A. Time-consuming
B. Confusing
C. Tedious
D. Not something I can look into right now
If you chose any of the above, this blog post can help. Surveys have been a frequent topic of choice on the OfficeSpace blog over the past weeks. We’ve talked about how they can improve your performance and what questions you should ask. Now we’ll talk about resources for making the survey itself. The following is a list of some useful online tools, courtesy of Socialbrite contributor Jessica Haswell. Which one sounds right for you?
Using the Form tool in Google Drive, you can create an unlimited number of surveys and ask more than 1,000 questions for free. Choose from common survey answer types including checkboxes, scales, and paragraph text. Then simply send it out and wait for the responses to come rolling in. When they do, you can view the results in one spreadsheet or see the data collected in a results page that lists all write-in answers, as well as a percentage breakdown of multiple choice answers.
Using the most well-known survey tool, you can make surveys yourself, or choose from a bank full of questions tested by experts. On top of that, SurveyMonkey also tracks answers with reporting and analytics, which get more refined the higher your price plan. Each paid plan has analysis and reporting, for example, but only the gold and platinum versions offer A/B testing and text analysis, which allows you to search surveys for specific keywords. There is also a free version, but unless your company has fewer than 100 people (basic is limited to 10 questions per survey for 100 responders), you’ll probably need at least the Select plan, which costs $17 per month.
This tool offers more than 30 question types if you need something beyond multiple choice. Have respondents rank items by dragging and dropping them in their preferred order. Or let them express their opinion via Likert scale, which allows them to choose from a scale of answers ranging from “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied,” “not important” to “very important,” etc. Survey templates are available for the paid plans, as is skip logic, the capability that customizes the survey as it’s taken. (This way, your co-workers will only answer the questions that are most relevant to them.)
Wufoo lets you create your own custom surveys from scratch, and like Google Forms, it lets you make them for free free. Its form builder gives you a blank page where you can place multiple-choice answer options, check boxes, and empty fields for write-in answers. Pick the elements you’d like and simply type in your questions. If you don’t have the time to make your own survey, you can also choose from an impressive range of survey templates. With more than 150 surveys already prepared, Wufoo lets you learn about anything you’d want to know, from customer satisfaction to job satisfaction to software evaluation.
When you need a depth of reporting that you can’t find in the other programs, consider Qualtrics. It delivers reports on customer service satisfaction, product feedback, and much more. You can choose from more than 30 graph types to view survey results, plus export them to Word, PowerPoint, or PDF for presentations. Users can also easily complete the surveys on any device—be it computer, smartphone, or tablet. A free version with unlimited surveys and 250 questions is available, but for a more complete range of features, you can also request a quote for a specific project.
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