Office 365 SharePoint: Step-By-Step Guide to Create a Survey

Discovering how to create a survey in Microsoft Office 365's SharePoint can be a game-changer for businesses and organizations. It allows you to gather valuable insights, opinions, and feedback from your team members, clients, or customers. By understanding this process, you can efficiently collect data to drive informed decisions and improvements. Let's dive into the step-by-step guide to create engaging surveys in SharePoint.

Before starting, ensure you have the necessary permissions to create surveys in your SharePoint site. Typically, site owners or members with 'Can create pages and lists' permission can create surveys. Now let's explore how to create and manage them.

Creating a New Survey

First, you need to understand the types of surveys SharePoint offers. The choice between a 'List' and 'JSON' survey format depends on your requirements. For basic surveys, 'List' is recommended. For more complex ones with branching, skip logic, or complex scoring, 'JSON' is the way to go.

Let's start with creating a 'List' survey. Click on 'New' at the top of your SharePoint page, then select 'List'. Choose 'Survey' from the list of templates. Name your survey and click 'Create'. You'll be directed to the survey settings page.

Setting up Survey Questions

In the 'Settings' tab, click 'Edit survey questions'. Here, you'll add your questions. SharePoint offers different question types like choice, rating scale, number, text, and more. Define questions by providing them with a title, choosing the type, and optionally making them mandatory.

For instance, you can add a 'Choice' question titled 'Which device do you prefer?' and provide options like 'Desktop', 'Laptop', 'Tablet', and 'Mobile'. Make it mandatory using the checkbox provided. Arrange questions in the desired order using the arrows.

Customizing Survey Settings

Back in the 'Settings' tab, you can customize other aspects of your survey. The 'Submission behavior' section allows you to choose whether respondents can submit their responses only once, or allow multiple submissions. You can also enable or disable the option for respondents to change their responses.

'Email notifications' allows you to receive an email whenever a response is submitted. You can also enable respondents to receive a confirmation email upon submission. Add the required email addresses in the respective fields.

Publishing and Sharing Your Survey

Once you're satisfied with your survey setup, click 'Publish' on the top right corner to make your survey live. After publishing, SharePoint provides a link to your survey, which you can share with respondents. You can also embed the survey on other pages using web parts.

'Share survey' allows you to share the survey on various platforms directly from SharePoint. Click 'Share' to open the sharing dialog box and choose the desired options.

Collecting and Analyzing Responses

Collect responses through the share link or embedding the survey as mentioned earlier. Once responses start pouring in, you can analyze them directly in SharePoint. Click on ' Responses' in the survey's settings tab. SharePoint provides graphs and charts for quick insights, making it easy to understand responses statistically.

You can export responses to Excel for further analysis or customizations. Click on 'Export to Excel' on the top right corner of the responses page. Exporting enables you to apply additional filters, sorts, or create complex reports using Excel's powerful tools.

Managing and Archiving Surveys

After collecting and analyzing responses, you might want to archive the survey. Archiving moves the survey to the 'Recycle Bin', allowing you to restore it if needed. To archive, click on the ellipsis (...) next to the survey's name, then select 'Archive'.

Depending on your organization's policies, you might need to comply with data retention rules. Ensure you adhere to these rules while managing your SharePoint surveys. Regularly review and delete outdated or irrelevant surveys to maintain a clean and organized SharePoint environment.

Congratulations! You've now mastered the art of creating, managing, and analyzing surveys in Microsoft Office 365's SharePoint. Leverage this newfound skill to gather valuable insights, drive informed decisions, and continuously improve your organization. Happy surveying!