How To Use SurveyMonkey to Understand Your Audience

Research published in Forbes Magazine suggests that getting to know your audience is absolutely essential to growing a successful small business.

 

Using an online survey maker, like SurveyMonkey, can help you reach out to your prospects, customers, and clients as well as find out what you can be doing better.

About SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is the most popular online survey tool with more than 15 million users.

Luckily, SurveyMonkey has a free model available for anyone to use on a shoestring budget.
Enter a username, password, and email to set up your free account.

Next, select “Build a New Survey from Scratch.” Write a title and select a category that best fits your survey.

Creating Survey Questions

You have a few different options for possible survey questions.

• Multiple choice
• Drop down
• Ranking
• Rating
• Text box questions

To add a question to your survey, click and drag the question you want from the left-hand side bar under the“Builder” tab to the center of the survey.

Fill in specific information for your question.

To adjust the question, click on the ”Options” tab above the question. You can randomize the order of the possible answers or require/specifically not require an answer to the question.
Use the “Copy” tab to make a copy of the questions and adjust their order in your survey.
If you don’t want to make up your own questions, explore the “Question Bank” tab which has predesigned questions from 12 different categories.

The Fancy Stuff

Under the “Options” tab in the left-hand side bar, you can add effects like:

• Progress bars (to tell the recipients how far along they are).
• Page numbers
• Question numbers
• Changing the language (Bueno/Bon/Gut/Buono)!

You can also add a page title to your survey at the top of the page by clicking the “+ Page Title” button.

Change the color scheme of your survey under the “Theme” tab, although the free option only offers five different color schemes. Add additional items from the “Builder” tab:

• Comment Box
• Contact Information
• Date/Time
• Text at the Bottom of the Page
• Image
• Intro Page
• New Page
• Page Break

Finishing Up

You can also change how the recipients will complete the survey by clicking on and editing the “Done” button at the bottom of the page.

In the top right-hand corner, above the actual survey, there is a “Preview and Test” button to what your survey will look like to its recipients.

Before you publish the survey, email it to friends or colleagues to get their input by clicking the “Get Feedback” button in the preview.

To finish and send the survey, click the blue “Next” button at the right-hand top of the page.

Getting Answers

SurveyMonkey will provide you with a web link.
Then you decide whether you’ll allow more than one response per computer, and whether recipients can edit their answers.

You’ll have the opportunity to publish the survey on Facebook, embed the survey in your small business website, manually enter the data, send it through MailChimp, or send it through your email.

So, take this information about SurveyMonkey and get to know both your current and prospective clients.

There’s no question that it will help you grow your small business much more quickly.
What are tools that you have used to get to know your audience better?

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How to Conduct Market Research

Are you writing a business plan? Planning to expand into new markets?

Then it’s worth knowing that Uncle Sam offers access to free data that can help you understand your market and analyze consumer trends and demographics. In fact, the federal government is the largest producer of data in the U.S. with numerous offices dedicated to collecting, analyzing and providing free access to their findings – good news for budget-conscious small business owners.

Here are five government sources of market data and statistics that may boost your market research efforts:

1. Business Data and Statistics from SBA.gov

A good place to start is SBA.gov’s Business Data and Statistics page, where you’ll find a collection of resources providing free access to information about business and economic conditions and indicators collected by the U.S. government. Whether you sell to businesses or consumers, these sites include data and statistics on income, employment, trade, and manufacturing, and plenty more.

2. The U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) maintains a vast repository of information that is quick and easy to navigate, thanks to a variety of Data Access Tools. For example, with The American FactFinder, just enter a city and state and the tool will generate multiple options for viewing social, economic, household and demographic data for your town or future location.

The main site has also been newly re-launched to make it very simple to find the data you need, including a neat interactive map that shows a mash-up of economic and demographic statistics for any town, city, or state in America.

If you like what you see but are not sure how to use and interpret the data, the Census Bureau hosts seminars across the country to help business owners learn more about business and industry data on the site. Learn more.

3. FedStats.gov

If you want data but don’t know which agency maintains or produces it, head on over to FedStats.gov. This no-frills data-driven site provides access to a full range of official statistical information produced by the federal government without having to know in advance which federal agency produces which particular statistic. Data is available on wide-ranging topics, including economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, and farm production.

4. Small Business Statistics

Interested in statistics about how small business is doing? The SBA Office of Advocacy conducts and publishes its own research on topics such as the small business economy.

5. EconomicIndicators.gov

For briefings on retail sales, durable goods, manufacturing, construction, new home sales, and more, Economicindicators.gov provides access to daily releases of key economic indicators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau. This is probably your best bet if you're looking for one site that says it all.

Custom Business Cards

Conducting Market Research? Here are 5 Official Sources of Free Data That Can Help

Are you writing a business plan? Planning to expand into new markets?

Then it’s worth knowing that Uncle Sam offers access to free data that can help you understand your market and analyze consumer trends and demographics. In fact, the federal government is the largest producer of data in the U.S. with numerous offices dedicated to collecting, analyzing and providing free access to their findings – good news for budget-conscious small business owners.

Here are five government sources of market data and statistics that may boost your market research efforts:

1. Business Data and Statistics from SBA.gov

A good place to start is SBA.gov’s Business Data and Statistics page, where you’ll find a collection of resources providing free access to information about business and economic conditions and indicators collected by the U.S. government. Whether you sell to businesses or consumers, these sites include data and statistics on income, employment, trade, and manufacturing, and plenty more.

2. The U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) maintains a vast repository of information that is quick and easy to navigate, thanks to a variety of Data Access Tools. For example, with The American FactFinder, just enter a city and state and the tool will generate multiple options for viewing social, economic, household and demographic data for your town or future location.

The main site has also been newly re-launched to make it very simple to find the data you need, including a neat interactive map that shows a mash-up of economic and demographic statistics for any town, city, or state in America.

If you like what you see but are not sure how to use and interpret the data, the Census Bureau hosts seminars across the country to help business owners learn more about business and industry data on the site. Learn more.

3. FedStats.gov

If you want data but don’t know which agency maintains or produces it, head on over to FedStats.gov. This no-frills data-driven site provides access to a full range of official statistical information produced by the federal government without having to know in advance which federal agency produces which particular statistic. Data is available on wide-ranging topics, including economic and population trends, crime, education, health care, aviation safety, energy use, and farm production.

4. Small Business Statistics

Interested in statistics about how small business is doing? The SBA Office of Advocacy conducts and publishes its own research on topics such as the small business economy.

5. EconomicIndicators.gov

For briefings on retail sales, durable goods, manufacturing, construction, new home sales, and more, Economicindicators.gov provides access to daily releases of key economic indicators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau. This is probably your best bet if you're looking for one site that says it all.

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