All political survey questions should be clear, accurate, and neutral. Agree or disagree?
We certainly agree, and you probably do, too. But if you’ve ever tried to write political survey questions, you know that’s easier said than done. If you have run political SMS surveys or any text marketing for political campaigns before, then you know how difficult it is to get recipients to engage.
So, how do you write compelling survey questions that people want to respond to while keeping them clear and neutral so you can get accurate data?
If you don’t, you risk wasting a lot of time and money, or worse. If you do get people to respond, but not accurately, then you risk misleading your campaign.
So, how do you do it? Casually.
For starters, and this will be an overarching theme, write your questions as if you were talking to them in person. You want your survey to feel like a casual conversation, right? So, keep it short and to the point. Less is more.
We’ve seen this plenty of times before. A campaign wants to understand its voters. So they send out one survey packed with 25 questions on topics ranging from the economy to human rights.
But people don’t care enough to answer all those questions! Most people get through 6 questions before seeing how many there are and clicking out. So, keep your survey quick. People aren’t going to spend more than 2-5 minutes on your survey.
If you’re going to run a tight survey, you’ll need to define your objectives and your audience.
What do you want to learn? Are you identifying your voter’s priorities? Are you trying to gauge public opinion on a proposal? Are you trying to see how receptive a population is to a candidate? Whatever your goal is, you need to define it clearly.
Example: A campaign group is hired by a real estate and entertainment company to measure public opinion on a proposed casino complex. They want to build a casino in Richmond, VA, but that decision is up to the voters. The population of Richmond will vote in a referendum that’s included in the general election’s ballot.
Goal: Find out if a majority of voters will vote in favor or against the proposed casino.
Understand your audience so you can make it personal.
SMS surveys have a few huge advantages over other survey modes. One of those is segmentation. You can divide your database into smaller, more manageable, and targeted groups. You can divide them by geography, demographics, behaviors, and political affiliation.
In our example, we’re looking for people above the age of 21 in the Richmond, VA region. We should focus on people who vote in other elections besides just the presidential ones. They are more likely to vote on down-ballot issues.
However, we can go one step further with personalization. We can make it about them! We know that personalization sparks action; that’s why our platform uses dynamic fields. So you can automatically populate thousands of messages with individualized data. Personalization goes beyond just adding the recipient’s name. You can use characteristics like voting history, candidate support, and issue orientation to create motivating, hyper-relevant messages.
How do you write survey questions for clarity and neutrality?
First, don’t assume your recipients will know what you are talking about. Sometimes, it helps to give them context.
Bad example: “Do you support or oppose the Richmond Grand Resort and Casino proposal?”
Good example: “This upcoming election will include a referendum for the construction of a $562 million casino complex named the Richmond Grand Resort and Casino. Have you heard about this proposal before this survey?”
In the casino example, it helps to learn how many people know about the project beforehand. That can become a key performance indicator (KPI) for a future awareness campaign.
Avoid leading language
Bad example: “Do you support or oppose the Richmond Grand Resort and Casino proposal, which is estimated to generate over $7.5 billion for the local economy?”
Another bad example: “Do you support or oppose the predatory, addictive, and manipulative practices of casinos like the proposed Richmond Grand Resort and Casino?”
Those are obvious examples of questions designed to lead you one way. However, there are much subtler ways of writing leading questions. For example, priming.
Priming is when a survey slips an idea into your head early on. So later on, you’ll already be thinking of that side of the argument.
“Have you or anyone you know suffered emotionally, mentally, or financially from a gambling addiction?”
“Have you ever visited a casino? Did you enjoy your experience?”
When you reach the “Do you support or oppose the casino proposal” question, you’ll either be thinking about gambling addiction or a fun casino experience.
Finally— and most importantly— test out your survey.
When we’ve been working on something for so long, it’s nearly impossible to see it with fresh eyes. So, we recommend conducting pilot tests or focus groups. You can ask your co-workers to try the survey and see if there’s any confusion. Or you can host focus groups to refine your surveys.
Either way, pretesting is essential. Just don’t get caught up in this stage. Sometimes, our inner perfectionist keeps us turning our wheels, demanding endless revisions. Remember, a good survey that gets published is better than a perfect survey that never sees the light of day.
Enhance your Campaign with our Tools and Experience.
We understand that you have a lot of SMS platforms to choose from. But what makes us one of the best political texting companies is our wealth of experience. We understand your challenges because we’ve been through them!
So, if you want a survey that will resonate with voters, capture meaningful data, and support your overall strategy, partner with us! Get the right tools and the right guidance.
