Guest Post from SurveyMonkey: Using surveys to develop your blog

17.3.14

SurveyMonkey
Surveys are an important part of blogging, and a way to really find out what your readers are thinking. I'm delighted to share this great guest post from Kayte Korwitts at SurveyMonkey on how to use survey software effectively. Read on for some top tips!

What are the benefits of using survey software to develop blog readership?

Utilizing data collected through an online survey can help you learn more about your current audience to increase their readership and attract new readers. It’s important to know your audience in order to develop the most relevant, compelling content. Launching a survey is like tapping directly into what’s really going on in your readers’ heads and at the very least, can help you develop a roadmap in how to get there.

The content that we create for the SurveyMonkey blog revolves around topics like survey tips and best practices, customer success stories and use cases, media mentions, product updates and original content generated from survey results. Surveys are a content-generating machine. Sure, surveys are a great way to gather information about your followers—their likes and dislikes, challenges and what they want. But they’re also a great resource for creating original content.

What are some case studies of how SurveyMonkey has been successfully utilised to determine the preferences of a blog’s readers?

We’ve got a couple great customer examples that use SurveyMonkey for that very purpose. Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop and blogger, Elizabeth Jayne Liu of Flourish in Progress have both relied on SurveyMonkey for their annual Readers Surveys.

How can women use surveys to build businesses generally?

Melissa Kim from Minted.com uses SurveyMonkey not only to gather insights, but to converse with customers and designers alike. Minted is an online paper goods store with a global community of graphic designers. In business for over two years, they don’t have a lot of resources but SurveyMonkey allows them to do quite a bit to better understand their customers—who they are, what they want, likes and dislikes about Minted’s products and services.

Specifically, they’ve used SurveyMonkey to measure customer satisfaction, to gather feedback after a purchase, to understand why a customer abandoned a shopping cart, to evaluate a potential partner program and to gain insights from their design community. They see our surveys as a conversation with their community on how they can improve.

One of the biggest on-going decisions Minted makes from its survey results is what category (or categories) to expand into next. They ask their customers, “What product categories were you shopping for today?” and include an “Other” response. The “Other” option is gold to them!  They saw a high number of customers request baby shower invitations, so Minted ran a design contest for baby shower card designs as a result and launched that category on its site.

They also have an on-going exit survey from their site that receives thousands of responses a month. It has helped improve site functionality, evaluate the effectiveness of marketing initiatives, and learn more about customers’ decision making processes. For example, they learned how far in advance wedding customers start their shopping process for invitations, so it has helped Minted better tailor its site and email messages to meet their needs.

How is the SurveyMonkey software developing to keep up with the demands of bloggers?

SurveyMonkey Audience has millions of people ready to take your surveys. With Audience you can design your own survey, pick your custom audience, launch your project and start seeing results immediately. Whether you want to reach smartphone owners, video game players, moms, or the general U.S. population, you can select from over 30 targeting options.

Survey Programming & Design Service
When you need a little guidance to get your survey just right, we’ve got a team of experts who are here to help. Our survey design services are available to anyone in a GOLD or PLATINUM plan for an extra fee.

Our service starts by helping you create an online survey from questions you’ve written. We’ll program your questions into SurveyMonkey, help pick the right question types and formats, and set up advanced logic. For SurveyMonkey Audience customers, we offer even more comprehensive survey programming, including: identifying objectives, finding people who fit your specifications to take your survey, custom branding, and questionnaire writing.

The SurveyMonkey App for iPhone®and iPad®
Whether you’re new to SurveyMonkey or have an existing account, our mobile survey app makes it easy to create surveys, send them to anyone, and monitor your results on the go. Available on the App Store℠, our intuitive app can help anyone with an iPhone®, iPad®, or iPod touch® get the answers they need.

The SurveyMonkey App for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is a perfect way to create surveys and monitor survey results. It lets you take the most-trusted survey platform with you, so you can get powerful results anywhere:
Create and manage surveys and data with ease with our straightforward mobile interface
Access your survey results wherever you are, whenever you need them
Collect survey responses through email, your website, or social media
Get real-time results as they roll in
Use our powerful analytics tool to turn data into insights by filtering, comparing, and analyzing results
Get reliable data when you choose from more than 160 expert-certified survey templates
Gain peace of mind knowing we use the most advanced technology to keep your data safe

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