American cars of the fifties

What do you think are the best car names of all time?

This weeks survey is on car names.

While some car manufactures make life simple for themselves by giving their cars names made up of model numbers others look for the perfect name, one that will stand the test of time and complement the cars design.

From the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost to the Porsche Boxster, the mighty AC Cobra to every boys dream car the Lamborghini Diablo which, from our shortlist, are your favourite names?

Register your vote here Car Name Survey

What Market Research will tell you

We recently discussed why market research was important and here we explain what you can learn from having conducting effective market research.

Know your customers – Market research will help you better understand your customers in a number of ways including their age, gender and geographic spread. The better you know your customer the easier it to target your marketing and fine tune your product or service.

Who are your existing customers and where do they live?

Who are your potential customers and where do they live?

Know your competition – Market Research will help you measure your service compared to others. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your business and are you improving in the areas that customers demand?

Do you have the products or services that people want?

Do you represent value for money?

How does your business compare to that of your competitors?

Ease of doing business – Do your customers find it easy to deal with you and so they find what they want? Is there sufficient advice and assistance on hand?

Do you make it easy for your customers to buy?

Are your employees properly trained?

Marketing – Is your marketing reaching the right people and is the marketing message clear and effective. Which marketing channels should you focus on and which, if any, should you drop?

Is your marketing message understood?

Does your marketing properly represent your brand?

Do you advertise through the right channels?

Are you reaching the right people?

Future Trends – Attitudes change and fads come and go and good market research will allow you to spot the changes in trends and attitudes. Don't get stuck holding the baby and instead be first to market.

Are you able to spot new trends?

Are you able to detect the early signs of decline in current trends that could affect your business?

Spell checking your surveys

Although Survey Galaxy doesn't have a built in spell checker there are a number of browser extensions that are available that will help you check a survey before it is published.

We would recommend ieSpell for Internet Explorer (www.ieSpell.com) or if you are using Firefox Spellbound is a good solution (http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/index).

Monitoring survey response rate

One of the many advantages of online surveys over traditional printed surveys is the ability to monitor the survey response rate in real time and view the latest summary results online.

Survey Galaxy shows statistics that will reports the number of days the survey has been running, the surveys start and end dates as well as the average daily response rate, the total number of responses and the number of completed surveys.

Using the optional Respondent Activity facility you can also view survey responses on a individual basis.

The online summary results will show the results using the latest data in graphical form and will allow you to generate on the fly queries.

Embedding HTML code in your survey

Survey Galaxy allows you to include HTML code in your survey as an unsupported feature but what exactly does unsupported mean?

HTML code is the language that generally allows content be displayed on websites. Simple HTML code can be used to make text bold or italic or both.

The reason that Survey Galaxy allows HTML code but does not support it is because HTML code allows you to do some very clever things so it is a very useful and powerful feature that we feel should be available, but if the HTML coding is written incorrectly it could equally mess up the survey and since we are in the online survey business and not offering HTML programming tutorials we feel that a line has to be drawn.

Basic HTML is very simple, and generally the code is very forgiving so if the coding was incorrect it is unlikely that anything serious would occur - if HTML code is added that prevents the survey from being displayed Survey Galaxy will usually be able to recover the survey on request.

We would encourage people to experiment with some basic HTML or if they want to know how to do a specific action use the Help support option and we will offer some specific guidance.

Choosing the right colours for your surveys

With Survey Galaxy you are able to change the colour of your survey by selecting from a number of standard colour schemes or by creating your own customised colour scheme that can then be saved and used for other surveys.

If you are not trained in graphic design it can often prove difficult in finding colours that work well together and often you may want to use colours that compliment your company brand.

There are a number of websites that will help guide you to choose the right colour scheme such as Colours on the web

Colours on the web has a lot of useful information and by using the colour wizard will allow you to enter a specific colour and return colours are both complimentary to the colour selected and those colours that are contrasting.

Is Steve McQueen Cool?

Who is film's king of cool?

Cool is difficult to define but we generally know it when we see it.

Who do you think is the coolest actor of all time? This weeks public survey gives you a short list of twenty actors that qualify for a cool rating.

Are you more taken with the swashbuckling antics of Errol Flynn or does Tom Cruise personify cool for you? Is the quirky Bill Murray cool or is it all about the moodiness of James Dean?

Choose your coolest actor and rate their finest films.

Coolest Actor Ever Survey

Finding your survey respondents

Once you have created your online survey and published it to the Internet you will want to invite people to participate.

There are a number of methods available to publicise a survey the most popular being a simple link from one or more websites or including the link in emails that are sent to customer, member or employees.

However, there are also online/offline methods such as including the survey link in newsletters, flyers or displaying on notice boards or through public media channels such as a radio announcement.

Often the survey subject and purpose will dictate the best method to use.

Survey Galaxy's Template Library

Survey Galaxy's template library brings speed and ease to creating surveys. The library is split into System, Personal and Account libraries.

To create a library document from an existing survey, first copy the source survey.

Specify when copying that the Survey Type is to be Library, either Personal or if applicable Account.

[The System library is maintained by Survey Galaxy although users may request using the online help facility for additions to be considered for inclusion in the system library].

Edit the survey so that it contains only the items that you want to use in other surveys and then save the modified survey.

A powerful feature of the library is that a template does not need to be used in its entirety so you can include optional items within a template. (i.e. you could have a number of different age groups to suit a number of different surveys).

Once the survey has been created in one of the Libraries you will then be able to import any number of the library items into any survey that you are creating or modifying by using the 'Import from template library' option.

Once imported the items can be tailored in the same way as any other item.

What is a Private survey?

Survey Galaxy's Private surveys are surveys that are created by private individuals who then control who they wish to invite to respond to the survey.

When a private survey is published the publisher is informed of the unique URL that the published survey is allocated.

The publisher may then pass on the URL information to invited respondents or use it to establish a link to the URL from another site.For a private survey only the publisher will be entitled to see the results and have the option to purchase the detailed information, respondents are not able to view the results, unless permission is granted by the publisher.

Prior to publishing, Private surveys are not checked by Survey Galaxy for content but the publisher must abide by the guidelines as described in the sites general terms and conditions.

Why Market Research is important

Benefits of Market Research

Market research is an essential part of any business that wants to offer products or services that are focussed and well targeted.

Business decisions that are based on good intelligence and good market research can minimise risk and pay dividends.

By making market research part and parcel of the business process and conducting market research throughout the lifecycle of a product or service market research will bring the following benefits:-

Market research will help you better communicate. - Your current customers experiences are a valuable information source, not only will they allow you to gauge how well you currently meet their expectations they can also tell you where you are getting things right and more importantly where you are getting things wrong.

By asking the customer you not only show them that you care but you also take the guess work out of customer services.

Market research helps you identify opportunities. - Planning to operate a new service and want to know the preconceived attitudes people have then market research can help, not only in evaluating the potential for a new idea, but also by identify the areas where a marketing message needs to honed.

Market research will minimise risk. - Market research can help shape a new product or service, identifying what is needed and ensure that the development of a product is highly focused towards demand.

Market research creates benchmarks and helps you measure your progress. - Unless you measure you may not be able to gauge how well your business is performing. Early research may highlight glaring holes in your service or short falls in your product, regular market research will show if improvements are being made and, if positive, will help motivate a team.

What is a Public Survey?

Survey Galaxy operates a free public survey area, but what is a public survey?

To qualify as a public survey a survey must be of a non-commercial nature, fairly small in size and on a topic that is open and of general interest to the general public.

Public surveys are often for fun or on a topical issue.

A condition of a public survey is that the online summary results will be available to anyone who participates in the survey and the detailed results are available and can be purchased by anyone.

Unlike private surveys all public surveys carry the Survey Galaxy logo and their subject and content will go through an approval process before being published.

To view and participate in the public surveys visit the public area at http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublic.asp

Members can choose to be on the respondent register where they will be notified of public surveys as they are published.

George Galloway appearing before the Senate Sub-committee on investigations

George Galloway v US Sub-Committee on Investigations

George Galloway was little known outside the United Kingdom but had his day in front of the worlds press when he appeared before the US Senate Sub-Committee on investigations.

The United Nations-backed oil-for-food scheme enabled Saddam Hussein to export oil to pay for essential humanitarian aid to help the Iraqi people cope with UN sanctions imposed in 1991.

The Senate sub-committee on investigations publicly alleged that Mr Galloway received options to buy barrels of Iraqi oil as a reward for supporting Saddam Hussein by selling the vouchers at below market prices to favoured parties, who were able to sell them on at profit.

The Senate committee's report also accused former French minister Charles Pasqua of receiving oil rights from Iraq, something he also has vehemently denied.

Mr Galloway is a controversial British Member of Parliament and flew to Washington to appear before the Senate committee to answer their accusations.

Take part in this weeks public survey to register your view of Mr Galloway

http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1735

Maintenance

We are performing a lot of maintenance on the website today, we are introducing some new features and hope to make a formal announcement soon. We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause.

New Rules for Online Surveys and Questionnaires

Online survey websites bring a new dimension to designing and deploying surveys when compared to the more traditional printed survey.

When trying an online survey service for the first time it is common to want to design surveys in the same way as you would for a printed survey. Although this is not a problem there are times where the unique features and benefits of the online survey often means that the traditional methods are not always best practice.

With printed questionnaires you are very much in the lap of the God’s as to whether those that participate in the survey complete the survey correctly. Questions that ask “please tick only one box” will often results in multiple ticks and it is therefore safe to reason that a “tick all that apply” type question is likely to suffer the same logic in reverse.

How do you ensure questions are not missed by participant and how do you differentiate between those that were missed and those that were deliberately not answered? With online surveys you have the ability to address these questions.

This article looks at the ‘online’ advantage over the printed questionnaire – and will also discuss a few general guidelines that will help you write effective surveys and questionnaires regardless of how they are to be deployed.

Branching

In a questionnaire 'branching' is the term used when the respondent is asked a question and based on their answer they are then asked a follow up question or asked to skip to later question.

Although a requirement in some situations branching in many cases can be eliminated altogether and the questionnaire streamlined and made more 'respondent friendly'.

Take the following example:-

The above is an extreme example of branching. The respondents are having to think, and even where the survey software supports an automatic branching facility it introduces a needless level of complexity.

The following demonstrates how this question could be just as easily re-phrased.

This second question/answer format covers all possible permutations, simplifies the survey and ensures that all respondents follow the same clear path.


Scale


Possibly to help simplify the design of printed survey a scale was often used as a way to rate a particular response.

For example:-

With online surveys in particular you can eliminate the need to have a scale as the composing tool will automatically format the headings for you.

This second approach is more intuitive for the respondents as they don’t have to mentally translate their opinion into a scale and it also allows for the introduction of an important additional category ‘No comment/Didn’t attend’.

Subjective Responses

Care should be used when using units of measure that are subjective. Take the following example.

Although all respondents should have no problem answering the above question it will be unclear when analysing the results as to what were the individual definitions of ‘Not very often’, ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Often’. Some respondents may have interpreted ‘Sometimes’ as meaning once a year, others once a month.

When using units of measurement that can be subjective it is better to qualify your own interpretation to ensure that all participants respond using the same
scale.

Making Questions Mandatory or Voluntary


Unlike a printed questionnaire with an online survey you have the option to make questions mandatory, i.e. where the respondent must respond to a particular question before moving on to the next question. When analysing the results it is always better to have had a positive response than to have no response.

It is often a common assumption that to make a questionnaire more ‘respondent friendly’ then it is good practice to make all questions voluntary. However, providing the respondent with a positive 'No comment' option will show the participant that you appreciate that they may not wish to answer a particular question but will also ensure that the survey results can be properly analysed.


When a response to a question is made voluntary an unanswered question is more difficult to analyse.

The following is an example that might be taken from a delegate feedback questionnaire with the question being made voluntary.

With the above format there is no way of knowing from unanswered questions if the respondent didn't answer intentionally, if they accidentally missed the question or if they dropped out of the survey completely.

A better method would be to make the question mandatory and to add additional options:-

This will ensure that all respondents are canvassed and that incomplete surveys can be identified as being incomplete and not confused with those respondents who did not wish to comment or who did not attend the film.

When analysing the success of a survey it is useful to be able to see if respondents failed to complete a survey and where they dropped out; was it prompted by a particular question or the length of the survey? Such information can be used to improve the design of future surveys.

There are some question/response formats that should not be made mandatory. For example:-

As a rule the above type of question should not be mandatory as a ‘no response’ would in this context be a valid answer.


The following example of a check box should not be mandatory as a 'no response' would again be valid:-

However, there are many advantages in modifying it slightly so that it can be made mandatory.

Free Text

Questions that require a free text response, that is where the respondent is not asked to choose from a list of possible replies but able to write any response they like, should be used sparingly.

There are some questions where free text is essential for example requesting contact numbers and email address.

However, take the following example:-

This type of question is likely to get responses that are in units of years, months, days and weeks, as well as miscellaneous comments such as ‘A few years’, ‘Not long’.

If this information is important for analysis it would make that analysis very difficult, the larger the volume of respondents the more difficult the analysis.

The above question would be better as radio buttons:-

Here in designing the questionnaire a decision has been made as to what criteria is to be used when analysing the data and the format has now made this analysis automatic by grouping the respondents into those chosen categories.

Designing the Questionnaire

When designing an online questionnaire you do not need to start at the beginning. For example if your survey contains standard demographic questions at the start of the survey such as name, age and place of residence you can leave these until you have finalised the body of the survey and then add them at the last minute.

This allows you to focus on the main purpose of the survey and keeps the survey lean so that manipulating the survey, changing the order of the questions, modifying the text is both easier and quicker.

Using Survey Galaxy’s template library you can store common series of questions and available responses and add them in the final stages of designing your survey.

Keep in mind that many of the restraints imposed when designing printed questionnaires such as page length, page width and numbering are not present, or are fully automated, with online surveys.

Survey Galaxy Console

Survey Galaxy have made available a console program that that when installed will create a Survey Galaxy program icon allowing easy access to the Survey Galaxy website direct from the desktop or Program Start menu.

The Console Program is free of charge and available for download either from the Survey Galaxy website’s Information Page or through one of the many free program download websites.

Further details and system requirements are available by clicking on the following link.

http://www.surveygalaxy.com/info.asp?action=tConsole

The Webmaster's Assistant

There are many tools available to a webmaster to analyse website traffic allowing them to monitor the number of visitors, see what pages have been accessed and even the length of time each visitors spends accessing the website.


However, despite the considerable data available what is missing is anything to tell the webmaster what the visitor was thinking. Did they like or dislike the site? Was the layout easy to understand or just plain confusing? Did they find it easy to navigate and maybe the most important thing, did they find the information they wanted?


A website may be generating sales but why are some people that visit the website not buying anything? Was it because they didn't like what was being offered or they couldn't find what they wanted?


Website surveys provide webmasters with an excellent and accurate method of answering these types of questions. Direct feedback from the website visitors cuts to the chase, no need to guess, just ask the visitors themselves how they found the site and if they found what they were looking for.


With an online survey webmasters can find out:-


How often do people visit the website?

How did they arrive at the website?

Are they accessing the website for business or pleasure?

Did they find the information they were looking for?

How easy did they find navigating the website?

Would they recommend the website to others?



A good website survey will be brief and will gather information that once analysed will provide valuable information to help improve the website.


Another alternative to a traditional survey is to embed one or two survey questions within the website after specific procedures. For example at the end of the registration process the visitor can be asked if they found the procedure quick and easy; after ordering an item they could be asked if they found the ordering procedure and payment methods to their liking. To ensure that the questions don't become repetitive to regular visitors the website can be programmed so that the questions are only asked once per registered user.


Website surveys take the mystery out of working out what visitors think of a website and using online survey websites such as www.SurveyGalaxy.com they are quick and easy to design and once implemented will really become the webmaster's assistant.

To see a sample website survey please follow this link:-


http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1182