30 Second Surveys

Jakob Nielsen: Keep Online Surveys Short

How can you get average users to respond? The highest response rates come when surveys are quick and painless. And the best way to reduce users' time and suffering is to reduce the number of questions.

I think that Jakob is right with this analysis. In a previous job, we needed to establish a baseline regarding the members’ perception of overall value and satisfaction in an online community program.

We used what we called the “30 second survey�?. These were sent in email, contained only 2-3 multiple choice questions and responses were sent by replying to the email. We also made sure the words “30 second survey�? appeared in the subject heading.

We encouraged members to provide free-form feedback as well, but did not require it. By making the feedback open-ended and not required, we received a variety of remarks that gave us insights that we would not have known how to request.

By focusing on the very basic metrics and giving the members an up-front idea of how much time is required, we were able to maximize response rates and track the metrics we needed.