Online Polls are considered to be an interesting and effective way of collecting accurate data from the target audience. All you need to do is integrate a beautiful template, add a few questions, add the company logo, and you are ready to publish and share it with a large number of people simultaneously. But just by merely designing the online polls and sharing them is not how you will increase the accuracy of the results of the poll or enhance their effectiveness.
The effectiveness of the online polls can only be gauged by the response rate you have received through the polls. And for increasing the response rate, you need to frame questions that are reasonable and help you get maximum information within a small period. Moreover, you need to make sure that the questions are not offending your audience in any manner. It is also suggested that there should be a “Skip” or “Can’t say” option for questions you think the poll responders may feel uncomfortable answering, but it will only increase the ambiguity in the responses, and you won’t find the collected data that useful.
So how do you create amazing poll questions? Here are some expert tips that will help you draft questions that will generate plenty of genuine data.
#1 Your focus should be on designing close-ended questions:
While you are creating questions for the online polls, you must know that there are two different types of questions — Open-Ended questions and closed-ended questions. The Open-ended questions are also called free-response questions, which would require more time and effort to answer. Your target audience may not have that much time to provide answers to such long questions. They are generally looking for questions, which have multiple choices that they can scan through easily and provide answers. So if you want your online survey to be great, you need to focus on the close-ended questions. This means that it should not take more than 5 minutes to complete the survey.
#2 You must write simplistic questions in the online survey:
The questions that you include in the survey should be extremely simple, and your respondents must understand them easily. If you keep twisting the questions, the respondent would not know what the questions are asking and might end up selecting the wrong choice. According to the experts, it is always better to practice answering a few questions or testing some questions before you finalize your poll. Your respondent must not feel that they have to read the question multiple times to provide an answer to it.
#3 Make use of the right words:
While framing questions for online polls, it is quite essential to use the right and effective words. The words should clarify the meaning of the questions exactly the way you are asking. You should avoid making use of any difficult-to-understand phrases, which can make the users confused and change their perception.
#4 You must avoid the usage of double-barreled questions:
No one deliberately makes use of the double-barreled questions, but it happens without you realizing it. Double-barreled questions mean that you are putting two questions in one frame. For instance, "Do you think college students should travel and work more?" Faced with such a question the respondent will be confused about whether the question is regarding an increase in travel for students, about an increase in work for students, or is it both. The respondents will get confused and end up either skipping the question or choosing something wrong. So you can increase the effectiveness of the online polls and make it a huge success only when you are avoiding questions that confuse your respondents.
#5 Be particular about the number of questions you are asking:
The number of polling questions you use should not be too many or too few. You need to maintain a balance. Make sure that the respondent can complete the polls within 4 to 5 minutes. Besides the number of questions, the question should also be able to help you collect the right amount of data. If you are asking too few questions, then the data you receive would not be of use for the purpose it was gathered.
Summary:
Online polls are quite helpful for all the business houses, corporate sectors, and organizations, but only when you design with precision and accuracy. And using the right questions is extremely important. When the questions used on the online polls are great, then the response rate would also be high, and the insight you get would also be of high quality and genuine.
