Survey Software HQ

Who: ComputerWorld
What: IT Spending Projections for 2007
Sample Size: Not revealed

Major revelations: IT spending projections decreased in the last quarter of 2006, with CIOs predicting IT spending increases of 5.8 percent over the next 12 months. That’s down from expectations in the previous quarter that spending would rise by 6.5 percent during the next year, according to the quarterly CIO Magazine Tech Poll released Friday.

Full Story Here

Who: Engage.com
What: “Manners and Behavior” survey
Sample Size: 600 single adults

Major revelations: 24 percent of respondents believe it’s all right to lie when dating online; more men than women (30 percent versus 19 percent) of the total respondents think untruths are suitable.

More than half (53 percent) of singles feel it’s acceptable not to respond to emails from singles in whom they’re not interested, and women are more likely than men to have that belief. Following are other online dating practices singles consider acceptable:

– Changing your username to avoid someone (40 percent)
– One line emails, such as “tell me more” (31 percent)
– Sending the same email to numerous prospects (19 percent)

What are less tolerable online dating practices?
– Using out-of-date photos (11 percent)
– Having photos retouched (12 percent)
– Forwarding private emails to friends (10 percent)

Avoid weekends.

Don’t send a survey on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Monday is also not a good day to be emailing people with new offers/surveys/webcasts.

Give your customers a good reason to answer your survey. Offer them a discount or give them a gift certificate. You’re asking them to do you a favor, so show your appreciation.

Last, but not least, share the results with your customers and let them know what action you will take. If you need more information, do follow-up surveys. But remember, you’re asking them to take the time to help you, so be careful not to abuse that relationship.

If you e-mail the survey, set a deadline to receive the results. A few days before, send a reminder.

Give the survey to a group of employees or customers. This will tell you how long it takes to complete, and also what, if any, questions they find confusing.

If the first question asks your respondents to rate your customer service on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being highly satisfactory, make sure that in subsequent questions, 5 always corresponds to being highly satisfactory.

Make sure that one question leads naturally into another. Usually, the first questions will be broader and the follow-up ones will be more specific.

Keep information that is less crucial to your surveys towards the end, as people will apt to lose interest in your survey. It may sound tricky, but if you want to keep people interested in your survey - put the fun stuff up front, and then ask for their information last. Make sure you give them a reason not to quit midway through the survey… and it could be as simple as an emailed copy of the results.