What is a Survey Report & How to Use It?

Have you ever wondered what is next after you are done with your survey? Many people find themselves at a crossroads after finishing their work. Note that a survey does not capture multiple responses from your market audience. The responses you generate from your survey are plain data with no meaning.

Once you collect the data, you need to create a survey report that summarizes the entire process. In the report, you need to convert the data into meaningful information that can be implemented by the organization stakeholders. Any data not analyzed is regarded as a mess of words and numbers.

However, there is a lot that you need to learn about survey reports. It involves a wide variety of aspects that you need to analyze keenly to help you understand what needs to be done. Read this blog post to understand more about survey analysis and survey reports.

What is a Survey Report?

A survey report is a detailed document that summarizes all the essential Information that was collected from the field regarding the survey topic. The report defines every element of the process clearly and concisely so that you can easily understand and make conclusions about it. Besides, the report involves different fundamentals such as:

  • Number of questions
  • Survey topic
  • Number of respondents
  • Beginning and end date
  • Demographics of the respondents
  • Findings and concluding remarks

The data is presented in a graphical way to make it easier for you to read and understand the findings. When creating a survey report, you have the freedom to incorporate anything provided that the message is easy to read and understand. Also, ensure that once the reader is done with reading it, they understand the following aspects.

  • Reasons for conducting the survey
  • Amount of time the survey took
  • Channels used in promoting and filling the survey
  • Demographics of the respondents
  • Final findings
  • How to implement the final results

Importance of Generating a Survey Report

It’s no secret that you need to create a survey report once you are done with your survey. Below are the importance of creating a survey report.

Aids in Decision Making

When you break down large data sets into small bits in the form of charts and graphs, it becomes easier for you to understand the intended message. The organization’s stakeholders then use the message generated from the data to make decisions that impact the company’s growth.

For instance, you can conduct a product feedback survey to evaluate the preferences of your target market. Depending on the feedback that you generate from the audience, you can easily note the areas that need changes. Remember that consumers are the final say. You have no alternative rather than delivering what they exactly want!

Gathering Explicit Data

In surveys, explicit data refers to the fast hand information you collect from the respondents. This data is generated automatically without making any edits to it. Note that data is likely to get contaminated, especially if you don’t get it first-hand and it’s transferred through different mediums.

Survey reports aid in clearly expressing information without beating around the bush. However, during the data collection, you need to be careful about the chances of the respondent altering the data. Explicit Data should not be followed blindly. You need to be keen on ensuring that you are collecting data that adds up!

Makes a Powerful Impact

A survey report aids in uncovering the hard numbers regarding a particular scenario. To make it more robust, you can include stats and facts to deliver your message in a more concise manner. Keep in mind that data is more powerful when you know the exact proportion.

In most cases, people can easily connect with data that comes in large numbers. The mode in which you present the data in your survey report has a huge impact on the message delivery. When connecting with your audience, ensure that you are dealing with an exact data proportion to let them know you understand your message.

Depicting Trends

When you ask different questions on the same topic, you are likely to note a particular trend in the feedback you get from the respondents. This means that a survey report can help you track trends within the market. Also, it can give insights into how the future of your business is likely to be.

By identifying the trends in your audience’s feedback, you can easily understand what consumers want. You are better positioned to offer what consumers want, thus increasing your revenue.

How to Write a Survey Report?

Given that a survey report accommodates lots of crucial information, it’s essential to take time and learn how to create the report. Below are the simple steps that you can use to create a detailed survey report for your data.

Export Data

It doesn’t matter whether you are using Google forms, survey monkey, or any other platform; the survey results come in two different ways. One of the most popular formats is the spreadsheet which is filled with data. Other formats include charts and graphs representing different data variables.

You can choose to export the real-time information to your survey report by either downloading, copying, pasting, or any other option that works well for you. The data is meant to help the reader see your real survey.

Filter Your Data, Analyze, and Visualize

The following step is to filter your data to eliminate any existing errors. You may realize that your data is corrupt, biased, duplicate, or inaccurate. The best way to eliminate such cases is by filtering them to ensure you are dealing with clean data. After the data is cleaned, you need to analyze the results and visualize them to make it easily readable.

Interpret Data

Here, you have clean data at your disposal and everything you need to generate a survey report. You need to evaluate your data findings supported by facts and figures you have collected from your market audience. Identify any areas that need changes and make them accordingly to enhance the quality of the final results.

After observing your data findings, you now need to think on matters to do with recommendations. The recommendations come in when you present your data in an organized way that readers can be intrigued to read through the data points.

Identify the Type of Survey Report

There is a need for you to understand that there are different types of survey reports. After doing your survey analysis, you need to identify the most suitable type of survey report that you should generate. The employee satisfaction survey is used to collect opinions from employees about their workspace.

The other option is customer satisfaction which most business owners conduct to evaluate whether their customers are satisfied or not. A market research survey is the other option used when you want to find out the preferences and demographics of your target audience. The last type is the social survey, which is fine for collecting stats on different types of social topics.

Structure of the Survey Report

The survey report should follow a specific structure to convey information clearly. The report should have the survey title, the name of the company, and the submission date. Also, remember to include a background of the main topic of discussion and shed light on why the survey is conducted. This is also known as the objectives report.

Tell the readers about the different methods you applied when conducting the survey. State different ways you used when analyzing the data collected from the respondents. Create a conclusion that offers a concise picture of your survey findings. The report should also have a recommendations section classified as a call to action.

Conclusion:

Carrying out a survey is not an easy task. It requires you to invest a lot of your time and effort doing the work before you come up with something presentable and useful. If you are not used to doing it, you are likely to find it a heck of a job. However, there is a simple approach that you can put into practice to avoid more stress.

All you have to do is to learn the basic aspects required when doing a survey. Remember that the data you collect from the survey is meant to help you transform your company. This means that you need to collect accurate data from the respective sources and clean it to the maximum. Once you have the data, you can use this guide to compose a simple and detailed survey report that serves your specific needs.