- May 6, 2015
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Turning Open-Ended Questions into Actionable Data
Surveys can yield a treasure trove of customer data. But many marketers shy away from including open-ending questions in their surveys because, well, how do you make sense of such disparate responses and turn them into actionable data?
It’s a common question, so the survey research scientists at SurveyMonkey put together a cheat sheet that shows integrated marketers how to handle open-ended responses with these five easy tips.
- Read through a few responses to generalize comments. “As always, know your data.”
- Group responses into categories. For example, if you’re asking your customers their opinion about a new product, their answers probably fall into one of three categories: positive, negative or neutral opinions.
- Give context to categories by creating sub-categories. As you’re grouping responses, you’ll likely see recurring themes emerge. “Group and tag those themes together to create new sub-categories,” the survey data gurus advised. If you don’t require this level of detail for your analysis, skip this step.
- Perform a reality check. To yield the most accurate data, re-read all responses to the open-ended questions to double-check they conform to the categories you assigned them. On this second go-around, you also can tag sub-categories. “Also,” SurveyMonkey reminds us, “don’t be afraid to assign multiple categories to one response, since often open-ended comments cover more than one category.” Just remember that with responses assigned to multiple categories, your percentages may not add up to 100.
- Tally the results. Congrats, you’re done! Simply add up the responses in each category and sub-categories to learn leading indicators of data. Now you can create a follow-up plan and improve customers’ experiences with your brand.
General Mills, the maker of some of the most recognizable brand names in America — from Cheetos to Haagen-Dazs to Betty Crocker — solves client problems by conducting research among target audiences. (Learn how here.)
Are you ready to test this methodology? Read “Amp up Trade Show Marketing Effectiveness with Surveys” for ways to gain customer insight at your next conference.
