Polling 101

Polling basics for business

Polling can help businesses better understand their customers and more effectively meet their needs.

The history of opinion research

1824 Face-to-face interviews
The Harrisburg Pennsylvanian polls its readers before the 1824 Presidential election. It correctly predicts the election of Andrew Jackson. The Literary Digest, the poll of record at the time, gets an election wrong for the rst time in 1936, exposing the impact of reader bias. George Gallup, utilizing statistical sampling, correctly predicts the results of the 1936 election, ushering in the era of modern scientic polling research.

Phone calls

1950s 1997 Early 2000s 2011

Polling becomes standard practice in most democratic countries. Telephone polling response rates peak at around 36%. Harris Interactive and YouGov introduce online polling, reducing the cost of polling by 50% over traditional telephone polling. Online polling grows to $2.4 billion in revenue. Online polls more accurately predict the outcome of the 2012 Presidential 30% election than their traditional counterparts. Telephone polling response rates sink to 9% as consumers switch from landlines to cell phones. 9% The online response rate is 30%.

Online polling

2012

What do high performance companies poll?

92% ask customers for feedback 78% ask how they can improve service 73% ask for referrals

Writing high-quality polling questions

A poll is only as good as its questions.
Keep questions short. Limit polling questions to just one idea. Keep answers simple. Multiple choice or yes/no work well. Be clear. Avoid slang and technical jargon. Test questions with someone unfamiliar. To ensure clarity.

Harnessing polling data

Collect data. Store it somewhere safe. Address issues and make changes. What do your customers want? What do you need to do? Talk about the change. Let them know youre doing something with their feedback.

Polling is ultimately about people. Use polling to connect with your customers and let the innovation begin!

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Sources

Infographic created by www.4imprint.com, based on the . Download Blue Paper at: Polling 101 Blue Paper http://info.4imprint.com/bluepapers/polling-101/

1. Assessing the Representativeness of Public Opinion Surveys. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 15 May 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://www.people-press.org/2012/05/15/assessing-the-representativeness-of-public-opinion-surveys/>. 2. Gallup (company). Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 June 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallup_(company)>. 3. Opinion Poll. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_poll>. 4. Online Polls: How Good Are They? BusinessWeek, 4 June 2008. Web. 10 Feb. 2013. <http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-04/online-polls-how-good-are-they>. 5. George Gallup. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Nov. 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gallup>. 6. Lesonsky, Rieva. 5 Business Resolutions You Can Actually Keep. Fox Small Business Center. FOX News Network, LLC, 06 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/biz-on-main/2013/03/06/5-business-resolutions-can-actually-keep/>. 7. Martin, Scott. USA TODAY. USATODAY.COM. Gannett Co. Inc., 26 Aug. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/story/2012-08-26/efcient-small-business-online-ecommerce/57291490/1>.

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