Surveys

There are many ways to learn about your customers, vendors, or employees. You can watch how they behave. You can do research or purchase data about them. You can analyze the data you already have. Each of these, though, is somewhat passive, and thus limits the information you can gather. You are only able to watch the behaviors that individuals choose to show.

The alternative is to go out and ask specific questions. This may be in the form of a forum or a focus group, but the most common way to pull information from people is with a survey.

Now, surveys can be highly effective, if they are done right. There are several pitfalls, though, if they are done poorly.

• Surveys only find out information that its creator has in mind. The line of questioning can be restrictive.
• Surveys can be leading. The line of questions may guide a person down a particular path.
• Surveys are have limited response rates. The people who answer them tend to be biased towards the ends of the spectrum. The response may not match the full population.
• The distribution of a survey can introduce bias. Internet surveys, for example, tend to over-represent the more well-to-do. Sending a survey to customers doesn’t help you learn about non-customers.