Analyzing Survey Results to Make Effective Business Decisions

Customer feedback helps companies and brands to identify areas that require modification to enhance customer satisfaction. How do you generate customer feedback? Companies use different methodologies to get customer feedback after purchasing some of their products. But, surveys are the best when you want to get reliable information from customers.

To get good results, you need to have robust survey questions. After the process, you need to analyze your survey results and collect insights to predict the way forward. Sifting through the data is a daunting task to participate in since you can easily get confused. Most companies prefer using a considerable team of people to analyze the survey data and generate feedback. 

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However, this does not solve the problem of inaccuracy since they are likely to miss out on some critical Information. For you to analyze your survey results, you need to incorporate data visualization into the process and have a good data analysis strategy. The results you get at the end of the process can help you identify the areas that need quick fixing. 

Do you find it challenging to analyze survey results? Read this guide to learn the step-by-step process to help you fix your problem.

Consider the Four Levels of Measurement

Before you even begin analyzing your survey results, you must ensure that you understand all four levels of measurement. The levels help determine how the survey questions should be analyzed and some of the questions that need to be measured. 

Understand how the nominal scale operates by classifying data without any aspect of quantitative value. Also, monitor the ordinal scale to understand the order of the values you intend to analyze. There is a quantitative value in the ordinal scale since the chances of one rank being higher than the other are a bit high. 

The interval scale is another critical element that displays the order and the difference between the outlined values. This scale uses quantitative values since the data intervals are the same across the entire scale. The ratio scale is the final element order and the difference between the provided values. The scale had a quantitative value due to the absence of an attribute.

Select the Survey Questions 

After acquiring basic knowledge about how survey questions operate, you now have to understand how to solve each question. Note that the survey questions are divided into different categories based on what you are researching within the market. The questions are categorized into two different groups, which are open-ended questions and close-ended questions. 

Close-ended survey questions tend to give a limited number of answers. The respondent is limited on what they should respond to since they are not given room to give explanations for their answers. They only have the option to choose an answer from the predetermined list of options that are presented to them. In most cases, closed-ended questions require yes or no answers. 

The second category of questions is open-ended questions. These questions allow the respondent to explain their answers and express their concerns. The open-ended questions may be generated from the closed-ended questions asking the respondent to give their explanations regarding their previous answers. These questions tend to be "why" or anything that needs more clarification. 

Evaluate Quantitative Data First 

Quantitative Data is more valuable in your survey results since it uses statistics to come up with conclusions. Even though qualitative data can also bring more insights to the table, this aspect remains to be a subjective matter. Quantitative Data is mainly generated from close-ended questions that can be quickly converted into data insights.

When data is converted into a format that is easy to quantify, it becomes easier to compare the results and generate insights. It's good to start with quantitative data since it will help you understand qualitative data better. For instance, when you realize that 69% of the customers are unhappy with your offer, you will automatically focus on the negative reviews.

This is because the reviews have essential information that you need to streamline operations and enhance customer satisfaction. The information will help you recognize where you fall short and the changes you need to make. 

Utilize Cross Tabulation to Better Understand Your Target Market

When you analyze your survey results in a single group you won't get reliable results. Always consider using different approaches to get accurate results that you can use in decision-making. Cross-tabulation is one of the strategies you can use to enhance the accuracy of your results. This method gives you a reliable approach to how to play around with figures to get results.

Remember that the respondents who are not your customers are likely to ruin the entire thing resulting in inaccurate results. You should ensure that the survey questions are only channeled to your ideal customers whom you have interacted with in the past. This is a good approach to ensure that the results you are getting are aligned with your survey goals. 

Cross-tabulation lets you evaluate how your real customers respond to your questions. It clearly shows how the market perceives your brand or organization. Go ahead and split the data based on demographics to evaluate the relationship between different variables. This will help uncover specific insights varying from one respondent to the next. 

Consider the Statistical Importance of the Data

When analyzing survey results, remember that not all the data is essential. Everything within the data is relative. You need to be assured that the respondent answered all the questions accurately. Also, collecting data does not mean you have everything you want to do your analysis. Ensure that the data maintains its statistical significance to achieve the desired results. 

You can achieve this by doing random sampling of the data. This will help you to generate a diverse sample of the survey responses that you have at your disposal. Data visualization dashboard can help you analyze the statistical significance of your data and display any errors that may have occurred during the process. Despite the fact that errors are common, you need to get them pointed out. A data analyst can assist you in analyzing and comparing the data the right way. It’s always important to make sure you’re considering all the factors and coming up with the most reliable results.

Once you can analyze all these aspects, you will have clean data that you can visualize to uncover insights. 

Compare the New and the Past Data

This is the final stage when analyzing your survey results. Even though data is an essential resource when stored well, you need to compare the current results with what you recorded in the past. If this is the first time you have conducted a survey, you should keep the data and use it as a benchmark. 

You can then use it in the future to identify any changes that have occurred and the areas you are having challenges with. You can opt to track the changes monthly, quarterly, after six months, and even yearly. After analyzing the survey data, you need to share it with your team members and let them feel your progress. 

As a business owner, you should ensure that you are all on the same page within the business. This will help motivate your team members to work harder and perform much better. 

Conclusion

Analyzing survey results is an activity like no other. You should be determined and equip yourself with essential tools and strategies to make your work easier. Analytics and reporting are strategies you can implement to record good results. When delivering the survey reports to your team members, remember that humans process visuals 60,000 times more than text content. 

Always consider using data visualization to convert the survey report into visuals to make the report easy to read. Also, implement the same strategy in your survey questions to help the respondents understand the questions better.