer great care. Without this measurement you could be overlooking a key element that impacts patient satisfaction and health outcomes!
Patient Satisfaction: Understand your patient’s’ experiences – and their expectations. Examples:
- Patient Safety: Ask your patients how satisfied they feel with the safety of the medical environment they were in and any improvements that need to be made.
- Patient Satisfaction: Ensuring patients expectations are met along with hearing their experiences to improve upon.
Healthcare Employee Engagement: Employee engagement surveys make sure medical staff have everything they need to put patients first. Healthcare employees need to be trained and motivated in order to care for patients correctly.
- Work Environment Survey:
- From a scale of 1 – 10 how satisfied are you with your work culture?
- In your department how quickly do employees adapt to difficult situations?
- Employees here keep going when the going gets tough. Agree, unsure, disagree?
- Employees here always take on new tasks willingly? Agree (1), Unsure(2), Disagree(3)
- Employee Engagement Survey:
- What is your job role?
- What department do you work in?
- Are you inspired to meet your goals at work and why?
- Do you feel completely involved at work?
- Do you feel the work days go quickly because of your involvement?
- Career Development Questions.
Medical Research: Use surveys to help innovate and improve the quality of healthcare. Collect data for basic research, clinical trials and more. Examples for diet & fitness research:
- Do you keep track of your daily sugar intake?
- How many times a week do you exercise?
- In a typical day how many of your meal/snacks include fruit & veg?
- How many ready meals do you eat in a typical week?
- Do you nutrition supplements?
- What is your biggest reason if you are unable to exercise?
These are just a few ways in which you can use SMS surveys to test and measure key aspects within your business. Learn more about Text Survey for businesses by reading our product page. If you want more tips on how maximise your survey potential by read our post which details 5 simple steps to follow.
For more information on about creating text message surveys or our Text Survey product please feel free to contact our experienced SMS customer care team on 0845 112 1302 or email [email protected].