Hi , sick of winter yet? Why not bury your head in some e-marketing reading material. Spring can't be far away.
And while you are reading this issue, put some thought into how you would make it better. Your thoughts could win you a groovy Xiro MP3/Voice Recoreder/USB Drive. We discovered these at CeBit earlier this year. They were a huge hit and coming soon to a store near you. But be the first on your block with one - take our one minute survey.
If you have any questions on how you can get more out of e-marketing, be sure to e-mail me. I really do want to hear from you.

Regards
Paul Hodgson

Electronic surveys are surging in popularity. The ease with which participants can respond means that on average response rates more than treble when conducted electronically. Damien Reddrop of the Australian Human Resources Institute reported that the response rate of 60% to a recent post conference survey provided an unprecedented level of feedback. "The result was amazing. We have also had a considerable increase in response rates from our other surveys since we started conducting them electronically. At least a 20% overall improvement." said Damien

Dramatic response rates are only a one reason however. Others include:

• Cost of delivery and management. Some companies report up to 85% reduction in costs.
• Accuracy of data collection. Digital data collection and removal of double handling of responses, ensures that the resulting data is pure.
• Speed of response. No Faxing, no postage, no waiting. Collect and process responses simultaneously.
• Ability to seamlessly branch or condition answers. This allows you to present relevant subsequent questions based on each answer.
• The flexibility of the data collected for analysis. Collation of data into a relational database provides the ability to use built in analysis tools or extract the data for external analysis
• The ease with which people can respond. Click on an e-mail to an online survey. A few clicks later and the survey is complete. No phones, no faxes, no postage no fuss. This is reported to be the main reason for the increased response rates.
• The increased volume of data collected. The more data you collect the more useful your results will be, particularly taken in conjunction with the quality data an electronic survey delivers.
• The richness of the response data particularly in the open text responses.

And it doesn't end there. Live data reporting, automated graphical reports and sophisticated backend functionality, provided by online survey providers are making it easier for organizations to conduct surveys.

Surveys can be powerful tools in the right hands. But poorly executed ones will result in low quality data and poor response rates. Here are a few tips on preparing an online survey.

1. Keep it short- Increasing the length of the questions and the number of questions decreases both the response rate and the accuracy of the data.
2. Don't lead the question – Participants will quickly see if you are trying to encourage an answer. This will discredit the survey and provide low data quality.
3. Don't ask open ended or poorly directed questions. For example. How can we improve next years Sedan? Instead ask Rank the following proposed new features in order of importance for next years Sedan.
4. Maintain a logical sequence – Jumping from topic to topic will create erratic responses.
5. Keep the language simple and terms familiar. – Avoid uncommon abbreviations or acronyms that may confuse anyone.
6. Provide the results of the survey where practical. This encourages future participation and satiates participants natural curiosity.
7. Don't be unnecessarily intrusive. Stick to the subject. Questions about income, profit margins or religious beliefs for example, if not directly related to your survey, should be avoided..
8. Allow the participant to return to the survey if they are unable to complete it in one session. This is particularly applicable for long surveys.
9. Allow open text answers where possible. You will be surprised at the quality of the responses. Open responses can provide the most valuable data in many cases.
10. If you are conducting a survey on your companies product or services, use a senior executive as the contact. People are more willing to respond if they feel their voice will be heard.

"When someone subscribes to your publication, they've given you a key to their inbox; a key to all the potential benefits of email marketing. Keeping that key is what this report is all about. It's not about producing an email newsletter, it's about producing a newsletter which influences and impacts its readers..."

- Mark Brownlow, PhD