188,000,000
That’s the number of emails sent per minute according to a 2020 data insights report. Startling, isn’t it? Other stats would take you by surprise too, but our focus is on this one.
Why?
Because a good chunk of these emails is surveys sent to collect information on customer & employee feedback, product reviews, market research, and much more. And google forms play a significant role here!
Quick, free, and simple.
That’s what we hear the most about surveys created using Google Forms. And if “How to create a survey in Google Forms?” is the question, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll answer this while also exploring the must-have features of an online survey tool, and why you should know about SurveySparrow, too.
But up first, let’s see how to create a survey using Google Forms.
How To Create A Survey In Google Forms?
We’ve discussed the features that make Google Forms a popular online survey tool. So now, with no further delay, let’s jump into the step-by-step survey creation process using Google Forms. It’s super easy, and you’re gonna love it, for sure.
The Start
- As we enter our Google drive, it shows the feature of “New+”, and after clicking on it, a range of blocks open up.
- When clicked on “More”, present after google docs, sheets, and slides, you see Google Forms.
- Click on it, and an untitled form opens up where a description can be added.
Adding Questions
- Under the description space, you see untitled questions that are automated according to the question type, i.e., multiple-choice, open-ended, etc.
- A question can be dragged anywhere by the six dots present beside the question.
- When clicked on “multiple choice” beside the question, as you can see, a range of choices opens up – short answer, paragraph, multiple choice, checkboxes, dropdown, file upload, linear scale, multiple choice grid, checkbox grid, date, and time.
- Depending on the questions selected, they get automated. For example, if the question is “What is your hometown?”, it gets automated to ‘Short answer’. So, make sure you select the right question type from here.
Options To Create Google Forms
Different options appear on the right side of the questions which include:
- Add question- Used for adding a question.
- Import question- Used for repurposing the question.
- Add title and description- Used to add a new section, with only a description.
- Add image- Used to add an image related to the asked question.
- Add video- Used to add video as a reference to the question.
- Add section- Used to break long forms into different sections and parts.
Now, on the top right corner, an icon for customization is present where four options are available:
- Header- Used to upload an image, to make the form more attractive.
- Theme color- Used to add different colors resonating with the theme of the form.
- Background color- Used to add a background color to the form/survey based on your brand’s logo and color preference.
- Font style- Used to choose the desired font for the questions, options, and answers in your form.
Form Settings
Besides ‘Customize’, the icon for ‘Preview’ is present. It lets:
- You create an exact copy of the google form with a URL in a new tab.
- You create a live link for the form.
- Your respondents get to the ‘Submit’ icon after filling the form.
Besides this, the ‘Settings’ icon is present with three options- General, Presentation, and Quizzes.
- In ‘General’, an individual’s email address can be saved. The number of responses can be limited to one, and editing & summarizing after submitting can be enabled or disabled.
- In ‘Presentation’, the order of questions can be shuffled, and the link to submit other responses can be enabled or disabled. From here, a confirmation message can also be written, like “Thank you for your response” to your survey respondents.
- In ‘Quizzes’, the questions can be turned into a quiz. The respondents also come to see missed questions, correct answers, and point values.
Now in the ‘Responses’ section, you can:
- See the number of responses to every question as a summary.
- On choosing ‘Question’ here, we can see individual responses to the particular question.
- On choosing ‘Individuals’, every response is monitored.
- A toggle for accepting responses is present too, which limits the responses in the form when turned off.
The Sending Process
After preparing the form, it’s ready to be sent out for response collection. So, when we hit ‘Send’, three options appear:
- Email- In email, individual emails are selected to send the form, along with a subject and a message.
- Link- With this option, a link to the form can be generated and shortened to send out to the survey respondents.
- Embed HTML- Here, a URL is generated that can be put on a webpage to make Google Forms so responders visiting the website can take the survey (form).
The Must-Have Features Of An Online Survey Tool!
Now that you know what Google Forms bring to the table and how to create a survey there, let’s discuss the essential features an online survey tool should have. Time to let the cat out of the bag.
Question Types
Any survey that gets the right result has one thing in common. They all come with different questions that pique the survey respondent’s interest and make them wanna answer. And any question, be it long or short, can be presented in the right way using the right type. MCQs, Likert scale, open-ended, rating, and scale-based questions. Those are a few most popular question types to choose from in your surveys.
But does your online survey tool offer all these types? Google Forms certainly don’t.
Conditional Branching
Advanced conditional branching or skip logic plays a key role in giving a smooth survey experience to respondents. Because it removes questions that are irrelevant for a respondent-based on their previous responses. And this brings quality data, as respondents are asked questions that apply to them, which ultimately improves their motivation to take the survey and answer promptly.
Anonymous Surveys
Sometimes, there are situations where the survey respondents do not want to reveal their identity. A good example of this is the employee feedback surveys, where the employees are reluctant to reveal their identity if you’re expecting them to give honest answers.
In that scenario, it is best to let them stay anonymous, which is exactly why your online survey tool should have the anonymity feature in its arsenal. Especially in the post-pandemic world, where people are quite sensitive about their privacy and are skeptical in revealing their identity.
Multiple User Collaboration
Password sharing, multiple licensing, several authentications, might sound like a great thing, but in reality, these increase the friction for all stakeholders and might cause confusion about who’s doing what?
We think that collaboration should be allowed while conducting online surveys, but it should be done in a restricted manner, so the leader or manager can control proceedings and give the right access to the right team members.
Top-notch Customer Support
Right after seeing the features of an online survey tool, this is the very next thing you should do. Because you don’t want to be facing troubles all alone in the middle of a survey campaign! Plus, there’s a good chance you might need the customer support’s help to use all the features properly. So, don’t compromise here. Go for the tool with the best customer support. You’ll never regret your decision.
As for Google Forms, you gotta mail them the issue and their team gets back to you, mostly through email. And that too, after 24 hours. Not cool!
Data Security
Just like customer support, this is a feature you can’t compromise with. The security of your customer’s data is extremely important if you want the survey campaigns to succeed. While choosing your online survey tool, you gotta keep this in mind. So, ensure the survey tool you’re using encrypts the respondent data and build processes around it to keep it secure.
Why Are Google Forms Popular?
People and companies like to use Google Forms a lot, that’s for sure. But why? What brings Google Forms its popularity? It’s crucial to talk about this before jumping onto anything else. So, just get yourself a cup of coffee (if you haven’t already!), and we’re all set to start.
Auto-completion of Answers
Google Forms come with an autocomplete feature, where the answers get autocompleted with the help of predictive analytics. This feature is available in over 14 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese, to name a few. And it’s easily one of its most popular features.
Ease of Use
Google Forms is the easiest online survey tool to use. No doubts here. It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing survey tool, but for ease of use, it’s fantastic!
Pre-built Templates
Google Forms come with templates that can be used by anyone and everyone, without needing any coding experience. Even those who’re new to the world of online surveys can get the hang of it with these templates. Work request forms, feedback forms, order forms, and event registration forms are some of the most common templates available here. And all you need to do is select a template, add the customization options you need, input survey questions, and you’re good to go. Simple and effective. What say?
The Google Ecosystem
If your business is using G Suite, it becomes extremely easy to navigate and use the entire suite of products, including Google Forms. Every product in this suite is connected to the other one, so the information sharing and storing process is seamless and quick.
Collaboration
One of the best features of Google Forms is that you can add changes, suggestions, and comments, in real-time. So, if you’re working with a team for a survey, where every member is a stakeholder, exchanging information becomes a cakewalk with Google Forms.
Skip Logic
If you wish to give survey respondents the option of skipping unrelated questions, Google Forms lets you do that with their skip logic condition. It’s great to have respondents from various segments answering questions that resonate with them, thereby giving you small, but highly focused data. Using Google Forms’ skip logic feature is a way to do that.
Unlimited Surveys and Respondents
One of the coolest features of Google Forms is letting survey-takers conduct unlimited surveys for unlimited respondents. For companies working on a tight survey budget, Google Forms are definitely a lifesaver!
Massive Integration Options
No matter what you do, Google Forms has the integrations you need. From MailChimp to Hubspot to Slack, you get all the integration options with Google Forms.
Completely Free!
Well, this is the feature that makes Google Forms truly famous. It’s completely free! Yes, conducting online surveys using Google Forms would cost you exactly $0. If you wish to use G Suite, the price starts at $6/user/month, which is dirt-cheap compared to the quality and features of the products there.
What About SurveySparrow? What Are Their Features?
Well, the features mentioned above along with much more! That’s what makes SurveySparrow one of the best online survey tools available. And you don’t need to search on your browser to find all its top features, we’re doing that here. All you gotta do is keep reading.
Omni-channel Management Platform
One of the most applauded features of SurveySparrow is its omni-channel experience management platform. Using this, businesses collect data by sending surveys on multiple different channels, be it social media or emails. Once the responses are collected, they then analyze and store the final data in this management platform.
- Social media share for Facebook and Twitter.
- Unique and easily trackable weblinks.
- Fully configurable SMS surveys
- Automation capabilities for recurring email surveys.
- QR codes for quick access.
- Data stored in a unified and easy-to-access manner.
This and so much more is what you get with SurveySparrow’s management platform. Impressed, aren’t you?
Superb White-labeling
For every business, their brand identity is important. Why? Because it matters for their customers. Customers love to associate with a brand that has a unique voice and identity in the market. And that’s looking to empower customers in more ways than just selling their products & services. SurveySparrow understands that, which is why they’ve built their white-labeling feature with time and dedication.
As a business, you can customize everything, from the URL to the brand logo, subject, and body of your surveys easily using this feature. So, go ahead and check out the feature yourself. You’ll not get disappointed.
The Built-in NPS module
“Will customers talk about us in front of their friends?”
“Are we getting word-of-mouth referrals?”
“Are the customers spreading positive news about us?”
If, as a leader, you’re asking these questions, you and your teams need to conduct NPS surveys. SurveySparrow would help you do that with its hugely impressive built-in Net Promoter Score (NPS) module. With this, you’ll see who’re the Promoters, Passives, and Detractors for your brand.
Now, promoters are someone who’s spreading positive news about your brand, and you want them to grow. Conducting NPS surveys would be the first step towards that. These surveys would let you know who your Detractors are and you can assign a representative for them to check if their customer experience is improving. All this is super easy and quick with SurveySparrow’s NPS module.
Offline Surveys
SurveySparrow stands out from the rest with its offline surveys feature. They empower teams to collect data from anywhere and anytime without having an active internet. So, when you’re using this feature, conduct as many offline surveys as you want, connect multiple devices, and uniformly store this data. Sweet!
360 Degree Employee Assessment
Focusing on customers shouldn’t mean you forget employees. Because they’re the ones responsible to keep customers happy, which means, as a leader, you need to keep them happy too. This is where SurveySaprrow’s 360 degree assessment comes in. As with this feature, you get to upload all employee information in one go, invite them for employee 360 assessment with a single click, and get custom reports showing their strengths and weaknesses with a dedicated development plan.
To put it crisply, the 360 degree assessment module helps your employees grow while keeping them satisfied. After which, they’ll take care of your company’s growth!
Integrations
Using SurveySparrow as your online survey software, get integration options with marketing tools like Hubspot, Mailchimp, Marketo, Eloqua, CleverReach, and more. Plus, it lets you integrate with tools like C-Connect, FreshDesk, and Jitbit Helpdesk for your customer support functions.
If you want to integrate SurveySparrow with productivity, email, analytics, and management tools, just contact them and it’ll be done in no time.
Accessibility & Control
Every feature of SurveySparrow is designed in a way that promotes accessibility and ease of use. As a leader or manager, you get the option to set up sub-accounts under a single account for your teams. You also get to view surveys easily in these sub-accounts and folders, and everything remains smooth and hassle-free.
That’s All From Us
How to create a survey in Google Forms? From selecting the template to sending the surveys, you now know all about Google Forms and the survey creation process there. Google Forms has its limitations, no doubts. But for teachers, graduate students, and small businesses, the ability to conduct free surveys to gain valuable information is priceless. And that’s what brings the popularity for Google Forms.
For more features and advanced analytics, you can anytime go for a Google Forms alternative like SurveySparrow. And you already know why that would be the right choice!
We hope this detailed guide helps you build surveys that get the intended result. And we’re here if you need help with your surveys or even if you just wanna talk.
Happy surveying!
