Polls are an effective way to understand and evaluate which option the majority favors regarding a particular subject. It is a technique that can be used by multiple organizations to fulfill multiple purposes and is relatively easy to evaluate which option is the most preferred one.
There are dozens of free poll maker available online which can help you design an aesthetic and elaborate poll. However, as easy and helpful a poll can be, the hard part is actually designing the most effective poll. There are certain benchmarks that can help you understand the tried and tested elements that will allow you to gather the most relevant data possible in your endeavor.
Some of these techniques are:
Necessary questions:
The purpose of a poll is to gather relevant information. The whole point of that is obfuscated if you deliberately fill in the poll with needless questions. Understand exactly what questions you need answered and then tailor your poll to answer those questions. Additionally, keep those questions as short and to the point as possible.
The short questions:
As mentioned above, it’s important that you keep your questions short. The reason for that the respondents are generally less responsive and attentive to questions that are too long. There have been multiple researches conducted that have concluded that short questions are more than twice as likely to receive answers. Maintain a specific order and flow to the questions and simultaneously keep them simple.
Be direct:
While it’s important to keep your poll options and questions simple, it’s also easy to be on point. A short question losses its effectiveness if your question misses the mark completely. Express your question in an elaborate and straight manner without beating around the bush.
No bias:
Every poll hopes to find out the general audience’s attitude regarding a particular subject. It is the most heinous mistake that anyone can make while designing a poll. There are certain words and phrases that might negate any sense of neutrality, so avoid inserting such phrases into your question. Your question must be put in a neutral sentence and must not favor or contradict any position.
The language:
The wording as well as the language of the poll is incredibly important. You can only expect to receive relevant answers if you ask the questions in a manner that is easily comprehensible by the respondents. Unless absolutely necessary, avoid jargons and technical phrases. Make your poll as easily comprehensible as possible.
Avoid Yes/No responses:
While there are some questions or polls that rely squarely on accepting or rejecting a certain point, it is necessary that you try not to limit your respondents’ answers. While it may clarify your query in that instance, it might end up hurting your chances of properly getting the answers. Additionally, it may also limit the responses you get as most people don’t like to respond in polar extremes.
Initial test:
Test your survey out on a sample audience before having it distributed. This will give you an initial idea whether the data you’re after if properly being extracted via your poll.
If you’d like to build a comprehensive or simple poll then head on to 123FormBuilder here and design a poll that best suits your needs and requirements.
