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Survey Research For Small Businesses – 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid in 2023

As a business entity, it is your responsibility to come up with a useful and easily understandable survey research methodology. It should not only be result-oriented but easy to implement as well. However, many business entities end up making mistakes that are common across the board. These mistakes are usually similar regardless of the industry carrying out the survey. So, what are they and how do you avoid them? Read on to find out.

1. You Like Asking Too Many Questions in Your Survey Research

Bam! This is the first mistake that you have made and your research train has hit the wall already. Don’t bombard your prospects with so many questions. You need to keep the survey or research form rather limited. Just as when conducting Buyer Persona research, you need to come up with interesting questions and some of the funniest and most intelligent queries your prospects would be delighted to respond to. Keep your customer survey precise and short so that their interest is intact and they keep waiting for your next survey in the coming week or month.

2. Do Not Confuse Your Respondents with Multiple-Choice Questions

Needless to say, multiple-choice questions are a great way to get responses from your respondents. However, it is likely that you might go overboard with it. Giving them 3 or 4 options is enough. Anything more than that is overkill. Also, the more options you have the more time it is going to take for them to fill out your research form. Instead, you can stick to 3 or 4 options. You can also make your questions a little more objective and add only two options instead.

3. Investing a Lot in Assumptive Questions will Hurt Your Survey

Doing this is going to damage the reputation of your company. It is never a good idea to frame questions based on the assumptions of the researcher. Getting rid of all your biases and prejudices is one of the most effective survey research strategies you could adopt in 2023. Never let the respondent know what you feel or your ideological, political, or other leanings. For example, you want to expand your business and in the process, you are thinking about launching a mobile app. Never let your customers get a hint that you are in the favor of either of the most popular platforms today which are iOS and Android. This could color the opinion and preferences of your respondents significantly.

4. Do Not Frame Leading Questions in Your Survey Research

This is done unintentionally. This is also one of the biggest mistakes that you could make. It is never a good idea to try to lead your participants or respondents to the answer you are hoping to get. For example, if you add “right” at the end of a question, they would most certainly want to agree with you. It’s just how the human brain functions.

Final Thoughts

You have to be interesting. You have to be entertaining and enjoyable at the same time. Just imagine yourself as a questionnaire and you would know just what to do to attract your prospects. Be adventurous but without leading them on. Be genuine and not be difficult to understand.

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