Creating an interesting and engaging poll can be a challenge. With so many polls competing for attention online, it’s important to craft thoughtful questions and response options that compel users to participate and share. In this article, we’ll explore some key strategies for making effective, high-quality polls that get clicks and generate buzz.
Ask Meaningful Questions
The foundation of any great poll is the questions themselves. You want to ask about topics that matter to your target audience and elicit responses that provide useful insights. Some tips for crafting poll questions that hit the mark:
– Avoid overly broad or vague questions that don’t dig into a specific issue. Get more granular and focused.
– Consider using comparative questions that force users to pick between two options or rank multiple options. This encourages more thoughtful responses.
– Don’t just ask about opinions and preferences. Also ask questions that reveal user behaviors, habits, and demographics.
– Make sure questions are clearly and concisely worded to avoid confusion.
– Test questions out with a small group to identify any issues before launching the poll.
Make Response Options Relevant
The answer choices you provide can make or break a poll. Irrelevant or unclear options will frustrate users and skew results. Some strategies for effective poll response options:
– Include a reasonable number of options (4-7 typically ideal). Too few limits responses, too many overloads users.
– Cover a range of potential responses from negative to positive. Don’t skew towards just one sentiment.
– Ensure options are mutually exclusive. There shouldn’t be overlap or ambiguity.
– Consider an “Other” option to capture fringe responses, but don’t overuse it.
– Randomize options to avoid bias from the order displayed.
– For ranking or comparative questions, ensure options align logically for users to compare.
Make the Poll Visually Engaging
With so much visual stimulation online, users will simply skip over drab polls that blend into the background. Employ design best practices to catch the eye:
– Use contrasting colors for the poll background and response buttons. Bold pops of color perform better.
– Keep ample white space around the poll so it doesn’t feel cluttered.
– Use interesting fonts and typography, but keep text readable.
– Add graphics and icons relevant to the poll topic to reinforce the subject visually.
– Animate response buttons on hover/click to provide interactive feedback.
– Display poll results in a graph or chart to reinforce user participation.
Promote Sharing and Virality
To get maximum exposure for your poll, you need to incentivize sharing across social networks. Some good ways to build in virality:
– Allow users to share the poll to Facebook, Twitter, etc. directly from the page with handy buttons.
– Entice users to share by offering to enter them into a contest, giveaway or promotion for sharing.
– Craft poll questions around trending topics and relevant hashtags so shares tap into what’s already buzzing online.
– Display how many users have taken the poll to show social proof and spur further sharing.
– Allow embedding of the poll so it can spread organically to other sites and blogs.
Mobile Optimization is Essential
With much of online activity now happening on smartphones and tablets, your poll needs to be optimized for mobile experiences. Tips for mobile-friendly polls:
– Use responsive design so the poll formatting adapts seamlessly to any screen size.
– Ensure tap targets for response buttons are large enough for fat fingers.
– Avoid overly long poll questions and response option text.
– Test the poll on all major mobile platforms to identify any rendering issues.
– Enable swipe gestures on mobile to easily move between poll response options.
– Use mobile page speed best practices so the poll loads quickly on slower connections.
Show Appreciation for Participation
The more your poll feels like a two-way conversation vs. impersonal data collection, the better the experience for users. Some ideas:
– Thank users for voting with a confirmation message upon submitting responses.
– Provide poll results and insights back to users after participation so they feel heard.
– If collecting emails in the poll, follow-up with a mailing thanking participants for their input.
– For repeat/ongoing polls, recognize and call out loyal participants.
– Ensure the poll provides some intrinsic value to participants through interesting questions rather than just extracting data.
Keep the Poll Concise
With limited attention spans online, polls need to remain focused and succinct. Avoid these common pitfalls of overlong polls:
– Asking too many questions. Keep it to 3-5 max.
– Overloading response options across questions.
– Using long, dense blocks of instruction text.
– Requiring signup or profile creation prior to voting.
– Asking for unnecessary personal details.
– Not allowing users to revise responses easily.
– Forcing participants to complete the entire poll to submit responses.
Provide Analysis and Insights on Results
Don’t just collect poll data and move on. To create an engaging experience for voters, provide analysis of what the results mean:
– Craft shareable infographics, charts, and visuals showing poll results.
– Write blog posts and social posts showcasing key takeaways.
– Compare current results to past polls to illustrate trends over time.
– Segment results by demographic factors like age, location, gender, etc.
– Identify outliers, surprising findings, and patterns requiring further research.
– Quote statistics from poll results and reference in future content.
– Don’t just report the end results. Share ongoing results periodically to maintain buzz.
Make Participation Rewarding
The most viral, engaging polls incorporate real rewards to tap into user motivation. Some possibilities:
– Offer gift cards, free samples, discounts for participating.
– Award prizes by random drawings among participants.
– Reward referrals and shares with incentives to drive virality.
– Provide free content like ebooks, cheatsheets or tools for participating.
– Donate to a charity or cause with each poll response.
– Structure questions so users learn something useful from the aggregated results.
Test and Iterate Questions
The first version of your poll won’t be perfect. Build in time to test and refine the questions:
– Start with a draft of poll questions and don’t publish immediately.
– Get feedback from colleagues on whether the questions are clear and unbiased.
– Run a small pilot poll with a test group and analyze results for issues.
– Check whether questions lead to quality insights vs. just basic data.
– Review open-ended “Other” responses to improve predefined options.
– Consider splitting or combining questions that aren’t working as expected.
– Don’t be afraid to kill polls entirely if the concept just isn’t resonating.
Check for Biases and Leading Questions
It’s easy for polls to inadvertently include internal biases that influence results. Watch out for:
– Questions “leading the witness” towards certain responses.
– Unconscious demographic or cultural biases in questions.
– Skewed answer options that encourage specific reactions.
– Questions that make inaccurate assumptions.
– Using loaded, emotionally charged words and phrases.
– Not providing a full range of response options.
– The order or rotation of questions impacting responses.
Set a Strategic Goal
The most effective polls aren’t just data collections – they serve strategic business goals. Align your polls to objectives like:
– Better understanding target audience needs and preferences.
– Measuring brand awareness and perception.
– Identifying pain points with current products/services.
– Assessing demand and interest for new offerings.
– Comparing performance to competitors.
– Measuring campaign reach and engagement.
– Generating leads and email signups.
– Informing product roadmaps and feature prioritization.
Promote and Distribute Widely
Don’t just publish your poll and hope people find it. Be proactive with distribution and promotion across channels, like:
– Email lists and subscriber base.
– Social media posts and ads.
– Website banners and popups.
– Paid ads and promoted posts.
– Partner websites and co-promotion.
– Contests requiring sharing/entries.
– In-product notifications and messaging.
– QR codes and offline flyers/signage.
– Live events and presentations.
– Influencer and ambassador seeding.
Choose the Right Survey Tool
Matching your poll methodology and audience size to the right survey tool is foundational. Assess your options:
– Free tools like Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform for simpler polls.
– Robust research platforms like Qualtrics, SurveyGizmo for complex surveys.
– Website popup tools like Qualaroo, SurveySparrow for quick insight.
– Mobile survey apps like SurveySwipe, Pollfish for on-the-go use.
– Shared spreadsheet or database forms for small teams.
– Landing page builders like Unbounce, Leadpages with built-in forms.
– Third-party platforms like SurveyPlanet, SoGoSurvey focused solely on surveys.
Personalize and Target Questions
One-size-fits-all polls have limited appeal. Tailor questions to respondents for better relevance:
– Display different questions based on geography, demographics, etc.
– Remember responses to customize later questions.
– Pull in personal data like name, company, role to personalize wording.
– Let users choose topics/questions relevant to their interests.
– Adapt polls in real-time based on ongoing results and insights.
– Segment users anonymously into cohorts using behavioral/CRM data.
A/B Test Different Question Wording
Small changes in how poll questions are phrased can impact results. A/B test alternate versions:
– Test short vs. long question wording.
– Vary sentence structure, formality, and complexity.
– Replace specific words and phrases with alternatives.
– Change emphasis by making different parts of questions bold/italic.
– Randomly place answer options in different orders.
– Test affirmative vs. negative phrasing.
– Try open vs. closed-ended versions of questions.
Consider Anonymous vs. Identified Responses
Whether participant identities are associated with poll responses affects results. Consider:
– Anonymous polls encourage more candid, honest responses.
– Identified responses enable better segmentation and personalization.
– Anonymous polls receive more participation typically.
– Identified responses allow following up with participants.
– Keep personal data collection minimal for privacy.
– Offer choice between named and anonymous options.
Monitor and Address Misuse
Like any user-generated content, polls can be targeted by trolls or used in unintended ways. Mitigate issues by:
– Proactively moderating responses and removing inappropriate content.
– Requiring logins/verified emails to reduce spam and bogus responses.
– Limiting number of responses permitted per user.
– Disabling options to share or embed the poll in other contexts.
– Using CAPTCHAs, cookies, IPs to identify suspicious activity patterns.
– Making response fields required to prevent blank/joke responses.
Comply with Data Privacy Regulations
Certain industries and geographies have legal privacy requirements around data collection that apply to polls and surveys. Ensure compliance by:
– Only requesting strictly necessary personal details.
– Being transparent about data usage in a published privacy policy.
– Allowing users to opt-out of data collection if desired.
– Offering ability to delete or export personal poll responses on request.
– Anonymizing or aggregating published results to remove PII.
– Using region-specific tools that meet localized data standards like GDPR.
Write Unbiased Summary and Reporting
How you report on and contextualize poll results comes with responsibility. Avoid injecting bias:
– Don’t emphasize or deemphasize results based on predetermined positions.
– Use objective language without loaded terms that convey judgement.
– Provide relevant methodology details on sampling, margins of error, etc.
– Note any limitations or caveats around results, like small samples or self-selection.
– Quote and credit specific statistics rather than paraphrasing vaguely.
– Hyperlink to the raw aggregated data source.
– Capture fringe “other” responses that may lack detail but provide context.
Conclusion
Creating compelling, engaging polls is an art and science that requires thoughtful planning, testing, promotion, and analysis. By focusing on the user experience, striving for quality participation, and turning poll results into actionable insights, you can consistently produce polls that attract attention, spark conversation, and provide real value. Just remember – an interesting poll starts with relevant questions, provides clear response options, and works seamlessly across devices. Build polls that serve strategic goals, reward participation, minimize biases, and generate sharable results. With the right approach, your polls can cut through the noise, capture interest, and reveal meaningful insights about your audience.