Surveys that are too long are one of the most common mistakes in online surveys. As a guideline, 15 to 25 questions apply (Bosnjak & Batinic); more overwhelms many respondents. The guideline is not a law, though: employees are more willing to fill in a long, complex survey because the results affect them directly. Customers pay more attention to a short, appealing format and drop out sooner.
Be honest about the time it takes
If your invitation promises a “short survey” and “2 to 3 minutes”, that has to be true. Respondents notice when a survey is still running after 30 minutes. They feel deceived, your credibility suffers and the results become unreliable. Long surveys are also often never finished.
Do not underestimate the effort per question
Every question is a request to take a position. Matrix questions in particular look compact but are a separate question per row, and just as demanding. More on this under Matrix Questions.
Show only relevant questions
With LamaPoll you can design the questionnaire so that each respondent only sees the questions relevant to them. That shortens the survey without losing you any answers. For how to build dynamic questionnaires and individual answer paths, see Dynamic Questionnaires. Which questions you can drop entirely is shown under Too Many Questions.
What is LamaPoll?
LamaPoll is an online survey tool for creating employee surveys and measuring employee satisfaction. With us, you can create, conduct, and analyse all types of employee surveys.
Set up your employee survey in just a few steps, customise it with your company's corporate design, and invite your employees conveniently by email or via your intranet. You'll gather insights to boost employee satisfaction in no time. Sign up for free with our online survey tool. You can then run surveys for up to 50 employees immediately and with no obligation. If you need more responses for your online employee survey, simply use our monthly plans. You can also make use of our templates and examples for employee survey questionnaires.
