Seven Tips for Successful Postcard Surveys
Postcard surveys are simple and cost-effective, but often mistakes are made
that could be avoided. Here are seven tips to make sure your postcard survey
is successful:
- Designing the postcard. Make sure you consider the size of the postcard
and the esthetics of the design when determining the questions to ask.
Consider elements such as type size, font, sufficient white space, color and
artwork. If you are limited to using a certain sized postcard, it is better
to ask fewer, more focused questions.
- Writing the questions. In developing the wording for each question, keep
the following two rules in mind: focus each question on one issue, and keep
the words simple. Also, the words you use should be simple and direct enough
for everyone to understand. If you must use a technical or industry term,
give a brief definition of it.
- Improving response rates. One way is to offer an incentive to those
people who complete the survey.
- Segmenting your market. One good way to get more value from the
information collected through postcard surveys is to segment your survey
instruments by geographic location, days of the week or parts of the day.
For example, restaurants could use surveys that capture information only for
breakfast, lunch or dinner -- enabling the staff to track service by each
shift.
- Outsourcing data tabulation. This will ensure the results have greater
credibility.
- Applying statistical analysis. You do not have to become a statistician
to learn what statistics can do for you. A good book on statistics or a
researcher can help explain the different techniques and the best
application for each.
- Pre-testing your survey. Give the survey to a small group of employees or
a sample group of customers. This can be a vital assessment of how well
potential respondents can understand and respond to the sample document.
