Issue 4, Volume 2

July/August 2004

Inside this Issue

Restaurant Chain Finds Participants on the Spot
The Likert Scale
Factors Leading to the Success of Your Survey
Hostedware Telephone Training
Exciting New Online Community Support

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Editor's Letter

Greetings!

And welcome to another exciting issue of Hostedwire! Today I'm so eager to share with you our feature article as it was sent to us by Rob Donahue. Some of you might remember Rob when he was with Hostedware from 2000-2002. You'll be thrilled to hear he's pursuing his dream of getting an MBA!

Make sure to spend some time reading Rob's contribution on how to make your survey a standout success.

Because I want you to really get to know the people who work on making your projects just perfect, today I'm delighted to introduce you to Lisa Price, a Hostedware Customer Advocate!

Introducing Lisa Price

Lisa loves being a Customer Advocate for Hostedware, especially because, "Lots of people don't realize how easy it can be to conduct a survey or test online. It's great to get to be the person who tells them, 'Yes! We can help you do that!'"

A project with a customer in Japan particularly inspired Lisa. She says the 16-hour time difference and tight timeline of the project made the process more challenging, "but we've helped make their project a success by working together as a team. They are very happy with the progress of their survey. It's the kind of project we strive for with every customer."

When Lisa first got started as a Customer Advocate, she learned pretty quickly that she needed a great system to manage her time. "I have hundreds of people who want to talk to me every week, which can be pretty overwhelming. My manager knew just what to do, though, and showed me how to manage my time in an efficient and effective way so that I can make sure each of our customers is happy."

Lisa's so excited about introducing new customers to the Hostedware process. "I love that I can assure each and every person who signs up for a project that the great team we have at Hostedware will work together to make their online survey or test a success!"

Lisa can't wait to introduce you to the Hostedware survey process. Why not see for yourself just how easy she makes everything for you. (And put her time management system to the test!) Contact us today to start your first survey or test.

Sincerely,
Dennis Frayne
dennis.frayne@hostedware.com

P.S. Worried the technology to get your test or survey just right will be over your head? Never fear! Our Customer Advocates are there to make sure you're never overwhelmed. Contact us today to see just how easy we make the process for you.

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Contact Hostedware

Hostedware Corporation | 16 Technology Drive, Suite 116 | Irvine, CA 92618

USA & Canada: 800-211-6967 | Local & Int'l: 949-585-1500 | UK: 0800-032-2342

customerservice@hostedware.com

www.hostedware.com | www.hostedsurvey.com | www.hostedtest.com

Restaurant Chain Finds Participants on the Spot

Since 1998, Aerixon Research & Communications has trusted Hostedware with a variety of projects. Originally, they used Hostedware's services primarily to conduct public opinion polls, "but with the growth of unsolicited email and spam," Kim Scruby says, "we scaled back on general polls."

A CRM Approach to Surveys

Now the company focuses on Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) oriented projects, "where respondents have a vested interest in providing feedback."

Recently, Aerixon Research & Communications created a customer feedback survey for a growing restaurant chain.

"We designed the survey based on the same structure as the 'comment cards' that they had used in the past for tracking," Kim says, noting that the online format allowed them to "enhance the depth of the questionnaire to explore issues in further detail."

Advertising for Participation

The setup of the survey went smoothly, and soon the restaurant chain was giving customers receipts with the survey URL printed on the bottom. ("We also advertised the survey with signage throughout the dining area," Kim explains.)

The restaurant also offered a drawing for one respondent to receive a dinner for four. Their approach to encouraging participation was straightforward, but worked, according to Kim who says, "the response rate was excellent!"

In fact, Kim went on to say, not only was response higher with the online survey than with the survey cards, but it was more reliable, as well. "With the paper surveys, about half were filled in by kids, so they were essentially useless. The online survey meant we eliminated all those responses that had been filled out with the restaurant-supplied crayons."

Security Features Ensure One Survey Per Participant

Because of the inducement, Aerixon Research & Communications used Hosted Survey's™ security features to restrict responses to one per participant. This helped to ensure accuracy and prevented people from responding more than once.

Both Kim and the client particularly liked the immediacy of the online format. "We could check the results daily and alert the client of any significant issue (from feedback on the 'open-ended' questions). This way the client could act immediately on any issue that arose."

Instant Feedback Led to Immediate Application

In the end, Aerixon Research & Communications enabled the client to "address some procedural issues as well as to receive feedback on what they were doing that developed the strong customer loyalty that they currently enjoy."

Kim and his team set up an approach focused on the people their client wanted to reach--current diners at the client's restaurant. By not advertising in any forum outside of the restaurants themselves (on receipts and signage throughout the restaurant), they ensured participation would be limited to the target audience.

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It's Your Turn in the Spotlight

You've run some outstanding surveys or tests. It's time you shared your success (and the lessons you learned along the way) with Hostedwire readers.

Along with great exposure, you'll also be helping out a community of survey givers. So, go ahead, sign up for your turn in the spotlight. Just send an email to Dennis Frayne, Editor of Hostedwire, and tell him you'd like to be featured.

FAQ: The Likert Scale

Q: What is a Likert scale and does Hosted Survey™ support this technique?

The Likert scale is rating scale used to measure the strength of agreement with a clear statement. Frequently used in surveys, the questionnaire presents a set of attitude statements, and respondents are asked to express agreement or disagreement with each statement on a scale.

Each degree of agreement is given a numerical value (for instance, from one to five), so a total value can be calculated from all the responses, and other statistics can be computed.

Matrix Question Sets

Hosted Survey™ supports Likert scales best using the Matrix Question Set. This allows you to create a list or table of statements or questions that share the same answer options, ratings, or Likert scale.

Whether you want your respondents to rate each question by importance, satisfaction or agreement, the Matrix Question Set is a clean, attractive option.

To create a Matrix Question Set, select Design Survey, Survey Questions from the menu. In the drop down list box of question types, select Matrix Question Set (Single) and click [Add].

First, you can enter instructional information or descriptive headings at the top of the page or section. This is a good place to instruct your respondents how to answer properly, or give other relevant information.

Next, you will add your answer options--your scale--such as Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral (Neither Agree Nor Disagree), Agree, and Strongly Agree. Use answer codes to store the numeric equivalent of each answer, such as 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Note, you can use a variety of scales, such as Yes, No, Don't Know... up to 16 answer options can be created. Click [OK] and you are ready to add your statements or questions. 

If your list of statements or questions is going to be long, you can elect to have the answer options or scale (column headings) repeated every N rows, to aid in readability and navigation of your survey or questionnaire.

To add your statements or questions, select "Add a new question," and type them in one by one. Or pick them from your Q&A Library.

To change the display order of your statements or questions, change the sequence numbers and click [Apply].

The end result is your instructions on top, a list of statements or questions on the left, the scale answer options as column headings on the top right, and radio buttons next to each statement or question for easy rating selection.

Validity Testing

When conducting research, it's generally a good idea to run a pilot survey to help identify and eliminate any ambiguous statements, negative statements or bias--statements which might unintentionally lead the respondent to answer a certain way.

In principle, it's also a good idea to run your validity test on a group whose attitudes are known. This way, if the group does not answer as expected, it might indicate a flaw in your survey or presentation. In practice, however, it's not always possible to find such a group.

Ready to use the Likert Scale in your survey?
Contact our friendly customer support team at customerservice@hostedware.com, toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

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Survey Novice?

You're lost and confused--there are so many survey options out there. Some of them are downright cheap, and some are super expensive. They don't all have the same features, and by now you'd just like to bury your head in the sand and decide not to decide.

Relax. Your choice is easier than you might think. You can experience Hostedware's fantastic customer service, top of the line technology, and dazzling experience for yourself at absolutely no cost.

Just fax us your draft questionnaire at (949) 585-0050 and you'll receive a demo of your first 11 questions to see for yourself that we offer the solutions you need.

Questions? We'll be happy to answer them. You can reach us at customerservice@hostedware.com, toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

Factors Leading to the Success of Your Survey

By Rob Donahue

[Editor's Note: Some of you may recognize Rob's name. From 2000 to 2002, he worked with Hostedware. He's currently pursuing an MBA from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder. We couldn't be happier to publish his article in Hostedwire!]

When you run a survey, you want to get the most accurate data possible. You also want to ensure your respondents enjoy the process so that they'll participate in future surveys. And you want to do it all as easily as possible.

Sound like a tall order? Not at all, if you keep these ten keys in mind as you create your next survey. Of course, the first three keys have to do with the questions you use (the backbone of any survey). Next, you'll learn about supporting and respecting your audience and how that'll improve your survey experience. And, finally, you'll learn the keys to unleashing your survey on the world, from whom to invite and when to invite them, to how to set up your introduction page.

Question & Data format / Analysis Intentions

What kind of information would you like to have when your survey is finished?

For instance, people often use open-ended questions in their surveys because they allow respondents to answer with the exact right response. So, for the question, "What is your favorite color" respondents don't have to decide between blue and green, but can enter "aqua" or "blue-green."

With open-ended questions, you will get more specific answers. But, you'll also have a lot more work to do in assimilating the data. First, you'll need to decide whether or not to group similar responses. (For instance, are aqua and blue-green the same color?)

Also be prepared to deal with misspellings, possible profanity, and the occasional indecipherable response. If you use open-ended questions, the analysis phase will certainly take longer.

If the idea of filtering through open-ended answers is unappealing, use an alternative question format, such as multiple choice.

By determining the information you'd like to have at the survey's completion, you can structure your survey to gather that information in the method that will be most efficient.

Answer Scaling

When asking questions that require survey participants to rate items on a defined scale, always provide respondents with a sufficient range of possible answers. If you ask respondents to indicate their level of satisfaction with a series of statements, always provide a balanced Likert scale.

A typical answer scaling for these question types would be Strongly Agree, Slightly Agree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Slightly Disagree, Strongly Disagree. Another method of asking these types of questions is to ask respondents to rate items in a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being "Strongly Disagree" and 5 being "Strongly Agree."

Whatever answer scaling you decide to use, keep the scaling consistent throughout your survey.

Optional Questions vs. Forcing Responses

Do you want to force respondents to answer any or all of your questions? Before you decide, consider the survey from your participant's point of view. They're doing you a favor by providing their feedback (even if you're offering an incentive, they're still using their own time to complete the survey).

Forcing responses to all questions may annoy the respondent. If you force a response to questions that are not easy to answer, provide an "elect not to respond" or "don't know" answer selection.

You may want to consider forcing a response only on the most important questions and leaving others optional. This way, respondents will feel some measure of control over their experience.

Multilingual Surveys

Always make sure your survey is clear in each language it's being offered in. This usually means working with native speakers to ensure there's no room for misinterpretation.

Aside from the quality of the translation itself (which must be impeccable), you'll also need to make sure the survey remains consistent in structure throughout so that data can be assimilated across survey translations.

Population Characteristics

If the data you need requires that your participants fit a specific demographic profile (for example, if you'd like to measure political opinions of females in New York, aged 18-45), you'll get the best results if you can filter your distribution list to send out invitations specifically to people who fit your profile.

If you are unable to sufficiently filter your distribution list, then your survey should begin with "qualifying questions" to weed out respondents who don't fit your profile.

Survey Fluidity & Flow

You'll get the best results from a survey that leads respondents through the questions. This flow is achieved primarily by proper survey organization. Ask your related questions together, move logically from one area to the next, and build up to bigger questions with smaller ones that bring participants to the right frame of mind.

A clear survey structure, complete with guideposts (like section headers and page titles) will help your respondents move from one section to the next. Not only will better organization lead to higher response rates, but it will also reduce participants' frustration with more difficult questions.

Sensitivity

Always remember your survey may be the only contact someone has with your organization. Think of it as a first meeting and ensure the writing throughout the survey is "on its best behavior."

Not only can offending a respondent damage your public reputation, but it can also skew your survey results. Engage several colleagues in the proofreading process to ensure you haven't overlooked any language that may make some participants uncomfortable.

Proofreading & Trial Runs

Once you've created the survey itself, you're not quite ready to unleash it on your respondents.

Instead, take some time to proofread the survey, and ask several colleagues to look it over. Clarify any questions that may confuse some participants. Make sure there are no typos that may make it impossible to choose an option.

Finally, go through a trial run prior to inviting your target audience to participate. Ask several people to actually go through the survey in its final format to ensure the questions are clear and the method of delivery is flawless.

Timing of Invitations

Once your survey is ready to go, you need to invite participants to respond.

If you're delivering the survey invitation via email, you have maximum control over scheduling when your participants will receive the invite. And that means you need to carefully consider the pros and cons of specific delivery times.

Are you emailing people at their work email addresses? And do they typically work Monday through Friday? Then, chances are, sending the email over the weekend means more people will overlook it (in their rush to empty their inboxes of spam).

Send your email when people are ready to respond to maximize responses to your survey. (Otherwise, many people will put off responding until "later.")

Think about the time of the day and day of the week that you would like recipients to receive invitations, and consider time zone differences if appropriate. Unless you are up against a hard deadline, you may find delivering mid-week makes the most sense (Tuesday through Thursday).

Objectives Clearly Defined--and Outlined

What is a participant's first stop with your survey? The introduction page, of course. And the right introduction page can effectively guide participants through the survey, clarify expectations, and make respondents feel their participation is important and appreciated.

Make sure your introduction page clarifies:

• Who's conducting the survey
• The purpose of the survey
• How long the survey will take
• What you expect from the respondent
• How the data will be used

Your introduction page should also include contact information in case the respondent runs into technical trouble or has questions about the survey.

Another crucial ingredient on the introduction page is your survey's instructions. Make sure these instructions are easy to follow, succinct and cannot be misinterpreted.

Along with explaining the actual survey-taking process to the respondent, make sure your introduction page also clearly explains whether or not responses are confidential (and/or anonymous).

By considering these 10 survey factors, you can create a better survey experience for your respondents. Creating a better experience means people will be more willing to participate in future surveys. And, it also often leads to more accurate results.

If you're ready to create an online survey, but are daunted by the technology involved, give us a call. We'll assign you to a friendly survey "ambassador" who'll walk you through the technical process a little at a time.

Discover how people just like you are setting up surveys in just a few hours using our technology tools!

To get started, email Hostedware's customerservice@hostedware.com or
call toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

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What if your data goes all haywire in your presentation?

Have you had this nightmare? You've put together all the data from your survey. You've formatted it into a pretty PowerPoint presentation. There are sound effects and great graphics.

And there you stand, in front of the board of an international Fortune 500. You flip to the first slide. And you realize: you've made a huge mistake with the data.

Stop tossing and turning. Hire Hostedware to handle all your data from collecting it straight through to compiling it.

Get started now. Email customerservice@hostedware.com or call toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

FAQ: Hostedware Telephone Training

Q: What are Hostedware's support options?

You can receive technical support, customer service, walk-throughs, demonstrations, and training in several ways from Hostedware.

Customer Service

You can receive free technical support and answers over email by sending your specific questions to customerservice@hostedware.com. You'll have an answer by the very next business day (and often sooner).

Online Demo Setup

Would you like to see a demo survey or test, using your content? To see your demo, simply email or fax (949) 585-0050 a draft of your questionnaire to Customer Service (customerservice@hostedware.com), and we will setup the first 11 questions for you--for free--to help get you started.

Telephone Training / Customized Support

You can receive a personalized demonstration or training session with Hostedware. These popular support sessions can be tailored to your exact needs. You set the agenda with your own specific questions, or we can provide a guided tour--with special emphasis on the areas you request.

If you would like a telephone walk-through or training, we would be happy to schedule one for you. Please email customerservice@hostedware.com with your 3 best dates/times, so that we can schedule your call at our earliest available appointment.

On-site Training

You can also receive on-site training classes. A Hostedware trainer will come to your location to teach your team in a classroom setting. These sessions typically last one day and your team will learn all the important basics and many of the advanced functions of the featured application.

Recent customer training testimonial:
Dear Hostedware:

Over the last few weeks you have been very helpful in getting our 360 Survey off the ground. While the software is very intuitive, we needed some help in getting the final changes made to the invitations and the reminders. The training that we decided on at the last minute was invaluable in making the survey a success.

It was great to be able to ask questions as we went along and our trainer was able to save us a huge amount of time and effort! This was money well spent! We hope to use many more of your surveys after this great experience.

Best Regards,
Dave Klepinger
Senior Consultant
Inertia Consulting Group
Atlanta, Georgia

You can take advantage of Hostedware's support options and expert assistance by sending an email to customerservice@hostedware.com. You'll quickly be up and running with our do-it-yourself software tools and online services.

Are you ready to get started on your training today? Contact a Hostedware representative to get started today at customerservice@hostedware.com,
toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

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Webmasters, do you need a custom Hosted Survey™ solution for your clients?

If you're looking for an affordable, easy-to-use method of offering your clients brief surveys, you can license and host your own version of Hosted Survey Lite™.

For all the details, contact a Hostedware representative to get started today at customerservice@hostedware.com, toll-free at (800) 211-6967, or (949) 585-1500.

Exciting New Online Community Support

This month, I'm excited to introduce to you a brand new site called Hosted Poll™. The beta version of Hosted Poll™ allows you to create fun polls and surveys to add interactivity to your website.

The beta version will be around for another 45 days or so while we get everything absolutely perfect behind the scenes.

Test-Drive the Beta Version, Send Us Your Feedback, and Get a Great Gift

And here's why that's important: YOU can get a great gift if you try out this beta version and send us some feedback.

So, head on over to www.hostedpoll.com to test-drive the new site for yourself.

Website Interactivity is Key to Online Success

You already know it's crucial to get people interacting with your website. Interactive sites rack up more sales and customer loyalty!

Hosted Poll™ offers a fantastic way to create this interactivity by offering website polls and surveys. These features can help increase involvement and add tremendous value as information-gathering tools, and as a way to develop useful and interesting website content.

Quick polls can help site owners and webmasters gather visitor feedback about site design and navigation, quality of service, new products, and a lot more. Online ballots can be fun, informative and encourage repeat visits to your web site. The promise of published results and analysis can help keep your customers coming back for more.

I can't wait to welcome you over at the www.hostedpoll.com website! So, head on over now and try it out for yourself!

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