We use cookies and other tracking technology to improve your browsing experience on our website, to show you personalized content, to analyze our website traffic, and to understand where our visitors are coming from. By browsing our website or clicking Accept Cookies, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Read our Privacy Policy
Guides
10 min

8 tips on creating healthcare market research surveys

Learn all you need to know about creating healthcare market research surveys

GrapeData
Feb 11, 2023
Healthcare

Introduction

You know that customer satisfaction is important and you want to know what your customers think. But creating healthcare market research surveys can be difficult, especially if you've never done it before. It's worth putting in some effort when creating healthcare market research surveys, though, because it will help you improve the customer experience. It will also give you valuable insights into how patients feel about their experiences with your company or organisation. Here are eight tips for creating good healthcare market research surveys:

1. Start with priorities

Once you've identified the questions that are most important to your organisation, start with those. It's better for users to answer a few questions than it is for them to get overwhelmed by an endless survey.

Once you have completed the first section of your survey, move on to another area of interest or concern. Then repeat this process until all topics have been covered in as much detail as possible.

You can also use templates from Google forms that make creating surveys faster and easier; however, they won't help if they aren't customised for healthcare market research specifically!

2. Set goals to create healthcare market research surveys

Before you start creating healthcare market research surveys, it's important to define the problem. What do you want to learn from the research?

This is one of the most important steps in creating any market research survey. Be specific about what results will help you achieve your goal. You should also make sure that the questions on your survey reflect those results.

It also helps if you think realistically about what kind of information could be useful for solving this problem.

3. Prepare a plan

Before you start creating a healthcare market research survey, it's important to define the problem at hand. What do you want your survey to achieve? What are its goals and objectives?

To set yourself up for success, it's crucial that you have these answers laid out before beginning. If this seems like too much work or too far in advance of actually starting on your survey, remember that planning ahead will save time and resources later on when making edits or addressing issues with respondents' answers.

If possible, try not to overthink these questions, just get them down in writing so that they're available. For example: do I want my survey results primarily for internal use only or am I hoping they'll provide me with new insights into my target market? Am I looking specifically at consumer attitudes toward health insurance plans? Thinking about these goals helps to smoothen out the process of creating healthcare market research surveys.

4. Create a survey that's easy to complete

Here are some tips to create easy healthcare market research surveys:

  • Make sure the survey is easy to complete.
  • Use short, simple questions.
  • Ask only one question at a time.
  • Use a clear and concise writing style with no jargon or abbreviations that could be confusing to respondents who aren't familiar with your industry or organisation's terminology and acronyms.
  • Ask only one question per page; don't ask people to scroll through multiple pages just to answer one question! Make sure you have enough space between each question so that respondents can clearly see what they're supposed to answer next. Do also remember that people often skim when reading online content, so make sure there are no other distractions on these pages either (such as ads). Also, keep in mind that mobile devices tend not to have large screens like desktop computers do. 

5. Limit response options to help respondents think and answer your questions more easily

  • Use a limited number of answer options. The fewer the better, but not so few that you're missing important differences between answers.
  • Make sure that you clearly define each response option and make it easy to understand (e.g., "yes" vs "no"). If you need to use numbers or other symbols, make sure they are clear and unambiguous (e.g., "+1" instead of just "1").

6. Avoid asking the same question twice

If you are going to ask a question, make sure it's relevant and not duplicating another part of your survey. If you do want to re-ask something, make sure there is a good reason for doing so. For example, if someone answers "yes" to a question about whether they've had heart surgery before but then later says they have never been diagnosed with heart disease or high blood pressure (both conditions that may cause someone to need surgery), then this could be an indication that the person misunderstood your question and needs clarification about what qualifies as having had heart surgery before.

7. Put important questions first to avoid response fatigue

When you're creating your survey, always make sure to put the most important questions first. The reason for this is that if you ask too many questions in a row, respondents will get tired and bored and stop taking the survey altogether.

In order to avoid this problem, make sure that when writing out your survey script (the questions themselves), you start with one or two basic demographic questions. You can then move on to more specific topics that are relevant only to those who fall within those demographics.

8. Use similar language and formatting

In order to create a survey that is easy to understand, you should use similar language and formatting throughout.

  • Use consistent language that is easy to understand. When writing your questions, make sure they use the same words as other questions in your healthcare market research surveys. This will help ensure that respondents are able to answer each question correctly without confusion or misunderstanding.
  • Use consistent formats for questions and answers. The way you ask a question can affect how people respond. Therefore, it's important that all of your questions follow the same format. This is so that respondents know what information you want from them when answering each one (for example: "yes" or "no"). You may also want to consider using consistent terminology when asking about certain topics.

Researching healthcare is important so it's worth putting in some effort when creating your healthcare market research surveys

Healthcare research is a critical part of the healthcare industry. It helps us understand what doctors and patients want, how to improve their experience, how to make healthcare more affordable, and how to make it more accessible.

It's important that you put in some effort when creating your healthcare market research surveys so that you can get accurate information from them.

First, you need to know your audience. Who are they? What do they want? How do they think and feel about their healthcare? You can get this information through in-depth interviews, focus groups, or surveys. Once you've gathered this information, it's time for step two: understanding the market research process.

How do you get the right data? What are the most effective ways to collect and analyse your market research? And how will these insights help you move forward with confidence? 

Some additional tips for creating healthcare market research surveys

Choose the right survey questions:

  • Use clear, simple language. Avoid jargon and overly technical terms that may be unfamiliar to your audience.
  • Use positive language. Instead of saying "do not" do something, use words such as "cannot" or "will not."
  • Ask open-ended questions when possible. These allow respondents to give their own opinion or experience instead of just choosing from a list that you provide (or similar) options that are pre-defined. Open-ended questions also provide more information than closed-ended ones do so they're better at collecting data about things like customer satisfaction levels.

Learn more about bad survey questions in this post.

Distribute your healthcare surveys wisely

Avoid spamming respondents with too many surveys. This should go without saying, but don't use mass emailing or social media to distribute your survey. You want to be respectful of your respondents' time and personal information, so make sure you're only reaching out to those who are interested in taking part in the study. If someone isn't a good fit for your survey, let them know that they don't need to respond.

Use survey feedback to improve the customer experience

Once you've collected survey responses, use them to improve the customer experience.

For example, if many respondents say they don't understand how to answer a particular question, consider adding more information on those topics in future communications. Or if a large number of respondents report that they're confused about the payment process, look at ways to simplify it so respondents aren't frustrated by their bills.

Keep healthcare surveys short

A short survey is better than a long one, and there are several reasons why. First of all, shorter surveys are easier to complete. People tend to give up on longer questions because they want their time back or they're bored with them after reading through all the questions. In addition to being more likely to be completed and shared, shorter surveys also provide a better user experience because they don't take as long and don't leave you feeling exhausted at the end of it all.

Avoid bias

  • Avoid bias in your survey questions. Don't ask leading questions, which give the respondent a strong impression of what you want them to say. For example, if you're testing a new medication for diabetes and want people to think it works well before they've tried it, don't use wording like "Do you think this drug will help improve blood sugar levels?" Instead, ask something neutral like "How do you feel about taking this medication?"
  • Avoid bias in your survey design. If some demographic groups are more likely than others (elderly versus young adults), then exclude them from the sample by age or other relevant characteristics when building your sample frame. Otherwise, those groups may be underrepresented or overrepresented in later analysis of results.
  • Make sure there aren't any extraneous factors influencing responses that weren't included as variables when designing and conducting research studies. Analyse data carefully before making conclusions about what their implications might mean for future practice or policy decisions.

Make it mobile-friendly

You should also make it easy to complete your survey on mobile devices. This means, first and foremost, making sure that the survey is optimised for mobile use. You can do this by adding a link to a mobile version of your survey in any emails you send out to invite people who have opted-in to participate in market research surveys.

If you're not sure what "optimised" means exactly when it comes to designing surveys for mobile devices, here are some tips:

  • Keep questions short and simple. People usually have shorter attention spans than they do when using desktop computers or laptops.
  • Use large buttons with big text so users can easily click them with one finger if necessary.
  • Include only essential questions on each page of the survey. 

Analyse survey results in real-time for faster action

Once you've collected and analysed your survey data, you'll be able to use it to improve the customer experience. You can also use the information to improve your products or services and marketing strategy, as well as business processes.

You can use survey results to prompt immediate action. For example, if you're looking to improve your product or service, you may want to make changes based on what customers say they like and don't like about it. Or if you want to increase sales in a particular area of your business, look for ways that you can provide better customer service there.

In some cases, it's also possible for companies with large enough budgets (and who have access to the right technology) that offer healthcare products or services through digital platforms such as mobile applications or websites could benefit from using surveys as part of their overall marketing strategy.

Pay attention to these eight tips to create good healthcare market research surveys

The length of a survey is important because people are busy and may not have time to complete it if it's too long. It also affects your sample size, which means that if you ask too many questions, you won't get enough responses to be accurate or useful in making decisions based on the results.

Make sure each question is understandable and easy for respondents to answer without reading "between the lines" or having any prior knowledge about what these words mean. This way anyone who sees or hears the survey can understand exactly what the question is without needing further explanation from another source. In addition, avoid using jargon terms unless absolutely necessary.

Conclusion

The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and so are the needs of patients. The best way to keep up with these changes is by conducting regular healthcare market research surveys that can help you understand what your customers want from their experiences in this sector. The tips listed above will help you create better healthcare market research surveys by helping you plan them out before you send them out.

Found this article useful? You might also want to check out: ‘A complete guide on how to join healthcare surveys for money

Seamlessly submit surveys on the go.

Bring your experience to your mobile via our app.