How to gather survey responses?

Hello,

I am currently pursuing my PhD studies and conductiong a marketing research on the online shopping experience. However, I have been having trouble getting responses for my online survey.

What crowdsourcing tool or data collection tacticts would you recommend?

My survey is available online:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEVodXRNUmkyNUdOVmpSNmpmcWtHckE6MQ

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback!
Simona

 

Do you mean the people who are going to your survey are not completing it?
If so, there is not much you can do; you cannot force somebody to do a survey.

Or do you mean you are having trouble driving traffic to the survey in the first place?
In this case, I suggest focusing more on getting targeted traffic to the survey.
Can you send out emails to a class at university? Make some postings around campus? Contact an online retailer and ask them to put a link on their site to your survey, asking their users to complete your survey. Create a PPC campaign. etc. etc. There is a lot you can do, but your efforts have to be more focused. Posting a link in forums, like you have done here, is not a good idea. It is like taking a shotgun approach: you are not aiming too well, but still hoping your scatter will hit something. You are just hoping a few people here might be online buyers, and might take the time to complete your survey. Statistically, you might get a few hits, but you are going to have to get a LOT of traffic before those numbers are meaningful.

 

Offer a free gift when they complete your survey. and share it on social media

 

I'd definitely try craigslist and backpage. Post your request in communities - there are people there browsing around looking for something fun and could be your potential survey takers.

 

People are basically and they look at things like that and say WIIFM(what's in it for me). What are you offering to anyone who completes the survey. People are looking for something so I suggest you start and offer them something.

Also tell them how long it will take them to complete the survey.

 

You have to put out something to get something back in this instance. For instance can you think of some bunch of data that online shoppers would be absolutely thirsting to know? I'm sure you can come up with something that fits the bill here. From there I'd go to Fiverr and get someone to make you a website. Offer the free report on the website in exchange for folks completing the survey. How do folks find the website? PPC is one way: As I say, be prepared to have to put something out to get what you're needing. Good luck.

 

Simona,

For many folks, an approximate 5 minute survey on shopping preferences is
a) a lot of time (relatively speaking) and
b) a little suspect - many people are aware that data on their shopping habits and preferences is very valuable, and anyone gathering it is more likely to be a large market research entity than a PhD student.

Two things would help - first off, multiple people in this thread have suggested a reward of some sort. If that is difficult to provide, then possibly a drawing for a reward, so you can consolidate your budget (if you have one) around a single, more impressive prize for consumers' efforts.

Second, establish credibility that you are a student and that people are helping you out. Right now, the survey (which is all we have seen, no context of how you are asking for people to take it) comes across as very corporate research-y.

Google has a service for surveys that may help: http://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/home

They approached us with it with some kind of interstitial ad when we started a new AdWords campaign recently.

-MockOutrage

 

Thank you for your suggestion... I have tried getting targeted traffic by approaching online shopping communities and forums...
I'm not sure if I want to send emails to people that I already know... I think it might be biased... the same with posting around campuses.
I have not tried PPC campaigns...so thank you for a useful idea...
Also, I know that posting here might not seem as a good idea... but I was just looking for a fresh outlook...
Thank you for your insights!!
Simona

 

Thank you for your suggestions on how I could improve my survey
I actually have approached Google, however their sample consists of people from US and UK... so far... but I might resort to your idea.
Thanks again!!

 

I did not consider craigslist or backpage... But I will not... Thank you very much for the idea!!

 

I will now... that's what I meant... sorry.. typo

 

I really appreciate your idea of making a website... and it's true people should be rewarded for completing the survey... Thank you for your time and suggestions!

 

Thank you for your input!! Giving all your suggestions, I'm considering offering a gift to drive responses!

 

Thank you for response! I will consider your feedback!

 

Get out there and market your survey online...try free classifieds, forums and social media...all of those are free methods. Good luck.