Last Updated: December 3, 2021
What better way to understand what your customers think about your business than by creating an online (or even offline) survey? Online surveys are a great way of obtaining relevant information by asking a set of questions.
The data collected from online surveys is critical for any organization, influencing its future business and marketing strategy.
Furthermore, creating surveys in multiple languages is a plus for business marketing, as you will be able to widen your market and collect data from a wider audience. Especially when you target international markets.
This article is going to walk you through the benefits of creating online surveys and translating them into various languages. Furthermore, you will discover the most critical steps to follow in order to successfully create your multilingual surveys.
Advantages of creating online surveys in multiple languages
Why do businesses choose to create an online survey? We live in a fast-paced world, where information is everything. When you decide to launch a new business, you need to know your audience very well and deliver the products they expect.
Therefore, you will need to do in-depth market research to understand it and what customers want. On the other hand, technology has advanced a lot, bringing innovative research methods to help business owners save time and money.
Thus, online surveys have become very popular, helping managers make informed decisions based on the data gathered via this tool. Let’s take a look at some which can be of help to your cause:
Faster and more accurate data collection
One of the most significant benefits of online surveys is that they require a very short time for completion. Therefore, marketers receive their data almost instantly. Furthermore, as you don’t have to wait for paper questionnaires and compile them, the data accuracy is extremely high.
Reduced research costs
Quick analysis in real-time
Gone are the days when you had to spend hours on end reading surveys and trying to understand what people wrote. When you launch an online survey, you will have the results in real-time. Based on the data received, you can quickly create reports and graphics to have a clear view over what customers expect from you.
Easy for researchers and participants to use
Online surveys are extremely easy to use for both researchers and respondents. As the majority of people nowadays have access to the internet, it will become easier for participants to access your survey from any mobile device and spend a couple of minutes to answer the questions. On the other hand, researchers will have instant access to data, and they will find it easier to extract and compile the information received.
Collect more honest responses
Statistics show that people find it easier to respond to an online survey than by answering written questions or by telephone interviews. By creating online surveys, you give a chance to introvert customers to also give you longer and detailed answers. From a business owner perspective, this method is more efficient as it helps you find the opinion of a broader range of audience.
Advantages of translating your survey into multiple languages
Now that you know what the advantages of online surveys are, you probably wonder why you should translate them into multiple languages. One of the most significant benefits that many marketers mention is that respondents understand the questions better and thus give more accurate answers.
For example, let’s say that you run a British company and you want to run a survey in Germany. Even though English is a very popular language, you will receive more accurate results if you would translate your surveys into German as well. In addition, by creating online multilingual surveys, you will build a stronger relationship with your customers.
You will see how there are a lot of customers who are happy to answer to your questions in English, while there are also others who, even though they know English, they would prefer to answer the survey in their native language. Therefore, an online multilingual survey will be of great help for the audience.
How to create your online multi-language survey
Finding what your existing and future customers think about your business, products, and services is essential. The anonymity offered by the internet is ideal to make your target audience answer sincerely.
1. Define your target audience
When you decide to create an online survey, you should know who the people who will answer your questions are. Thus, you should develop a customer profile, finding exactly what they like the most, where they live, what is their age, and so on. To do this, you don’t have to start from scratch. Instead, we recommend using a customer profile template: you can find several good templates online.
Based on this information and their buying behavior, you will be able to create a set of questions that can tell you what type of products you should create to meet their expectations. A multilingual survey comes as the next step that you follow once you decide to expand your business.
Translating your online survey in multiple languages gives you access to a wider audience, helping them clearly understand what it is that you ask of them and giving you accurate answers. On the other hand, creating an online survey in multiple languages will help you develop a stronger relationship with your audience. They will likely appreciate your efforts to translate your survey into numerous languages.
2. Ensure flawless translation
When you create your online survey, you should aim for clear and concise questions. Based on the research you do to determine your target audience, you will also know in which languages you should translate your online survey.
Once you have identified all these parameters, you can start your translation. The most important thing to keep in mind when you create surveys in multiple languages is that you should ensure flawless translation. Customers are very picky nowadays. Thus, they will immediately notice any translation mistake and will quickly lose their trust in the respective brand.
You can import or export your translations to or from Pointerpro and implement it into your surveys after which you will be ready to send your forms to the target audiences depending on their language preferences. This feature comes on top of other intuitive and user-friendly tools available on the site, including slick and easy-to-use UI, animated widgets email centralization, making sure that Pointerpro is a one-stop-shop for all your surveying needs.
To build a multilingual survey in Pointerpro, you can follow this step-by-step guide.
3. Account for cultural differences and localization
When you decide to translate your online survey from one language to another, you will face the challenge of replicating the message in each language. Moreover, you will ask the same set of questions to people coming from different places in the world, all of whom have different cultures and beliefs.
Therefore, you should pay attention to their particularities. Localization plays a very important role when translating your text in different languages. Working with a team of people who fully understand the audience’s characteristics and specific language will help you send a correct message to your customers.
Moreover, localization will help you avoid any cultural conflicts. This strategy will help you receive accurate data, based on which you will create a personalized marketing strategy.
Main takeaways
Now that we have a clearer understanding of how and why localized surveys can help our cause, let’s break those benefits down for the sake of summation:
- Multilingual online surveys can increase your brand’s global reach, ensuring that you engage with different types of customers across the globe
- Surveys that are available in various languages provide a much better look at how the audience at large reacts to your brand
- You will have much more data to work with as a result if a wider reach, giving you more insight into how to improve your brand and product portfolio going forward
- Multilingual surveys can reveal how your audience sees your brand as opposed to other popular brands in the industry
- Lastly, translating online surveys and researching your audience in one fell swoop can provide you with precious data at a very low cost, leading to high ROI as a result
Conclusion
Online surveys are an efficient way of discovering what your stakeholders think about your product and what you can do to improve the quality you deliver. Furthermore, paying attention to cultural differences and ensuring a flawless translation will strengthen your brand’s position on the market and help you stay ahead of the competition.
An online survey will help you make informed decisions on your product and marketing strategy. You will no longer wonder what your customers expect from you as you gain accurate information coming from your target audience.
2 Responses
How do you address an audience that has different languages within the same audience so we want to provide the survey in their most comfortable language but we don’t know what that may be until they’ve been contacted?
Hi Mark,
That’s a really good question. We have a feature called multiple languages: https://help.pointerpro.com/en/support/solutions/articles/35000049354-multiple-languages
This allows you to translate the survey into multiple languages and lets the respondent choose the languages they feel most comfortable with.
Hope this helps,
Nigel