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Business Cards Provides An Important Tool In Business
Having the correct information on your card is vital. It is important to have a company’s name and logo with its street address and contact details visibly printed on a smart looking card. It is also important not to have too much detail as it can clutter an already small space. That is why a professional design company can give you their expert advice on such things.
Not thinking that you would be allowed to see the person at first you would leave your card in the hopes that the other person would have his card delivered to your residence or place of work. This act would be seen as a sign of willingness to meet with each other for whatever reason. Visiting cards thus became most common amongst the aristocracy of Europe and soon spread of the United States and into the business world.
Much more common today is the business card but which still plays an important role when it comes to etiquette amongst business associates. It is vital that your business card have all the relevant information such as name of your business, its logo, address and contact numbers.
A business card is small and fits easily into a wallet. It can be printed on high gloss paper with embossed lettering or it could be on a matt finish. These features will depend on your personal style or that of the company for which you work. It should feel like satin under the fingers and look smart, giving an air of understated sophistication.
Those days it was good manners to leave your visiting card at someone’s work place or home in the hopes that they would return the gesture. If a return card was received then it was understood that a meeting between the parties could take place. It became a common gesture among the aristocracy of Europe and spread into the United States and around the world, but more so in the business world.
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Designing surveys is easy; or is it? The reality is that writing surveys is easy but writing surveys that will be effective is a little bit more difficult. The following are twenty tips that if followed will help you with your survey questionnaire design and help you write effective surveys.
1. What is the survey’s purpose?
Surveys are conducted for many reasons. By correctly phrasing the questions and structuring the answers surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When designing a survey do not lose sight of its purpose.
2. Give the survey a good title
The survey title is key and an opportunity to instantly summarise a survey’s objective and grab the attention of invited respondents. Respondents are going to invest time in completing the survey so make them feel that their investment is worthwhile.
3. Don’t make the survey any longer than it needs to be
Every question that is asked should be asked for a reason. Concentrate on the ‘need to know’ questions and minimise ‘nice to know’ information.
4. Use plain English, maintain consistency, avoid jargon and acronyms and don’t ask questions that may result in ambiguous answers
Be careful when wording the question. If a question can be interpreted in more ways than one then there is a risk that any analysis of the survey results will be worthless or at the very least suspect.
5. Avoid long questions
Use succinct sentences wherever possible. Long questions tend to cause respondents discomfort and can lead to a higher level of incidents where respondents abandon a survey.
6. Ask one question at a time
Avoid confusing the respondent with a question like ‘Do you like tennis and golf?’
7. Avoid influencing the answer
Avoid loading the question. ‘Should irresponsible shop keepers who sell tobacco to minors be prosecuted?’ is likely to have no value.
8. Ensure that the answer format used allows the respondent to answer the question being asked
Ensure that the respondent is able to answer how they really feel or they may abandon the survey. As a last resort consider the benefit of including a “Can’t say”, “Don’t know” or similar response option.
9. At the same time that you compile the survey consider, when the survey is complete, how the compiled data is going be analysed
If a question is asked that allows a free text open ended response appreciate that such information is likely to be difficult to score and/or summarised. Consider grouping answers. For example “Indicate your length of service?” - ‘less than 3 year’, ‘between 3 and 8 years’ and ‘more than 8′.
10. Ensure that the questionnaire flows
Group the questions into clear categories as this makes the task of completing the survey easier for the participants.
11. Target your respondents
You may want to target a specific group, in others a cross section. If you can’t easily control the respondents consider including questions/answers that will allow you to filter out respondents that don’t match your target profile.
12. Allow the respondent to expand or make comments
By allowing respondents to make additional comments you will increase their satisfaction level and the comments will also give valuable feedback on the specific questions and/or the survey as a whole. Remember that for large sample collections that free text open ended responses may be difficult to analyse.
13. If you are conducting a confidential survey ensure that your pledge for confidentiality is upheld
If you have guaranteed the respondents that the survey is confidential ensure that the individual data is not to be shared with anyone and the information is not going to be used for any other purpose. Confidentiality must be maintained and any identifying information deleted after the survey is complete.
14. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of allowing respondents to be anonymous or identifiable
If your respondents are to be anonymous then appreciate that you will be unable to follow up or match “pre” or “post” surveys. There are advantages to allowing people to remain anonymous for example it would allow people to respond without possible peer pressure.
15. Consideration carefully the best response format
Being consistent with the format used for responses is good practice. When creating your survey keep in mind that when analysing the data radio buttons are easier to analyse than check boxes that offer the respondent multiple responses. If a radio response can be used do not use a check box.
16. Give the respondent an estimate as to how much time the survey will take
Respondent drop out can occur if the survey appears to be a stream of never ending questions. It is good practice to give an indication as to how long the survey is likely to take so the respondents can choose the best time to complete the survey.
17. Inform the respondents of the survey end date
Encourage your invited respondents to complete the survey as soon as possible but advise the respondents of the survey’s end date so that they have the opportunity to schedule the necessary time.
18. Trial the survey
Before publishing a live survey publish a small pilot survey to check for questions that are ambiguous or confusing and to ensure that the survey is aesthetically pleasing.
19. Before publishing the survey check the survey several times
Check more than once that the survey is grammatically correct and makes sense. If possible get someone else to proof read the survey before you publish, if you are unable to do this then take a break before checking again.
20. Thank your respondents
To complete surveys respondents have to devote their time and should be thanked at the end of completing the survey or in a follow up letter. You may even want to consider incentives such as a reward of some sort.
Getting started is easy and there are many survey software websites to choose from.