Creating effective surveys is crucial for gathering valuable data and insights. Smartsheet, with its robust features, provides a powerful platform for building and managing surveys efficiently. This guide walks you through the process, helping you design and deploy surveys that yield meaningful results. We'll cover everything from basic setup to advanced customization, ensuring you master this essential Smartsheet skill.
Getting Started: Preparing Your Smartsheet Survey
Before diving into the creation process, it's vital to plan the structure and content of your survey. This preliminary step ensures a smooth and efficient survey creation process within Smartsheet.
1. Define Your Objectives
What do you hope to achieve with your survey? Clearly defining your objectives helps you formulate relevant questions and analyze the results effectively. Consider what information you need to gather and how you'll use that data. This will greatly impact the design of your Smartsheet survey.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
Understanding your target audience is essential. Knowing their demographics, tech-savviness, and familiarity with Smartsheet (if applicable) helps you tailor the survey's language and format for optimal response rates.
3. Outline Your Questions
Craft clear, concise, and unbiased questions. Avoid leading questions that might influence responses. Decide on the question type for each (multiple choice, rating scales, text boxes, etc.). Remember, the clearer your questions, the more reliable your data will be. Consider using different question types to keep your survey engaging.
Creating Your Smartsheet Survey: A Practical Approach
Now, let's move on to the actual creation process within Smartsheet.
1. Creating a New Sheet
Start by creating a new sheet in Smartsheet. This sheet will form the foundation of your survey. You'll use columns to represent your survey questions and rows to capture individual responses.
2. Designing Your Survey Questions
This is where your planning pays off. Each column in your Smartsheet sheet will represent a question. Here's how to set up various question types:
- Multiple Choice: Use a single-select column. Populate the dropdown list with your answer choices.
- Multiple Answers: Use a multi-select column. This allows respondents to choose multiple options.
- Rating Scales (e.g., Likert Scales): Use a number column with a clear scale description (e.g., 1-5, with 1 being Strongly Disagree and 5 being Strongly Agree).
- Open-Ended Questions: Use a text column for respondents to provide free-form answers.
- Date/Time Questions: Use a date or date & time column to collect temporal data.
3. Adding Formatting and Instructions
Make your survey easy to navigate and understand.
- Clear Column Headers: Use descriptive headers for each question.
- Instructions: Add a row at the top with detailed instructions for respondents.
- Formatting: Use bold text, different font sizes, and other formatting options to improve readability.
4. Sharing Your Smartsheet Survey
Once your survey is ready, you can share it with your target audience. Smartsheet offers various sharing options:
- Sharing a Direct Link: This is the simplest method. Generate a link and share it via email or other communication channels. Consider restricting access to only those with the link.
- Embedding in a Website: You can embed your Smartsheet survey directly into a website, increasing accessibility and convenience for respondents.
Advanced Tips for Powerful Smartsheet Surveys
To take your Smartsheet surveys to the next level, consider these advanced techniques:
- Using Form Views: Form Views present your sheet as a user-friendly form, enhancing the respondent experience. This makes the survey much more appealing and easier to complete.
- Implementing Conditional Logic: Based on responses to certain questions, you can display or hide other questions. This creates a more dynamic and tailored survey experience.
- Data Validation: Ensure data integrity by using data validation rules. This helps prevent incorrect entries and keeps your data clean and accurate.
- Utilizing Automation: Automate tasks such as sending thank-you emails or notifying you upon submission of responses. This reduces manual effort and increases efficiency.
By following these steps and utilizing Smartsheet's capabilities, you can create effective surveys that provide valuable insights for your organization. Remember, clear planning and thoughtful design are key to a successful survey process.
