The Google Docs micro-survey experience

2
349 followers

Hiya folk!

As I've just published my first multimedia tutorial here (a quick start guide to using Google for surveys), I thought I'd share some of my experiences over the last year of using it in the big-wide world!

Previously, I would have used one of the main subscription-based survey services, but the sort of work I am doing requires what I call a 'micro-survey' - just two or three questions -- sometimes just one question.

A micro-survey, I have discovered, seems to have this amazing ability to engage. I (don't know if such a terms exists :-) .... I just made it up on the spot when a corporate client asked what it was).

Example Survey from the tutorial



You see, I had this very high-powered group of luminaries scattered across the globe who would normally be sent a long questionnaire or survey to get their 'expert' opinion. I had been down that route before and the response rate was always very poor.

The question then (as all of you online business people know) is how to engage them. I figured that grouping key questions into thematic areas, and then only exploring one theme at a time - with one or two questions in a Google Docs survey might be a way of getting past the 'busy barriers' that mentally get put up when a big traditional survey lands in the inbox.

Add to this the ability to provide instantaneous feedback, and we were onto a way of engaging and getting responses.

Form this and similar experiences, here are my key take-home points:
  • People no longer have the bandwidth to spend an hour on a task that may or may not generate a report in 3 to 6 months (traditional survey).
  • People will engage for short periods (each of my micro surveys was less than 5-minutes ... sometimes just 2 minutes) - if the question is clear and targeted.
  • People will especially engage if there is instant feedback (in the case mentioned above, the experts wanted to see what the other experts had written in their responses!).
  • As online entrepreneurs, you can leverage this phenomenon to engage people at all levels.
  • And a Google Docs survey based on their platform is just the place to do this sort of micro-approach.
Leave your insight here or head over to the training module I just released and add your comments there! The more ideas you share with others the better for all of us.

All the best,

Excaliba.

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training

Recent Comments

2

Thanks for posting this. I learned something again today.

Thx 4 the reminder that this does exist ,sometimes I collect information and store it in my Evernote.com and forget that it's there.

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training