How to run a successful online poll / petition / survey / consultation
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-01-10 17:55:19 - Graham Ellis
How can one poll succeed in attracting people to complete it, whereas another is notable because of a lack of votes? 750 people signed up last year to support an online campaign that I 'fronted' on a newly registered domain, from a "standing start". Yet only three people voted in a poll that a user of our busiest forum (100 posts per day) created.
Here's a list of the things I think about when setting up an online page that's going to ask the user for their inputs ...
Keep it Understandable ... ask question(s) that people can follow, and avoid them being ambiguous. If it's a complex consultation, try and keep the navigation between the sections easy and obvious.
Offer Complete options ... ensure that there is a suitable answer for everyone who wants to answer. Do you need "None of the above"? Have you left a hole between "every day" and "most weeks" for people who visit your site 3 times a week?
Make it Interesting ... provide background information, links through which people can research the subject before they answer.
Tell people why you are asking ... for if people know something of the background to your questions, there's more point in answering and they're likely to feel it's worthwhile
Have a supportable cause ... if you're asking for support, keep it mainstream / achievable - don't petition for something that would be impossibly expensive or fly against government policy just for your area.
Confidence ... give people confidence in the poll. Present it right, get the spelling right - especially of critical place names; show that you know what you're talking about.
Findable ... position the poll / survey so that people will find it - don't put it in obscure corner of your site (unless you want to engineer a "very few people replied" result). And get other people to tell their friend about you poll, add it to their blogs, etc
Feedback ... Let people know how the poll is going - add on comments to thank people who have voted so far, for example. But do NOT disclose voting to date as that might skew following voters.
Encouraging ... Encourage people to vote - especially in intermediate feedback / if you get any questions on the poll. "I know the options aren't complete, but please vote anyway" is not the way to do it!
Deadlined ... Specify a cut-off date after which you'll publish results / act on the inputs you have. That does NOT stop you leaving the site open if it's gathering opinion / support thereafter, as long as you're clear as to the more limited use made of new inputs.
I share that list with you purely as helpful thoughts ... and keep thinking of other things too like don't duplicate someone else's poll ... they won't all apply in all cases, but they're worth considering at the least!