Creating a survey in WordPress is a powerful way to gather feedback, understand your audience, and make informed decisions.
Whether you’re looking to improve your products, gauge customer satisfaction, or conduct market research, a well-designed survey in WordPress can provide the insights you need.
In this blog, we’ll guide you through the process of creating a survey in WordPress, from selecting the right plugin to customizing your questions and analyzing the results.
With our step-by-step instructions, you’ll be able to create a professional and effective survey that meets your specific needs.
A. The Best WordPress Survey Plugin
Creating a survey in WordPress and leveraging the collected data can be seamless with the right survey builder plugin.
But how do you choose the best one? Many survey builders restrict customization options and cap the number of responses you can collect.
We chose WPForms for our survey. It is the best drag-and-drop WordPress form builder we found after researching and experimenting with the plugins.
WPForms is an incredible drag-and-drop WordPress form builder that enables you to create survey forms, order forms, contact forms, donation forms, and virtually any other type of form.
Its survey forms add-on simplifies creating WordPress surveys and provides valuable reports. Note that you’ll need WPForms Pro or a higher license to access this add-on.
With the WordPress Survey add-on, you get
- A pre-designed survey template for quick survey creation
- A drag-and-drop form builder for easy survey form creation
- Options to embed surveys in posts, sidebars, footers, and more
- Smart survey fields like Rating, multiple-choice, and Likert scale
- Survey reports with graphs, charts, and tables
- The ability to export survey results in JPEG, PDF, or print formats
- An SMTP service (WP Mail SMTP)
In essence, WPForms provides a comprehensive solution for all your form needs.
B. Steps to Create a Survey in WordPress
Step 1: Install the Plugin
Before creating a survey in WordPress, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin on your site. If you’re unfamiliar with this process, follow our stepwise guide on installing a plugin in WordPress.
Once the plugin is activated, a new WPForms menu will appear in your WordPress dashboard. Navigate to the Addons submenu and locate the Surveys and Polls addon. Install and then activate the addon.
You’re now ready to create a survey in WordPress with WPForms. To begin, go to WPForms » Add New from your WordPress dashboard and select the Survey Form template. WPForms will provide a ready-to-use survey form.
Step 2: Customize Your WordPress Survey Form
WPForms allows you to fully customize your survey form to meet your specific needs. When creating your survey in WordPress, you can add added form fields by dragging them from the left-hand panel to the form-building interface on the right. You can also reorder and rearrange these fields as needed.
To edit any field, simply click on it, and then in the left-hand column, select Field Options. Here, you can change the label, format, and description or enable the Required option for your fields.
Customizing your rating field is similar. Click on Field Options, where you can adjust the field label, description, rating scale, and required status.
The Advanced Options tab lets you select an icon, adjust the icon size and color, add CSS classes, and more.
To enable conditional logic, click on the Smart Logic tab. Once you’ve finished customizing your fields, click the Save button.
Step 3: Configure Your Survey Form Settings
To configure the survey form settings, click on Settings in the WPForms menu. There are several settings tabs to go through for setting up your survey form.
i. General Settings
General settings cover the basics, including the survey form name, description, and text for the “submit” button and processing message. You can also enable features like the anti-spam honeypot and Google reCAPTCHA.
ii. Spam Protection and Security
These settings help prevent bots from submitting your survey in WordPress. Ensure the anti-spam feature is enabled, sync your form to the Akismet plugin, create anti-spam filters, and activate your preferred CAPTCHA.
iii: Notifications
This tab allows you to configure how you’re notified when someone completes your survey in WordPress. You can turn notifications on or off. If enabled, review and edit the default notification settings. Using smart tags, you can also send a notification to site visitors confirming receipt of their survey in WordPress.
iv: Confirmations
Here, you determine what happens after the form is submitted. You can showcase a custom message or redirect users to a thank you page.
Step 4: Add Your Survey to Your Site
Now that you’ve created and customized your survey form, you can embed it on your site. WPForms provides three main methods for embedding your survey form.
i. Embed Button on the Form Editor Page
Click the Embed button on the right corner of your form editor page. This brings up a popup with two options Select Existing Page or Create New Page. There are also links for manually embedding your form or using a shortcode, but these buttons make it easy to quickly place your form on the desired page.
ii. Direct Embedding While Editing a Page
While editing an existing page or post, you can use the WPForms block to insert your form wherever you want, including in sidebar widgets. This method allows you to seamlessly integrate your survey form into your content.
With these options, embedding your survey form on your WordPress site is straightforward and flexible. Before publishing the new page, optimize it for SEO. These settings can be seen on the right side of the page.
Step 5: View Survey Form Reports
Once your survey is live and people begin submitting responses, you can view the collected data in survey reports.
To access the survey data, go to WPForms » All Forms. Find the survey form you want to review and hover over it to see the available options. Click on Survey Results to view the data.
This will display the results for each survey question. You can click through different graph types to change how your results are visualized.
C. How to Create a WordPress Surveys that Stands Out
Creating an engaging and effective survey requires thoughtful planning and execution. Here are some tips to help your survey stand out:
1. Define Your Goals
Clearly identify the goal of your survey and what you hope to achieve. This will guide your question design and overall survey structure.
2. Keep It Concise
Respect your respondents’ time by keeping your survey as short as possible. Focus on essential questions that provide valuable insights.
3. Craft Clear and Engaging Questions
Write questions in the survey that are easy to understand and avoid jargon. Use a mix of question types (e.g., multiple choice, Likert scale, open-ended) to maintain interest.
4. Use Visuals
Incorporate images, icons, and graphs where appropriate to make your survey visually appealing and easier to navigate. Create survey forms that grab attention with aesthetics.
5. Add Personalization
Use respondent names or other personalized elements to make the survey feel more tailored and engaging. You can even create fun and engaging popup surveys to add that extra touch of personalization.
6. Ensure Mobile Compatibility
Optimize your survey for mobile devices to reach a broader audience and offer a smooth user experience on all devices. Incorporate AMP for mobile optimization.
7. Offer Incentives
Provide incentives such as discounts, entry into a prize draw, or exclusive content to encourage participation.
8. Test Your Survey
Conduct a dummy test with a small group of individuals to analyze any issues and ensure that questions are interpreted correctly.
9. Promote Your Survey
Use multiple platforms to promote your survey, including social media, email newsletters, and your website.
10. Follow Up
Thank respondents for their participation and share key findings or actions taken based on the survey results. This shows appreciation and can increase future participation.
By following these easy survey tips, you can create a survey that captures attention, gathers valuable data, and encourages high response rates.
D. Summarizing Creating WordPress Surveys
Surveys are an invaluable tool for gathering actionable insights and engaging with your audience.
By following the steps sketched in this guide, you can easily create, customize, and embed a survey on your WordPress site.
Leveraging powerful plugins like WPForms ensures that your surveys are not only user-friendly but also rich in features and customization options.
Remember to define your goals, keep your survey concise, and analyze the results to maximize the benefits.
With a well-crafted survey, you can make data-driven decisions that enhance your website and overall business strategy.
Suggested read: NPS Survey Questions: How to Elevate Customer Experience
E. Common FAQs on Creating Engaging Surveys
How can I ensure that my survey is accessible to all users?
To ensure accessibility, choose a survey plugin that prioritizes accessibility features, such as providing options for keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and ensuring that the survey form is mobile-friendly. Additionally, use clear and simple language, avoid relying solely on color to convey information, and offer alternative text for images.
How do I protect the privacy of survey respondents?
Prioritizing the privacy and security of survey respondents’ data is needed. Choose a survey plugin that complies with data protection regulations, such as GDPR, and offers features like encryption, secure data storage, and options for anonymizing responses. Additionally, clearly communicate your privacy policy to survey participants and obtain their consent before collecting any personal information.
Can I schedule my survey to run at specific times or intervals?
Yes, some survey plugins offer scheduling options that allow you to specify when your survey will be active and when it will close. This can be useful for time-sensitive surveys or for running recurring surveys at regular intervals.
