Nonprofit Surveys: Fundraising, Volunteer Satisfaction & More

Nonprofit Surveys: Fundraising, Volunteer Satisfaction & More

Are your fundraisers successful? Are your volunteers happy? Did anyone actually like those homemade biscuits last week? A cheap and easy way to get answers to questions like these is through nonprofit surveys. This can help your organization gain a better understanding of people’s experiences, why people donate and how your events could be improved. Ultimately, surveys can give you the data to improve the effectiveness of your organization and increase the awareness of your cause.

Using a large network of audience members as well as specific targeting options, you can reach the respondents you need to get the best responses to a nonprofit survey:

Write a welcoming introduction.

People want to know that their responses will be contributing to something good. Be sure to include an introduction for your survey telling people what their results will be used for and how you will be using them to improve your organization.

Keep your questions short and sweet.

Clarity is key. Stick to the point and ask questions with specific objectives. This way your target demographic won’t zone out answering loads of unnecessary questions, and you’ll have responses to the questions you need answered. It would also be a good idea to hone in on exactly what you want to find out and who should be answering these questions—are you focussing on those who regularly attend fundraisers, or newbies who you want to attract? Be sure to check out some of Pollfish's targeting and screening questions to narrow down who your survey will be sent to and see how large your survey audience is.

Follow up!

The most successful surveys occur over time. What this means is that you will get answers from your respondents over many successive surveys, so be nice to them. They should receive a thank you for taking their time answering your questions, and make sure you're doing this sincerely. People are happy to help a genuine company with a good cause.

We understand that as a nonprofit organization you need tools that are inexpensive and quick. With Pollfish surveys starting from as little as $1 per survey and with results available within hours, we're here to help. We even offer 24/7 communication with our customer support team to help you with anything in regards to your nonprofit survey.

by Ally

Probability vs Non Probability Sampling

Probability vs Non-Probability Sampling

As stated in this article on Wikipedia, survey sampling methods consist of two variations; probability and non-probability sampling.

So what are the main differences between the two?

Probability sampling

This means that everyone in the population has a chance of being sampled, and you can determine what the probability of people being sampled is.

Probability sampling includes Simple Random Sampling, Systematic Sampling, Stratified Sampling, Probability Proportional to Size Sampling, and Cluster or Multistage Sampling. And have these elements in common

1. Everyone has a known (calculated) chance of being sampled
2. There is a random selection

Non-probability sampling

This means that you have excluded some of the population in your sample, and that exact number can not be calculated – meaning there are limits on how much you can determine about the population from the sample.

Nonprobability sampling methods include convenience sampling, quota sampling, purposive sampling – or judgment sampling, and snowball sampling.

(Source, wikipedia.org)

Probability Sampling Methods

Simple Random Sampling

Random sampling, in its simplest and purest form, means that each member of the population has an equal (and known) chance of being selected. In a large population, this becomes prohibitive for cost and technical reasons, so the actual pool of respondents becomes biased.

Systematic Sampling

This method is often preferable to simple random sampling, as you select members of the population systematically – that is, every Nth record. As long as there is no ordering of the list, the sampling method is just as good as random – only much simpler to manage.

Stratified Sampling

This is a more commonly used technique, and the population is divided into subsets with a common trait, or “strata”, and then random sampling is performed to reduce sampling bias. The key is to ensure that the sample size is large enough to represent the population.

Non Probability Sampling Methods

Convenience Sampling

One of the most cost-effective sampling methods, researchers choose this method as they can recruit the sample from the population that is close at hand, or convenient to them. It is up to the researcher to ensure that a large enough sample is chosen that can closely represent the population being studied.

An extension of this is judgment sampling, where the researcher selects a representative sample based on their judgment.

Quota Sampling

Very similar to stratified sampling, where the researcher defines the segments or “stratums” and their representative proportion in the population – quota sampling differs in that respondents are typically filled by convenience or judgment sampling, vs random.

Snowball Sampling

There is another method of acquiring respondents called snowball sampling, where initial subjects refer others to take the survey.

Examples of Survey Bias

Survey bias can rear its ugly head many times during the creation of a survey. From the population, you choose unintentionally exclude key respondents, to ensure you have a sample size that accurately reflects the total population.

You can also create survey bias through the probability or non-probability sampling method you select. This is called Sample Bias (or Sampling Bias).

Sample bias is when a sample is collected and, due to the method used, some members of the intended population have a lower probability of being included than others.

Non-Response Bias

Non-response bias (or self-selection bias) can happen when a respondent has knowledge of what the survey is about and can decide whether or not to participate. If the survey offers advanced knowledge of the survey topic and gives users the choice to opt-in or out, you may get an increased population of users who know a lot about that topic, and results may underrepresent those who are indifferent or don't have knowledge on the topic.

Exclusion Bias

Let's say you are trying to survey "teens who have tried drinking." You may create a sample that targets by education level to get kids in high school who have tried drinking. But this sample would leave out anyone who dropped out or was home-schooled. An age range survey may make more sense.

Pre-Screening Bias

Some sampling methods may run ads to get survey participants. But depending on the targeting of these ads, researchers could bias samples. If ads are only targeted to certain sub-groups inside the sample population, this could create a biased sample.

by Ally

How survey response bias can happen (and how you can prevent it)

How survey response bias can happen (and how you can prevent it)

There are many ports of entry for survey response bias and other types of bias, from the population selection method, sampling method, survey design, medium, question and answer wording, the interviewer, and, in particular, the respondents.

Unless you were to survey everyone in your population, it would be nearly impossible to eliminate survey bias – but we can reduce it. Each of the survey sampling methods has its benefits and unique detractors. Here’s a brief explanation.

First, assuming that you’ve chosen the right population, you need to decide the survey sample size, confidence level, and how you will reach the audience and collect the results. But wait – how do you define the population?

Defining the Population

You could use personas to be precise, or you may just want to reach a population of “teens in high school who have tried drinking”. Sounds reasonable. However– that population definition would rule out anyone who may have dropped out, or who is home-schooled—which would affect your sample. And what about the teens who have tried drinking, but don’t want to respond—they would be underrepresented in your sample.

And, if you are trying to survey the population of “teens who have tried drinking” to see if they are talking to their parents about contraception (vs the consequences of drinking and driving), you may have missed the mark entirely—as this is a small subset of the total population you may want to survey.

There are other forms of Sample Bias:

Sample Collection

Once you’ve established your population, and defined your survey goals, you want to make sure you choose the best method possible for collecting data from your sample. You could choose a from a variety of collection methods, which are either probability sampling or non-probability sampling—and all have pros and cons.

There are different methods to collect data including traditional methods like telephone, in-person, and mail-in, surveying. More modern methods include online surveys via email, websites, social media, and mobile.

Telephone surveys were very popular for quite some time, but over the years have developed several downsides—particularly for respondents as this article explains—and have shrunken in popularity and effectiveness.

In-person interviews, including focus groups, have the benefit of obtaining feedback directly and immediately—however interviewer bias and other social factors such as moderator bias, biased answers, and biased reporting can set in.

Mail-in forms rely on accurately targeting the respondent and validating that they are the ones in the household that completed the survey; it is also subject to non-response bias.

Online surveys have many advantages, but since respondents complete them in private, they are subject to interpretation, and therefore question length, wording, style—even format and coloring can affect responses, and survey completion rates.

Social media surveys have inherent issues with population size and characteristics. They don’t allow for sophisticated survey questions and can be perceived as “fun” or “entertaining” which may not fulfill your survey goals. Surveys on personal networks have the issue of respondents within the network (such as on Facebook) being somehow affiliated with the researcher.

Many mobile surveys can have issues with the survey design itself, and its ability to keep the respondent engaged on the mobile screen. Many surveys are mobile-unfriendly, and even mobile-friendly designs may fail to capture full audience participation.

Sample Size

What’s the right sample size? A lot of that depends on the population size, the ability to reach them, and your budget. However, you need to make sure the sample size is representative of the population or segment (strata) from which you are trying to gain an understanding.

Under coverage happens when not enough members of the population are adequately represented. Non-response bias is when potential survey respondents are unwilling or unable to participate.

by Ally

Mobile Surveys vs Online Surveys: Definitions, Examples & More

How to choose between mobile surveys and online surveys

If you’re planning on venturing into the unknown, whether it’s a new business venture, new product, or even something a little more laid back, like launching a new event, getting the measure of potential ups and downs is vital; that’s where mobile surveys can be extremely important.

A well-constructed survey can give you valuable insight into key criteria such as:

• How much people are willing to pay for a product
• Where do they usually buy a product
• How often do they use a service

All of which is vital information for success.

There are two main ways to conduct a survey: mobile surveys and online surveys. What are the differences and which one is best for you?

Here are a few considerations that should help you decide which survey to choose.

Mobile Surveys vs. Online Surveys

What Is An Online Survey?

Online surveys are surveys that are created with an online survey platform and distributed online through a variety of survey distribution methods.

These methods include (but are not limited to):

• Assisted crowdsourcing
• Sending surveys via email
• Sharing your survey on your website or blog

What Is A Mobile Survey?

Mobile surveys are created with an online survey platform, optimized for and distributed exclusively on mobile devices.

These survey platforms create relationships with app publishers, delivering surveys inside mobile apps in exchange for in-app incentives like an extra life in a game or access to exclusive recipes in a cooking app.

There are pros and cons to different survey methods. Check out how the two stack up below.

Potential Reach

Over the past fifteen years, mobile phone use has expanded drastically. This makes surveying respondents on their mobile devices a great choice as a research tool because the potential reach is bigger than ever. What’s more, the nature of mobile device use inspires respondents to fill out mobile surveys more completely than their email-based online counterparts.

Surveys conducted via email invitation will also struggle to get through email filters, something that mobile surveys don't need to worry about. A survey sent straight to a mobile device has a much higher open rate.

Survey Feedback

Online surveys offer really in-depth data which definitely helps decision-makers. However, the data sometimes takes a few hours, or even days, to be compiled meaning decisions can’t be made as quickly. Mobile surveys on the other hand usually offer real-time feedback, making data analysis a much more responsive task.

Target Audience

Surveys are ineffective if the data collected is from an inaccurate source; if your target market is 25-30, there isn’t much point in researching 65 to 70-year-olds! Luckily, both mobile and online surveys offer excellent targeting to make sure you’re reaching the right people with your questions.

Of course, you can choose to target certain demographics with your survey, usually at an extra cost. Mobile wins out here, too. Although both methods offer segmentation to help improve survey accuracy, mobile devices are usually unique to an individual, so there’s less room for error or the wrong user filling in the survey.

Survey Questions and Options

While mobile surveys offer up a great way to reach plenty of people who are more willing to answer your survey, the questions you can ask are definitely more limited than those available in an emailed survey. Why? Basically, mobile users are less inclined to read lengthy questions. So if you’re using mobile surveys, questions need to be short and to the point, whereas online surveys can deliver more in-depth questions.

There you have it, plenty of things to think about before you conduct your next survey. On the face of it, mobile surveys (which are definitely growing in favor) seem to offer more benefits. However, it’s safe to say either online or mobile surveys are a valuable, integral part of any market research depending on the audience you are trying to reach and what your survey needs are.

by Ally

Why Conduct Surveys On Mobile Phones?

The benefits of using mobile surveys for market research

Mobile surveys combine the principles of traditional research with scale, reach, and affordability of the smartphone-enabled economy.

Why Conduct Surveys?

The first question you have to ask when choosing your survey collection method is why are you conducting your survey? Traditional market research offers many methods to distribute surveys and collect responses. You can find respondents using your existing customers or through your email network. You can solicit people to sign up to take surveys and, over time, you may collect a large enough sample to be representative of your target audience.

Most people, however, are looking to grow beyond just their local audience or existing customer base. That's where mobile surveys can help.

Why Conduct Surveys On Mobile Devices?

There are numerous benefits to reaching consumers via their mobile device to gather data.

The primary benefits to a researcher using mobile surveys over other methods are that they are able to:

• Reach a broader audience
• Get faster results
• Enjoy a lower cost
• Gain the potential for higher quality responses

Mobile is where your audience spends most of their time.

There are over 5 Billion smartphone users globally, and they spend the majority of their time in apps. Mobile internet usage has eclipsed desktop, and the average consumer checks their phone so often, it’s hard to miss them by more than a few minutes

With a mobile-optimized survey, mobile survey participants provide higher quality responses:

• They're able to respond at their convenience
• Are more engaged since surveys are shorter
• Find it easier to use the interface
• Enter responses directly (avoid interviewer bias)
• Reduce interviewer misinterpretation
• Provide more honest answers

Simply stated, all surveys and market analyses try to arrive at the same conclusion. Smartphones will reach the target audience via a faster, simpler, cheaper, and high-quality methodology.

And, since the Pollfish database has many already known (measured) characteristics or variables, you can create a sample with the same characteristics to that of the real population. And by stratifying your sample according to a certain variable that is highly correlated to the variable that you need to explain, you get statistically significant results.

So why are mobile surveys preferred over desktop?

Vs desktop online surveys, mobile surveys:

• Provide greater reach
• Reach consumers who are hard-to-access—important for younger cohorts like Gen Z, and expanding nations where internet is accessed primarily on mobile
• Increased response rate
• Decreased survey completion time
• Faster data capture and analysis

In summary, mobile surveys:

• Provide excellent value, as they are inexpensive and offer greater accuracy.
• Provide a vast array of question types
• Are easy to use, both for researchers and participants of the survey
• Is THE solution when you need to gather data as fast as possible
• Provide a better participant environment, allowing the respondent to preserve their anonymity and respond at their convenience, allowing the participant to respond answer to questions as sincerely as possible.

by Ally

4 Tips To Improve Customer Satisfaction Online

4 Tips To Improve Customer Satisfaction Online

The success of every business is decided almost entirely by its clientele. Customer satisfaction is one element that can make or break the very foundation of your business. It is in this view that it becomes imperative to use customer satisfaction online surveys as a means of understanding clients’ expectations and experiences about your business offering.

Today, while social media does play a key role in accessing clients and their views, its scope is limited in terms of reach and the extent of the feedback acquired. Customer satisfaction online surveys are carefully designed questionnaires that seek to collect and analyze information on your patrons and their experience with your business.

Typically, customer satisfaction surveys comprise questions that understand your client’s perspective on your business offering, service rendered, and delivery process, among other aspects. There are several ways of approaching clients for feedback, although online surveys are regarded as the most popular and effective way of reaching out to customers. No matter what method you deploy, the survey requires careful construction to ensure maximum response rate from the customers apart from providing accurate information on client expectations, experience, and perception of value. Here are a few of the best practices for conducting effective customer satisfaction surveys.

1) Be Sure of Your Objective

Clarity on the objective of your survey is undoubtedly the basis of an effective feedback mechanism. Your survey questions, response scale, and target audience can all be defined once you have a clear objective in mind. Feedback on a new product, the impact of the improvised process on delivery systems, quality of service rendered or overall customer satisfaction levels are just a few of the many objectives that can be addressed with a single survey if your objective is clear.

2) Ask the Right Questions

With an established objective, the next primary practice is to develop questions that comprise the survey. While too many questions may result in poor response rates, too few carry the risk of not obtaining a substantial response. Avoid repetitive questions. Be sure to put forth questions that are relevant to your business and significant in gaining important insights on client satisfaction.

3) Response Schemes

Questions that seek elaborate and descriptive answers attract few participants. Alternatively, asking closed-ended questions may not reveal true or accurate expressions of your client. The trick lies in designing a response scheme that is neither too cumbersome for your client, nor too limited for you. Further, you could give your clients a chance to express themselves freely, through add-on responses for appreciation, suggestions, and complaints.

4) Personalize It

Personalizing and branding are important simply because it adds more value to your relationship with your client. A little detailing, like adding your client’s name and expanding on your business relationship can help acquire more responses. Unsatisfied customers, too, are likely to give you a second chance when you value your relationship with your client in such subtle ways.

Studies have shown that 96% of unsatisfied customers do not vocalize their complaints. While 91% of these might never return to your business, you also face the risk of them spreading a bad word. Customer satisfaction surveys can serve as your golden chance to identify problem areas, reach out to unsatisfied customers, and prevent potentially bad publicity all at once.

Not sure where to start?

Pollfish has many helpful survey templates but two, in particular, target this topic: use the Customer Satisfaction Survey (NPS®) to decipher the customer journey and overall satisfaction with your company. Or use the Customer Loyalty & Relationship NPS® to understand how likely your customers are to recommend your business or product to their friends, family, and peers. In some cases, it is beneficial to work through a trustworthy market research agency.

by Ally

How to define your survey goals

How to define your survey goals

Survey goals are an important factor in designing your survey and selecting your sample size.

• What information do you want to capture?
• How often will you survey them?
• How will you reach Survey Respondents?
• What will you do with the information?

Here are a few examples of survey goals that you may look to achieve with your questionnaire:

If you’re a Startup, or a Business Owner you may be looking to develop an understanding of:

• The size of the market
• Who the key players are
• What consumers’ brand preferences are
• Who your buyer personas are
• If there is new problem to be solved or opportunity for your new business
• What is the market's perception of your new product, service or website

If you’re a Brand Manager or Marketing Manager, you may be considering a survey to help you understand how consumers perceive the following:

• Brand awareness
• Brand perception or attributes
• Ad concepts
• New product concept or new product features
• Competitive research on the above
• Unmet needs
• Logos
• Design
• Messaging
• A/B testing
• Customer satisfaction

If you're a market researcher at a brand, an ad agency or independent firm, you may want additional market research to augment your existing data, or dive deeper into

• Market opportunity
• Brand or client research
• Brand testing
• Social media or events’ impact
• PR
• Ad concepts
• Product testing
• Messaging
• Branding
• Logo
• Design
• Competitive monitoring
• Market receptiveness to a new concept
• Ongoing customer feedback on the above

by Ally

The Advantages of Online Survey Research vs Traditional Surveys

The Advantages of Online Survey Research vs Traditional Surveys

As many of the benefits of doing things online, there are many advantages of online survey research. Online surveys are an innovation to the older, traditional surveying methods.

They are a faster way to help businesses make better decisions when it comes to their products and serving their customers' needs. Rather than taking weeks or months, businesses can get market research data almost instantly online.

While there are many free resources to measure market potential and product interest, they do not empower businesses to understand their core customers.

After all, consider these key concerns: have you defined who your target market is? Its likes, interests, and habits? How do your customers find your brand? How do they interact with you? Do you have an idea to test?

After you get the results, what will you do with them?

One of the best ways to answer all these questions is through online channels, however, there are a lot of different ways to reach people; all have their pros and cons. Online surveys are the leading method to address the above and a wide variety of other questions. They have a much greater potency than traditional surveying methods.

That's what makes them innovative.

Online Surveys Vs Traditional Surveys

Online surveys have modernized the traditional survey route. This route consists of mail-in surveys, hard paper surveys, and phone interviews. While these kinds of surveys have held value in the past, they have become outdated and inferior to the online survey. That is because they face issues that online surveys are virtually immune to.

Additionally, online surveys have paved the way for more conveniences and positive traits of market research as a whole. Before we explore the advantages of online surveys, let's peruse some of the disadvantages traditional surveys have cast.

The Disadvantage of Traditional Surveys

Traditional survey methods are being phased out and for good reason. During the inception of market research, they served their cause, but in the digital era, they are out of date. They carry too many disadvantages, especially when compared to their modern equivalents.

Here are a few drawbacks of traditional surveys. These are unique to them and are not existent in online surveys:

1. Far too much time to reach the respondent (it's called snail mail for a reason)
2. Mail-in surveys are not guaranteed to be opened, completed, and sent back immediately.
3. Hard paper responses are handwritten, which are vulnerable to smudges and smears.
4. Understanding hard paper survey responses is at the mercy of the respondents' handwriting.
5. Phone interviews are susceptible to participants hanging up, cutting the interview without warning.
6. Phone call surveys are usually treated as spam; no one answers.
7. Respondents may feel uncomfortable answering questions with minimal anonymity.
8. Impossible to screen respondents, select the right ones, and have only them take the survey.
9. Less certainty of returned responses.
10. Unlikely to be answered if the questions are controversial.

Advantages of Online Survey Research vs Traditional Surveys

While traditional surveys are laced with inconveniences and issues, online surveys provide a better experience for the businesses sending them and the respondents alike. The benefits online surveys provide are what make them an innovation to their older counterparts.

Here are several significant advantages that online surveys provide over traditional surveys. As you can see from the below, they are an overall net positive for saving money and time. Let's dive in:

1. Anonymity despite the demographic information
2. Ease of screening participants
3. Ease of allowing only the targeted demographics to participate
4. Cost savings, as providers often charge businesses per completed survey
5. Faster results, since it is digital; answers are submitted immediately to the survey platform
6. A significantly better reach
7. The ability to meet all quotas
8. Potentially better targeting
9. Reduced survey bias from the “interviewer effect”
10. Convenience to participants
11. Potential for better results
12. Faster results analysis
13. Better results visualization
14. The application of logic, so that participants don't answer irrelevant questions.
15. The ability to incentivize participants

The Power of Online Research

Online surveys work hand in hand with online research. As constituents of the same medium, the internet, or the digital space at large, it is far easier for them to work in tandem with one another.

Here are ways in which businesses can pair online surveys with secondary online research:

• Monitor brand performance
• Determine market opportunity
• Define or explore a customer persona
• Test marketing campaigns, ad ideas, or product concepts
• Discover new ideas
• Determine consumer sentiment or opinion
• Evaluate customer satisfaction
• Understand Voice of Customer (VoC)
• Perform competitive analysis
• A/B testing

All of these topics involve a large population that you may want to study (e.g. Pet owners in the USA) and can be broken down into characteristics (or variables) of that population (e.g. consumers who purchase pet toys, people who are aware of my brand, monthly spend on pets, by gender, age, location, etc).

Since it is impossible to survey the entire population due to technical restrictions, cost, and time, we collect data by running surveys based on a sample—a carefully selected subgroup of the population we want to target.

Getting the Most Value of Market Research

Market research is no easy feat; it involves an ongoing operation in various areas of a market. This includes the industry a business caters to, the industry's trends and changes, a business's competitors, and most importantly, its customers.

As market research depends on both secondary and primary research methods, it would be at a great loss without surveys. Surveys allow you to delve deep into the minds of customers while gathering more about who makes up your target market. As such, surveys have evolved from analog to digital. Online surveys now make up the lion's share of surveys due to their many advantages and gains.

As such, they are the dominant surveying method in today's age.

by Ally