THE READER SURVEY QUICKSTART 99 Questions You Could Ask and the Top Ten You Must Ask Michael Hyatt

Introduction If you want to boost your blog’s traffic and increase the impact of your message, you must focus on your readers’ needs. The more you address their real frustrations, challenges, and dreams, the more likely you will connect. But how do you know what those needs are? By taking a reader survey. Sounds simple enough, right? All you have to do is hop over to SurveyMonkey or PollDaddy, set up a survey, and ask your readers to participate. Easy peasy. I have encouraged thousands of bloggers to do this very thing. But what I have found is that they often get stuck in trying to figure out exactly what to ask. That’s why I developed this guide. It includes sample questions to get you started. Maybe you’re thinking, But how many questions should I ask? Good question. On my own blog, I have asked as few as ten and as many as fifty-three. Here’s what I recommend. If you are just getting started blogging, ask fewer questions—no more than ten. Why? Because you have not yet built enough equity with your audience to ask more. Here’s another rule of thumb: Ask as many questions as you need to ask but no more than you need to ask. In other words, don’t just add a question because you can—unless you know what you will do with the information once you get it. Your readers’ time is valuable. Don’t waste it asking questions that don’t have a specific purpose. Remember: the goal is to learn more about your audience, so you can create specific, focused content that addresses their needs.

© 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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Top Ten Must Ask Questions I suggest that you start with these questions. I ask these ten every year in my Annual Readers’ Survey. Note that some questions are multiple-choice, but some are open-ended. You typically want to use both. ‣ What is your gender? ‣ What is your age? ‣ What is the highest level of education that you have completed?  ‣ What is your annual household income? ‣ What is your marital status? ‣ Which best describes your professional position? (e.g., corporate executive, entrepreneur, manager, etc.) ‣ Which of my blog subject categories do you enjoy the most? (Check all that apply.) ‣ What is the biggest challenge you face right now in [the topic of your blog]? (e.g., not enough time, not enough money, not enough information, not enough motivation, etc.) ‣ What do you want most out of [the topic of your blog]? Check all that apply (e.g., strategies to get more done, ideas for how to make money, inspiration to keep from getting discouraged, etc.) ‣ If money or time were no object, what would you like to achieve in the next five years?

Other Questions These questions are included to stimulate your thinking. They will vary depending on your industry segment, the issues that are relevant to that segment, and your unique expertise. ‣ Do you own or rent? ‣ What country do you currently live in? ‣ What state do you currently live in? ‣ Do you own your own business?

© 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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‣ Which of the following describes where you are with your business (getting starting, established, growing, stagnant) ‣ Are you the decision-maker for your organization? ‣ What is your specific role within your organization? ‣ Do you employ a team? ‣ How did you first discover my blog? ‣ How long have you been reading my blog? ‣ How do you read my blog? (web, email, tablet, phone) ‣ Do you subscribe to each new post, or only receive a weekly recap? ‣ Do you typically read all my new blog posts?  ‣ How do you feel about the frequency of my posts? (Too frequent, not frequent enough, just right) ‣ What do you like most about my blog? ‣ How can I make my blog better? ‣ Where has my blog helped you the most? ‣ Have you recommended my blog to others? ‣ What improvements do you think I should make on my blog? ‣ Do you listen to my podcasts? ‣ How did you first discover my podcast? ‣ How long have you been listening to my podcast? ‣ How do you listen to/watch my podcast? ‣ What do you like most about my podcast? ‣ What other podcasts do you listen to? © 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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‣ How can I make my podcast better? ‣ Have you attended one of my webinars? ‣ What time of day do you prefer to attend webinars? ‣ Which of my products have you heard about? (Check all that apply.) ‣ Which of my products have you actually purchased? (Check all that apply.) ‣ Did the value of my products fall short of, meet, or exceed your expectations? ‣ What is the number one factor you consider before purchasing a product? (Value, price, deliverability) ‣ If you could have me create one product that would best meet your needs right now, what would that be? ‣ What is the biggest challenge with [insert your blog’s subject focus] that you are facing right now? (Check all that apply.) ‣ What are you the most proud of having achieved in the last twelve months? ‣ What was your biggest disappointment in the last twelve months? ‣ How many books do you read per month? ‣ How many podcasts do you listen to per week? ‣ How many blogs do you read per week? ‣ What other blogs, besides mine, do you follow? ‣ Approximately how many conferences did you attend last year? ‣ How far are you willing to travel for a live event? ‣ Rank what is most important to you in attending an event. (Cost, location, interest, speakers, networking time) ‣ What is your favorite way to learn? (Check all that apply.) ‣ How many webinars did you attend in the last twelve months? © 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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‣ Do you attend a live webinar, or review a replay at your convenience? ‣ How many online courses have you bought in the last twelve months? ‣ Do you have a blog? ‣ What blogging platform do you use? ‣ What is the primary topic you write about? ‣ How often do you blog? ‣ How satisfied are you with your current website? ‣ How many monthly unique visitors do you have? ‣ How many hours per week do you spend on the following: (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube) ‣ Do you follow me on social media? ‣ Are you actively building your platform? ‣ Have you ever thought about writing a book? (Check all that apply.) ‣ Have you ever purchased a product from my website? ‣ How do you prefer to pay for products online? ‣ Do you prefer to buy online products or attend live events? ‣ Do you prefer to pay for a product in full, or with a payment plan? ‣ Overall, how satisfied are you with your experience on our site? ‣ How likely are you to share my content with friends or colleagues? ‣ If you share my content with friends or colleagues how do you get it to them? (Facebook, Twitter, forward email, etc.) ‣ How satisfied are you overall with our customer support? ‣ How knowledgeable did our customer support team seem to you? © 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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‣ Would you say our support team resolved your problem quickly? ‣ How satisfied were you with how the support staff resolved your most current problem? ‣ Are you a member of my [specific] program? ‣ If you’re not a member, why not? (Cost, time, interest) ‣ Are you satisfied with your membership? ‣ If you could hear from any experts in your field, who would you want to hear from? ‣ What are your greatest takeaways from being a member of the program? ‣ The price of monthly membership is: very expensive, somewhat expensive, priced right, somewhat inexpensive, very inexpensive? ‣ How likely are you to recommend our membership program? ‣ How often do you utilize the following benefits of the program or service? ‣ Do you have suggestions for improving the overall membership experience? ‣ What is your biggest goal for this year? ‣ What are three things you want to improve on this year? ‣ Which of the following topics would you be interested in learning about? ‣ Do you enjoy video blogs, or text blogs, or both? ‣ What is your religious orientation (if any)? ‣ What denomination is your church affiliated with? ‣ How often do you attend church [or synagogue, temple, etc.]?  ‣ How many children under 18 are living at home with you? ‣ How important is your faith to your overall life? ‣ What role do you play in the leadership of your church? (Check all that apply.)

© 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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‣ How many people typically attend the church you currently attend? ‣ How comfortable are you with the way I talk about my faith on my blog? 

© 2014, Michael Hyatt!

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