How can I get people to complete a short survey?

I need to get a few responses to an small online survey so I can get my small business grant.

How can I get others to complete a survey online without paying another business to get responses? My product is software targeted at the personal development industry.

I have asked my own personal network to complete the survey and have had some good responses. Now I want to get a larger sample of responses.

You get people to fill out your survey by motivating them. You have to give them a reason to fill the survey out. You can do this in a number of ways.

1. Run a contest and offer a free copy of the software one lucky person who fills out the survey.
2. Run a contest and offer a prize to one of the people filling out the survey.
3. Offer to send the survey results to anyone who fills out the survey.
4. Offer a discount on the purchase of the software to all who fill out the survey.

Consider using one of the online (and inexpensive) survey tools, such as Survey Monkey, to make it look professional. (There are also great/inexpensive tools for sending/tracking e-mails, too, such as Constant Contact. These tools also help you steer clear of spam issues.)

Next, consider getting involved in the communities that your survey targets. Look for blogs and on-line groups. Response rates will increase with your activity/contribution to those groups.

Be clear about how your collected data will be used and privacy protected. If your data might be of interest to the group that you target, offer a copy of the summarized data to participants. Also, make sure they know how long it will take to complete the survey.

If you use one of the on-line survey tools, they typcially have wonderful resources, such as articles and videos, that address the question you're asking. They are the experts. Why not tap into their expertise?

Good luck!

Give away an iPad to a random survey taker. I know it sounds a bit simple and in many cases shallow, but it works. People are doing all kinds of crazy group tasks to get a chance to win an iPad these days, it's the hot marketing point of 2010. There's even a local nightclub where I live that gives one away every Thursday just to get people in the door early and stay late.