Surveys have always been and will continue to be one of the most important market research tools for every single business. You might not think much of them, you might not even like them at all, but you must admit their effectiveness in providing you with the data you need in order to make your next business decision. The importance of this tool can never be denied.
Of course, the real trick is to be able to analyze the survey results successfully, because that’s where all the necessary pieces of information actually lie. What good does it do you that a lot of people from your target group completed the survey if you don’t know how to interpret it and what to make out of it? If you are using this tool just for the sake of using it and you are never getting anything out of it because you don’t know-how, it’s best that you stopped using it altogether.
Is it really? Well, no, it most certainly isn’t. There is something much, much better that you can do. It requires you to put in a little effort, but it will all be worth your while if you play it right. I suppose you aren’t one bit lazy when it comes to your business. I mean, sure, we all get a little lazy from time to time, but when things get really important, we can all step up the game.
Stepping up your game means learning how to successfully interpret the results of your surveys so that you can make the smartest business decisions from which you will profit. No matter how complicated this might seem right now, it is all rather simple. The key is to learn a few crucial things and follow a couple of steps in the process. I have no doubts that you will become an expert at this after a while. Let us now go through the steps together and see their impact on business decision.
It All Starts With The Right Questions
The analysis of your results begins long before people have actually answered the surveys. It begins with asking the right questions. If you don’t know which questions to pose and you just add them randomly and non-strategically, you definitely won’t be able to get anything out of the answers you get. No matter how simple and plain a specific survey might look, you can rest assured that it is made that way on purpose and that all the questions are carefully thought out and targeted at getting certain types of answers.
Here are some types of questions that you should avoid: https://delighted.com/blog/biased-questions-examples-bad-survey-questions
In order to be able to interpret the results successfully, it’s best to keep the questions simple and straightforward. It’s also good practice to ask as little questions as possible, so that your customers don’t get annoyed and so that you don’t end up pulling your hair out afterwards when you realize that you have made analyzing more difficult. Market research is usually all about discovering certain pain points and the needs of your consumers, so make sure that the questions are aimed at that.
In business decision: Organization Is Key
After you have received the answers you need, it’s time to put all the data together in a super organized way. If you leave everything messy and disorganized, there’s no way for your analysis to be successful. Put everything together and make sure that it is visually compelling, appealing and organized because that will play a huge role both in your analysis process and in the process of presenting your results to the person of authority.
Start With Quantitative Data
Every survey will usually have questions aimed at collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. It’s best to start analyzing the quantitative ones first. For starters, it’s much easier if you start with these, but that’s definitely not the main reason to look at them before anything else. The reason lies in the very purpose of this data. Before we get to that, you might want to go here in order to understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative research in business decision.
Basically, quantitative data allows you to recognize patterns and trends in the behaviour of your customers. This is very important for every single business because it allows you to make smart decisions aimed at the specific trends that you recognize. Once you have analyzed these, you can proceed to qualitative data. Remember, the quantitative results will help you interpret the qualitative ones and hence helps boost in business decision.
Compare With Previous Results
If this isn’t your first time doing market research, you will definitely have already collected data like this in the past. Make sure to compare those to your new findings, so that you can see whether your business is performing better or worse than in the last period and make business decisions in accordance with that. In case this is your first time doing this type of research, save the results for future comparisons.
