If you would like to get your visitors’ opinions on your website, products, or services, you can set up an online survey.  An online survey can be done via email or through the web.  There are many advantages, as well as disadvantages of using online surveys.  Here are some reasons why you may want to try one as well as some tips to help you get better results.

The response rate of online surveys will vary.  The average seems to be about 30%, however, some people report results as low as 2% and some claim their results have been as high as 90%.

When compared to the alternatives, such as a telephone or direct mail campaign, online surveys are both easy to implement and cost effective.  Plus, you can start receiving the results almost immediately after you set it up.  You can start implementing any changes your visitors recommend right away.  However, the results can be skewed if someone fills out the survey more than one time.




Putting your survey in a pop-up window as your visitor is leaving your website is a great way to include the survey on your website and increase your chances of getting a good response rate.  Another tip is to keep your survey page in a similar format as your web page.  This way your visitors will know the survey is from you and not a third party.

Try to keep your survey short, as many people will not take the time to answer a long survey.  If your first page looks short, people will be more likely to take the survey.  Another trick is to keep your navigation simple, using just a “next” button and possibly a “back” button.

If you would like to further increase your chances of a high response rate, you can offer an incentive.  Keep your incentive simple and easy to follow through with.  For instance, if you offer a physical product, the costs of shipping the product can be pricey.  On the other hand, if you send a digital product, you can easily and quickly get the incentive to your visitor.

Take note that some people are simply “freebie seekers” and will fill out your survey just to get the freebie.  If you are asking them specific questions about your site, your products, or your services, they will just be randomly picking answers to complete the survey.  If you offer an incentive, you may want to take the results with a grain of salt, as they may be slightly skewed.

A third option is to set the survey page up on your website and send the link of the page to your mailing list.  You can also set up a separate page on your home page asking people to sign up as part of your “review panel”, and once they opt in to that list, you can send them the link to your survey page.