How Long Should A Survey Be?

By: Mahnoor Awan

Thinking about launching a survey and wondering how long it should be? If it’s too long there is the fear that people might not be interested in finishing it. If it’s too short then it might compromise the data you’re trying to collect. The question about the perfect survey length has been debatable for a long time. While gathering data that serves the purpose of research and improvement is great, it’s only valuable if:

• Your sample represents the entire population
• The responses are legitimate
• The responders are able to fully understand the questions

When creating a survey there are a number of factors that will determine it’s length such as:

• Your audience base
• Goals of your survey
• The resources you have to act on the data collected

First off, the length of your survey differs with the audience base. Is it a general audience, a panel (a group of people hired by a company to fill surveys in return for some monetary value), or an internal group like employees? For example, the general public, without any incentive wouldn’t want to spend more than 10 minutes of their time on answering questions. The panel on the other hand is getting paid to fill the surveys. And for internal groups like employees, it is often made mandatory.

Most Valuable Keywords

Keywords help customers find your product whether they are part of your website's natural SEO or if they are being used within a paid ad. But all keywords are not created equal. And if your strategy is to use keywords to contribute to your bottom line, you want your keywords to be able to target the right audience and, more importantly, to separate the Browsers from the Buyers.

How to separate Browsers from Buyers

When we look at a typical buying cycle, a customer usually goes through a series of steps, or a journey if you will, of becoming aware of a product before making a purchase.

Typical Customer Journey:

1. Customer becomes aware of product
2. Seeks information
3. Compares to other products
4. Makes purchasing decision
5. Completes transaction
6. Evaluates product after buying and determines its value by keeping or discarding/returning product.

Let’s say that you own a clothing store and someone enters your shop, slowly sifts through all the products displayed on the racks but walks out without making a purchase. Right after you have another customer who walks in with a specific request for something pink and pleated or asks about a particular item in the store. Which customer would you say is further along in the buying cycle?

How To Increase Social Media Engagement

A lot of businesses often misunderstand what it means to be a social business. Rather than just registering for a Twitter or a Facebook account, being social requires you to actively interact with your online audience on a regular basis (rather than relying on a Twitterbot to do your handy work).

And it’s not just about posting regular content, but making sure that your followers feel heard and creating a thriving community that identifies closely with your brand. Social media is a great tool to gain more exposure for your business while at the same time interacting with your customers in a more conversational manner.

Be Authentic

Customers gravitate towards brands who have a distinct voice. Think about the demographic you are trying to connect with and the types of adjectives you would attribute to your brand and build from there.

Listen and Contribute

Producing great content for readers should only be part of your social media strategy. Set aside some time to see how customers are reacting to your content. Feedback will help you know if your articles are engaging customers. Ask questions

ODA Spring Meeting 2016 #ASM16

What a crazy two weeks it has been! We had such a fun time attending the AACD at the end of April and meeting all of you there. Since there was such a positive response to getting your caricatures done, Kyle offered his services once again for the ODA show! We had a lot of fun connecting with our clients (shout outs to Susie!) and meeting a lot of new faces as well.

Those who got their drawing done at our booth were automatically entered to win six months of FREE enewsletters for their dental practice (psst it's a great way to drive referrals). We will be announcing the winner soon on our site and on Twitter so stay tuned. Till next year! #ASM16

AACD 2016 Conference Highlights

Staffan Sjöö, President of SACD - Swedish Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and UpOnline's Client Manager and Caricature Artist, Kyle Weber

It was great being able to see all of you at the AACD Conference in Toronto last week! We had an amazing time at the Exhibitor's Hall and glad you all enjoyed getting your caricatures done at our booth. Those who stopped by to get their drawing also became automatically eligible to win six months of FREE enewsletters for their dental practice (click here to learn more about the benefits of sending out enewsletters to patients). All they had to do was tweet their photo using the hashtag #AACD2016 and #UponlineSmiles.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat and learn more about our services. See you next year in Vegas!