Survey Forms

July 18, 2023

Module 4 — Lesson 24

Have you ever wondered what your readers think when they read your newsletter?

If you’re serious about building your brand and business — then you definitely want to find out if they like your newsletter. But how do you find out?

It’s actually easier than you think. Just use beehiiv’s Survey Forms to ask your audience. The better you understand who your audience is and what they want to see from you — the better content you can create.

How Do You Collect Feedback Through Email?

Truthfully, getting feedback from your readers is a little like that note you passed to your grade-school crush: Do you like me? Check yes or no.

But instead of getting heartbroken — you’re collecting more detailed, valuable information about:

Who they are
Where they’re from
What they do for work
How they found your newsletter
What content do they want to see more of

These are all extremely useful when creating content and gaining statistical information for pitching potential sponsors.

How Do I Create a Feedback Survey?

While feedback surveys should be created uniquely for your own newsletter, there are a few best practices to keep in mind:

1) Have a clear well-defined objective

What do you most need/want to know?
Pros recommend asking between 5-10 questions

The fewer questions you ask, the higher the likelihood that people will fill the survey out.

2) Reduce friction

Think like your reader: would you rather fill out a survey with 10 open-ended questions or 5 multiple-choice questions?

Multiple choice > Open-ended
Concise questions > Questions with a paragraph of context

Readers are more likely to click through multiple-choice questions than open-ended questions. Multiple-choice questions are also easier to aggregate across a larger readership.

3) Clarity is king

A few more quick tips:

Use simple, clear language.
Avoid leading questions and answer options.
Don’t use absolutes such as “always” or “all.”
Evaluate interest and other abstracts along a scale, rather than asking yes/no questions.
Ask one thing per question — don’t try to combine them.

What type of Survey Surveys can you create?

There are three main types of Survey Forms you can create…

1) Subscribe Surveys

Subscribe Surveys will appear right after a user subscribes to your newsletter. They’ve already submitted their email and now have the option to answer a few more questions.

A Subscribe Survey is a great place to better understand who your audience is, what they’re interested in, and where they came from.

💡 Pro Tip: don’t include “All of The Above” as an answer choice. It doesn’t help you gain a deeper insight into what topics people prefer.

To view your results, go to ‘Survey Forms → View Results’.

2) Unsubscribe Survey

Even though it sucks when people unsubscribe, their feedback is still super valuable to you. If many of your subscribers unsubscribe for a similar reason, it may be a sign to adjust.