SMS Survey Basics: How to Send a Text Survey

How do you send a survey through text?

Ready to send SMS surveys to your customers? Here are some steps and services to help get you started.

Steps to send a survey through text

1. Determine the survey type. Figure out which type of survey works best for your question or the assistance you need from your audience.
2. Build a participant list. Collect phone numbers or SMS data from those who have opted in to text message alerts from your company. You can gain more contacts by adding a feature in your company’s confirmation purchase pages for customers to add their phone number and opt in to receive text messages. You can also receive contacts from SMS survey software carriers. This is where you decide your target audience for your survey – the contacts you already have or those you can obtain elsewhere. Knowing your audience is key to deciding how your survey will flow.
3. Develop the survey. Write down exactly how you want the survey worded and collected in your SMS survey software. You can even create a mockup of the survey and test it on your own mobile device to see how it would display for a typical user.
4. Choose a survey service. Determine which text survey software or application you will use to send your survey. The right software will be helpful for keyword campaigns and data analysis.
5. Promote the survey. Advertise your survey and allow consumers to opt in before you send it out.
6. Deploy your text survey. Send your survey using your chosen SMS survey software.
7. Track and analyze results. Using the software’s built-in analytics, track your messages sent, responses and open rates to determine the success of your survey. Then, analyze the responses to help you make better-informed business decisions.

Popular services

There are many different services that can assist you in sending out SMS survey messages. These are some of the most popular:

• Google: Google hosts a platform called Google Forms where you can create a free form for multiple-choice and open-ended questions or polls.
• SurveyMonkey: This online survey tool offers an optional upgrade to tools that analyze and collect results within a team space. SurveyMonkey utilizes its Text Message Collector tool to send surveys and collect data.
• Zoho: Zoho Survey has a limited free version as well as paid plans with additional tools, such as ones that expand your contacts list. Zoho lets you choose from more than 25 question types.
• SurveySparrow: This survey platform offers standard survey questions as well as visual workflows, custom reports and text analysis.
• Wufoo: Wufoo is another free survey tool that you can upgrade as your business needs. This tool helps you collect customer payment data as well as the typical survey data.

What types of surveys should you send through SMS?

You can conduct countless types of surveys via SMS. Here are a few common ones:

1. Links to web-based surveys

You can create trackable links through survey forms such as SurveyMonkey, Google Forms and Typeform. Once you have a link to the survey you’ve created, it’s easy to direct users to your survey through a text message. Linking to other sources can be just as effective when asking consumers for responses such as Google reviews.

2. Net Promoter Score

A Net Promoter Score (NPS) gives you a quantifiable measurement of a consumer’s response or feedback. NPS surveys usually use a sliding scale of 0 to 10 for participants to rate things such as their satisfaction with a product or their likelihood of recommending a company. Based on their answers, customers fall into one of three categories: promoters, who score high (9-10 on the scale); passives, who score in the midrange (7-8); and detractors, who score low (usually 6 and below). When you see where most of your customers stand on the sliding scale, you’ll know if you need to invest more into your customers or if you’re on the right track to meet their needs.

3. Polls

These surveys are a series of open-ended or multiple-choice questions for your consumers. For example, you could ask customers to provide times and dates they’d be available for a special event or to vote on their favorite products.

4. Customer experience feedback

These surveys allow consumers to provide more detail about their experience with a company or an appointment. These can be extensive surveys or a simple question to see if they’re satisfied with their experience.

5. Text-to-vote

A text-to-vote survey works similarly to a multiple-choice poll. You can set up the survey with the premise that your consumers have a choice in your next business decision, showing that your company values their input.

What is the cost of sending SMS surveys?

The cost of sending SMS surveys depends on the software you use and the types of surveys you send out. The typical service of creating simple-response surveys and sending the survey links to customers starts at around $29 per month with analysis tools and response storage. The cost also depends on the number of messages you plan to send, as some survey software companies charge less the more messages you send out.

What are the benefits of using text surveys?

There are a multitude of benefits of utilizing SMS or text message surveys. The most obvious one is that most consumers have a mobile phone with SMS capabilities – and they’re checking it often.

Additionally, SMS surveys assist with community outreach and consumer engagement by allowing your company to learn more about your customers, explained Nerissa Zhang, CEO of The Bright App.

“Data about your customers can be one of the most valuable tools in driving sales, building customer loyalty and effectively improving your business to better serve your customers,” Zhang said. “You’ll know what your customers want, when they want it, and how they like to purchase from you and be informed about your company in the future.” 

These are some additional benefits of SMS surveys:

• Cost-effectiveness: SMS survey campaigns cost only a few cents per message, so they’re a cost-effective tool to gain consumer feedback compared to other marketing campaigns. In turn, you receive high open rates and quick responses.
• Easy setup: While it could take considerable time and effort to send out individual surveys manually, SMS survey software allows you to send multiple surveys at once. Using built-in survey templates or your own custom surveys, you can also schedule your text surveys, which makes for easier planning and more efficient use of your time.
• Diverse outreach: SMS survey campaigns have the advantage that almost everyone, from baby boomers to Generation Z, has a smartphone with text messaging capabilities. Using text messaging to send surveys casts a wide net to reach a diverse population. Additionally, with text messaging being virtual, you can reach people across the globe or focus your campaign on local feedback as needed.
• Response and delivery tracking: To gain data from text surveys, you need a central hub to track responses and deliveries. Most SMS survey software allows for real-time responses to track the activities, responses, open and response rates, and more within the software.
• Quick responses: Studies show that over 90 percent of text messages are opened within the first three minutes of the user receiving them, and the response rate can be as high as 45 percent. This is compared to only a 20 percent open rate and a 6 percent response rate for emails. Other studies show that SMS messages have a 209 percent greater chance of response overall than other survey methods, such as social media, phone calls and email. While the data varies, many users respond to appointment reminders, opt-in promotions and event updates, to name a few types of texts.

The best text message marketing services

Text message marketing platforms give you all the tools you need to send text surveys and build other text message marketing campaigns. The very best text message marketing services make running these campaigns easy. We did the research for you so you don’t have to and chose these solutions as our best picks.

• Textedly: In our Textedly review, we found all the features we look for in a text message marketing service, making it ideal for business owners who are in need of a solution that can grow alongside their company. This cost-effective platform offers the ability to send up to 240,000 text messages per month, so you’ll have plenty of room to work with for text message surveys and more.
• EZ Texting: In our EZ Texting review, we were most impressed by the advanced features the platform offered, including its text message survey tools. If you’re looking to make text message marketing a key channel for your business to reach its target audience, this platform might be the perfect fit for you.
• SimpleTexting: In our review of SimpleTexting, we found the platform to offer flexibility and customization beyond comparison. That’s perfect for when you want to design a text message survey unique to your business and your customers. After all, gathering feedback is all about asking the right questions, and SimpleTexting gives you the latitude to do just that.
  
• Podium: In our Podium review, we were particularly fond of the customer relationship management tools the system offered. When gathering feedback from your customers using text message surveys, you can rely on these tools to get a better sense of what each individual respondent wants and needs, helping you to better personalize your customer service.
• ProTexting: If you’re looking to develop a text message survey without the hassle of learning a complex new system, ProTexting could be the solution for your business. 

Text message surveys help you stay in touch with your audience

It can be difficult to truly understand your audience’s wants and needs unless you’re connected to them. Few ways are as easy as directly asking them through text message surveys. These surveys offer your customers a quick and easy way to give you feedback, helping you to double down on what works and improve what doesn’t. Forget arranging focus groups or trying to cut through the clutter in email inboxes. Text message surveys can be an effective tool for any business to gather feedback.