Do you have the information you need to make the important decisions you face? How helpful was your most recent research project with helping you understand the context for your deliberations and evaluating your alternative courses of action with fact-based information? If your answer is “No!” and “It wasn’t helpful at all!” then it’s time…
Why Asking Members What They Want Doesn’t Work “What product or service can the Widget Association provide that would make a significant difference to you and your work?” What a great question, right? Associations want to give members what they want, so let’s just ask them! Unfortunately, the responses to this type of question are rarely, if…
Survey Design, Invitations, Timing and Other Tips that Boost Participation I worked with one client who was resigned to one percent response rates on her organization’s surveys. There was little I could do to convince her that we could move the needle. On the other end of the spectrum, I worked with one association executive who was…
How Many Survey Responses Do You Really Need? You don’t need thousands of survey responses to be confident in your research. Even so, nearly every association I have worked with invites all members–as well as past members and non-members in many cases–to participate in their surveys. On one recent project a client invited all 100,000…
10 Questions to Ask Before Launching Your Member Survey Clarity is critical. It’s especially critical when you plan on spending thousands of dollars–and your members’ valuable time–on a member survey. Unfortunately, some associations maintain a bi-annual member survey schedule (good) without having a clear idea of what they want to learn (not good). As a…
I was checking out of a hotel last week when I noticed a stack of customer survey cards on the front desk. Someone–one of the clerks or perhaps even the hotel manager–had highlighted the positive end of the scale of the grid questions about service, room cleanliness, etc. The message was clearly, “Rate us as…
We are happy to announce that The Wedewer Group has launched its new veterinarian research panel, VetMedResearch.com, already one of the largest veterinary research panels in the U.S. This proprietary veterinary research panel was developed to help animal health companies get fast, cost-effective and reliable data from veterinarians, veterinary technicians and veterinary hospital managers. Our panel…
A non-profit pro bono client recently handled sending out their own survey invitations. Out of about 1,700 emails they sent, they got a whopping five survey responses. FIVE. Fortunately, the reasons for the dismal response rate were fairly easy to correct. They didn’t follow the two overarching rules for creating successful email survey invitations: 1) Make…
A while back I happened to be making dinner when the phone rang. It was a perfectly polite young woman conducting a research project for Amtrak. After confirming that I was, indeed, the same Robin Wedewer who regularly travels to New York City via the Northeast Regional train on Amtrak, she asked for a few…
Whenever I work with membership organizations on surveys, they invariably ask the question, “What kind of response rate should we expect?” Although it’s not very satisfying, my response is always, “It depends.” Here are 10 ways you can increase the response rate to your next online survey. 1 – Make a habit of diligently scrubbing…