Questionnaire

[Mineka]

Hello!
I would like to create some kind of questionnaire to present to users of my website to gain feedback on what they like and do not like, and to see what sort of things they look for when visiting a web page etc.

I also feel that if I do this, the questions would have to be small in quantity and to the point.

Anyone have any ideas on questions or know of any good resouces out there I can view?
Or, indeed, is there a better way of accumulating feedback of this nature?

Thank you.
Mineka

[sudhani]

Just start posting whatever questions you have in mind. We will get more ideas on what exactly you are looking at and what more questions can be added ... this could be useful for other WebPro Members as well

[Mineka]

Thanks for the reply, sudhani,
The problem I have is that the only questions I can think of are ones like:

• How do you find this wesite to navigate?
  Is the information contained within this site what you were looking for/needed/expected?
  Is there anything in the content of this site that would put you off coming back?
  What would you like to see included?

...and so forth.
I wonder if anyone has any questions they can post that might ask a lot, but only require short-ish answers?
The reason being is that I do not want viewers getting bored or fed up because they have to type long answers.

Best regards,
Mineka

[sudhani]

First, If you can provide us with the your website - you will get "specific" solutions for your website.

Second, I dont find any reason why a visitor should provide us feedback. He will do it only when he uses the website on a regular basis and he feels the feedback he gives us will get some benifit for him. And i dont believe in the paid surveys too.

Third, coming back to the what kind of questions you want to ask,

• I suggest contextual questions like "Rate this content" And here again i expect the visitor to spend his time rating -- only when he "really" likes what he has seen or feels he "wasted" his time reading it.
  
  And I always suggest to provide the user with options so that he can just give us feedback with just two clicks rather than typing a single word.

[minstrel]

Originally Posted by sudhani

I dont find any reason why a visitor should provide us feedback. He will do it only when he uses the website on a regular basis and he feels the feedback he gives us will get some benifit for him.

I think Sudhani is correct. A few years ago, when I was expanding my website, I included a feedback questionnaire similar to what you're proposing. I ensured that respondents could send back the form anonymously (plainly indicated on the page) and that the majority of items (I think there were 10-12 in total) were click-and-select responses, with optional "additional comments" text boxes. I also deliberately allowed partial completion (i.e., blank items), again plainly indicated on the page.

I left the questionnaire up for about a year, if memory serves. I received very few responses to the questionnaire and the majority of those I did get were clearly from return visitors. I think there were one or two suggested changes that I acted upon in that time but truthfully the majority of the feedback wasn't helpful.

[homeswithjones]

My web site host provider sends me an update each month to tell me how many people have logged onto my site and exactly where they went in my site. It tracks my users activities and also tracks prospects. This has been great for me. I have had my web site now just 5 weeks and I have had 475 people log onto my web site and that is considered a great average. I don't know much about the internet industry, however, my web site has received e-mails from people telling me that it was very easy to navigate through and that they found it informative.
I think it depends on what type of business you have.

Michelle

[info449]

A couple of things.

First the easiest way to get them to take the surveys is to keep it simple. A lot of the prgressive cities are now using this format but they only ask one or two questions at a time.

Some of your questions could be recognized with programs that monitor usage as "webtrend, webalizer, etc.."

(How do you find this wesite to navigate?
Is the information contained within this site what you were looking for/needed/expected?)

Any content will offend someone. A lot of people go to sites of Faith. A lot more go to Adult Sites, including most of the major corporarions in America to learn from thier money making ideas.
(Is there anything in the content of this site that would put you off coming back?)

Regarding what they want to see, you could offer something for recomendations or submissions.
(What would you like to see included?)

People will take any survey if it is fun or rewarding. I have a page at www.Modernchild.com that is a survey. It has eight questions about "ARE YOU MARRIED TO A NERD?" I use this survey to help direct traffic to my sites. On average 900 people a month fill out the survey completly and hit the submit. They are then sent to another page that rotates weekly.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at
Rodney
info@ePluto.com

[sherwin101]

an important thing you need to remember is that you need a substantial amount of data coming in from your questionnaire before it actually becomes of any use to you. i mean, seriously, would you make modifications to your site and/or services based on the comments of 1 person? just keep in mind that a questionnaire is a long-term type of deal.

next thing is, as has been pointed out-- keep it simple and ALWAYS give the users answer choices instead of having them type in essay type responses.

as far as question selection goes, you might stick to asking what people liked with what you already have before asking for suggestions for NEW services/products/features or whatever.