Seeking Survey Salvation

By Greg Galitzine

Security threats can be considered a sin visited upon your organization by outside forces, be they truly malignant or even seemingly benign, as outlined in the main featured article on this page. The author, Jim Ivers, of Vovici, understands the nature of online surveys thoroughly and in fact his firm has published a list of Seven Deadly Survey Sins that should be avoided at all costs. The list and a full explanation of how to avoid the sins is available online at http://www.vovici.com/PDFs/BestPractices/BestPractices_SurveySins.pdf

Presented here, in abridged form is the list of things to avoid if you want to generate positive and useful results without ruining your relationship with your customer or worse yet, generating a wealth of data with no practical use or way of analyzing it.

1. Interrogating instead of asking. Don’t ask questions you know the answers to, and don’t ask leading questions — it skews the results.
2. Colombo syndrome. Avoid asking “just one more question.” Keep within a unified theme and keep the focus clear.
3. Field of Dreams fallacy: “If you build it they will come.” Target the proper audience with a clear and concise invitation to participate in the survey. Offer incentives. Don’t assume everyone wants to respond out of sheer kindness.
4. Monty Python Disease — SPAM. Know your customer, and comply with anti-spam regulations.
5. Data worship. Design your surveys for optimal quality. And remember it’s the analysis that counts.
6. All substance. No style. Make your presentations a worthwhile read for the end user. Make the data dynamic.
7. Mr. Magoo syndrome — Data myopia. Repurpose data whenever possible. Don’t underestimate the value of the results.

For a full understanding of the Seven Deadly Survey Sins as presented by Vovici, and tips on how to avoid them, please visit the company online at http://www.vovici.com.

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