Surveys & Forms

There’s a nice little saying that we use when people just aren’t in-step. You’ve probably heard it before: the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing. And in go-to-market (GTM) organizations, this can often feel like the case. Sales is off doing sales something, product is off doing who knows what, marketing is going on about attribution or google algorithms, and no one is actually working together. 

Organizations often think they’re all working together and that there’s a deep understanding of the roles, goals, and strategies of other teams. But really, ‌unity ends at working on slides in the same deck or having a shared excel sheet for metrics. 

Organizational misalignment drives ineffective strategies, creates a feeling of mistrust between teams (what even is the PMM org doing anyway?), stifles workflow efficiency, and drives lost or siloed data.

So what’s the answer here to solving this fracture in go-to-marketing (GTM) organizations? Sales and marketing alignment, and a unified customer funnel.

GTM teams all drive the common goals of revenue and growth for the organization. So how’d our teams drift so far apart? Well, there are plenty of reasons for the disconnect:

Sales teams are typically focused on closing deals and meeting short-term revenue targets, while marketing teams generally aim to generate leads and build brand awareness. This difference in focus can lead to conflicting priorities and strategies, and a lack of cooperation and collaboration between the teams.

Poor communication between sales and marketing results in misunderstandings and a lack of collaboration. Each team may operate in silos, unaware of the others’ activities and insights.

Without integrated processes, sales and marketing efforts can become fragmented. Marketing campaigns may not align with sales tactics, leading to a disconnect in the customer journey.

Sales and marketing often use different tools and platforms, creating data silos that get in the way of sharing ‌valuable customer insights. This lack of shared data can lead to inconsistent messaging and missed opportunities.

When sales and marketing don’t work together, the messaging used to communicate with potential customers can be inconsistent, leading to confusion and a weakened brand image.

These fractures between departments have a real-world impact on the performance of teams and the business overall. IDC estimates that poorly aligned B2B organizations lose up to 10% of their revenue every year, while Hubspot reports that teams with good alignment saw a 20% increase in revenue. And your customers suffer, too. They receive different messages, scattered materials, and a poor experience with your brand. 

Alignment between sales and marketing is crucial for driving revenue growth and earning customer satisfaction. When they work together seamlessly, then you can execute a cohesive strategy which leverages the strengths of both departments. It’s through this synergy that you’ll see more effective marketing campaigns, higher quality leads, and a smoother customer journey. 

Aligned organizations are better equipped to understand and meet customer needs, and when sales and marketing share goals and insights, they can provide consistent messaging and support throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Consistency builds trust and encourages long-term customer relationships—so much so that aligned organizations enjoy a 36% higher customer retention rate.

A unified approach to your GTM organization translates to a streamlined internal process and organizational success through better customer insights and streamlined processes.

A unified sales and marketing approach leads to more comprehensive customer insights. By breaking down data silos and sharing data, as well as collaborating on customer analysis, both teams develop a deeper understanding of customer behaviors, preferences, and pain points. 

• Integrated data: Combining data from both teams provides a holistic view of the customer journey, providing more accurate targeting and more personalized interactions. 

• Customer personas: Jointly developed customer personas makes sure that both teams are aligned in their understanding of the target audience, and that they both can properly tailor their efforts for that specific customer.

• Predictive analysis: Leveraging predictive tools helps identify trends and anticipate your customer needs, allowing for more strategic and proactive planning. 

• Streamlined processes

  Aligned teams can reduce inefficiencies and eliminate redundancies, leading to smoother handoffs, better lead management, and more effective use of resources. There’s no more lost data or fumbled leads.

• Unified lead management

  A shared lead management system makes sure that leads are tracked, nurtured, and followed up consistently. This reduces the risk of leads falling through the cracks. And, by bringing sales and marketing together to build your lead qualification and scoring system, there’s less room for finger-pointing when everyone is on the same page.

• Coordinated campaigns

  Collaborative campaign planning makes for a unified GTM organization. When marketing efforts actually support sales objectives, you get higher conversion rates and more trust between teams.

Okay, so we’ve covered the reality of misaligned teams and the benefits of teams who truly work together, but what are the steps to bringing my organization into sync? Great question. There are a few key indicators of a more aligned team. They are:

To build trust, communication, and effectiveness, sales and marketing teams should work towards shared goals and metrics. Or at least know what the other teams are responsible for moving the needle on. When objectives (and understanding of objectives) differs, priorities can conflict, leading to inefficiencies and breakdowns in trust.

Now, there are plenty of guides and opinions out there on how to get teams to work together, but really, it starts with joint planning sessions and co-created campaigns. Get both teams involved during the planning stage and share insights, address challenges, and develop integrated campaigns. Regular planning sessions keep goals and responsibilities clear. Co-created campaigns can be designed to address the entire customer journey, ensuring a consistent customer experience through each touchpoint.

Piggybacking off the ideas above, effective communication is the cornerstone of a unified GTM function. Regularly get teams on the same calls for strategy alignment, retrospective conversations, and update sharing. This also means using collaborative tools. CRM systems like Hubspot or Asana enable real-time collaboration and ensure that both teams have access to the same information.

Unified tech stack

Does your organization suffer from the ‘iceberg affect’ with its tech? It’s what happens when teams leverage only a small portion of a technology’s capabilities and fill in their other needs with additional software, even when the first tech might actually have the same capabilities you’re introducing new tech to fill. Overlapping capabilities and inconsistent adoption of platforms can dilute the efficacy and implementation of their workflows.

But with proper planning and implementation, teams can share technology and workflows. Harmony happens when insights and data flow seamlessly from sales to marketing, then on to product and customer success. Understanding the needs of your team and ensuring that teams have a clear understanding of how to use different technology will lead your GTM teams to full-team data sharing and reduce technology inefficiencies.

Data sharing

A key component of a unified tech stack is the open and barrier-free sharing of data between teams. By combining views of data, your teams will have a more complete, and shared picture of the customer. Without silos, sales and marketing will finally be looking at the same picture of the same customers.

Cohesive and collaborative sales and marketing teams seem like an obvious requirement for any GTM organization, but teams are rarely as in-sync as we think. By taking a look at internal processes, each team’s understanding of the customer journey, and the complexity of their respective tech stacks, we can bring customer-acquiring functions into greater alignment.

Learn more about the misalignment of sales and marketing teams with our ebook.

A creative, on-brand, and functional form makes all the difference when you’re connecting with your audience. The form of your form builds trust, creates a simpler purchase pipeline, and gives you richer data. We recently hosted a live workshop dedicated to helping users fine-tune their Typeform experience. Whether you missed the live event or simply want a refresher, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a comprehensive recap of the key takeaways and expert tips shared during the session.

You’ve already done the most important step: created a typeform that you want to share with the world. But even the most well-designed forms benefit from periodic tune-ups. Getting in the habit of optimizing your typeform can lead to higher completion rates, more accurate data collection, and an overall better user experience. 

A more beautiful form makes for a better user experience—it’s the truth. Your form should be on-brand, meaning it aligns with your brand colors, branding elements, and styles, and should be consistent with your website and other customer-facing touch points.

Keep your questions relevant and focused. Our data on data report found that surveys with fewer than 6 questions had the highest response rates.

With so few questions to actually collect information, it’s key that your questions flow logically and seem relevant to the survey taker. You might understand the flow of questioning, but if it’s not clear to your respondent, they could exit and leave you abandoned. Group your questions together to make the connection clear for survey takers, and use Logic to personalize question paths based on responses.

A personalized, interactive form gets more engagement than run-of-the-mill, impersonal forms. Typeform makes it easy to incorporate images and videos to make your form more engaging (you can even use video to ask questions, cool, right?).

Personalization is not only cool, but also builds trust. Hidden Fields can be used to remember and recall almost any piece of information about a respondent. From their name to their shoe size (maybe you sell shoes, who knows?), you can collect almost any information and use it for segmentation and personalization in your typeforms.

Make sure your typeform is ready for mobile devices. If you’re not sure, test it from a variety of devices before pushing your form live. Also remember to keep your forms short and sweet—long and complex forms can be daunting on smaller screens and could result in lower completion rates.

Once your form looks good, it’s time to consider how it’s performing. When evaluating whether and where your form can be improved, keep an eye on completion rates and drop-off points. If you’re not sure whether an update would be helpful or hurtful, try an A/B test. An A/B test involves creating two versions of your form with only one change between them. Then, half your audience receives form A and half your audience receives form B. Focusing on one change at a time allows you to hone in on what‌ makes a difference to completion and drop-off rates.

Logic jumps can make your form smarter by showing or hiding questions based on previous answers. This not only makes the form shorter but also more relevant to each respondent.

Embedding your Typeform directly into your website or landing pages can increase visibility and completion rates.

A well-crafted thank-you screen can leave a lasting impression. Use it to thank respondents, provide next steps, or even offer additional resources.

Regularly tuning up your Typeform improves response rates and data quality—you get more and better data. By implementing the tips and strategies shared in our live workshop, you can create forms that not only look great but also deliver results.

If you’d like the help of our Typeform team and community in tuning up your own typeform, visit our community!

Or, if you missed the live session and would like to watch it yourself, don’t worry! You can rewatch the workshop here and gain all the insights you need to elevate your Typeform game.

Happy form building!

SAN FRANCISCO, July 1, 2024 — Typeform, the intuitive form builder and conversational data collection platform, today announced Typeform for Growth, a suite of new capabilities designed to help businesses capture, qualify, and convert leads to boost revenue growth. The capabilities were designed with growing businesses in mind, providing go-to-market (GTM) teams with an intuitive platform to streamline customer acquisition. Now it’s easier than ever to create engaging experiences to collect zero-party customer data, automatically enrich responses, and harness the power of AI to automate marketing workflows.

“For over a decade, Typeform has continuously redefined online engagement,” said Aleks Bass, Chief Product Officer, Typeform. “With the launch of Typeform for Growth, we’re once again leading the charge, empowering businesses to interact with audiences in more dynamic and personalized ways. This new suite of capabilities consolidates multiple tools into one seamless solution, making it easier than ever to understand, engage, and convert customers.”

Typeform has been on a mission to make collecting data more engaging and enjoyable for both creators and respondents since its beginning, empowering more than 150,000 customers to gather the information they need to grow their businesses. Today’s launch expands on that vision by introducing new features that enable companies to collect data in more interactive ways and integrate it throughout their technology stack. With a more complete customer picture, GTM teams can enhance engagement and personalize every journey, all while increasing efficiency. The innovations come at a critical time, as McKinsey & Company’s 2023 Global B2B Pulse found that 77% of companies using direct one-to-one personalization observed an increase in market share. 

Key benefits of Typeform for Growth include: 

Use interactive, multimedia forms to stand out. Capture more leads with on-brand, hyper-personalized forms that include a mix of text, audio, images, and video. In 2023, forms created with Typeform saw an average completion rate of 47.3%, more than 25 percentage points higher than the industry average completion rate of 21.5%, according to Typeform’s The Data on Data Report.

• Video forms: Record, edit, and embed personalized videos into forms to connect with customers, boost engagement, and increase conversion rates.

Gain deeper insights with less lift. Enrich data directly in Typeform to better understand customers and streamline customer acquisition workflows, eliminating the need for a separate lead data enrichment tool. 

• Automated enrichment: Focus on asking the important questions and let Typeform fill in the rest with real-time B2B data enrichment.

• Data quality controls: Protect the integrity and quality of data with reCAPTCHA and advanced spam-blocking measures.

Convert more leads into pipeline. Create touch points for all leads and use automation to connect with high-value leads faster. Leverage AI to improve marketing and sales efficiency and effectiveness.  

• Workflow automation: Automate scoring, routing, and emailing to quickly prioritize and connect with promising opportunities. 

• Smart Insights and Ask AI: Uncover key data insights by using AI to analyze large volumes of data and query data with natural language.  

“The way Typeform integrates data across sources provides deeper insights than what we’ve had access to before,” said Justin Lubomirsky, Senior SEO Manager, OrCam. “With a more complete image of our audience, we can better customize content, creating more effective customer engagements that positively impact our business.” 

The suite of capabilities is available now in the company’s newly released Typeform for Growth plans, providing companies of all sizes, industries, and budgets access to sophisticated marketing tools in one platform. Existing customers can upgrade their plan immediately to gain access to the new features. 

About Typeform

Typeform is a distinctly intuitive form builder that helps over 150,000 customers collect and validate the data they need to grow their businesses. Designed with striking visuals, a conversational flow, and powerful data capabilities, Typeform empowers brands to give and get more with each form. Typeform drives more than 500 million responses each year and integrates with essential tools including Zapier, HubSpot, and Slack. For more information, visit www.typeform.com.

Descriptive research is critical in nearly every business—from e-commerce to SaaS to everything in between. Whether you’re selling luxury quilted comforters or an advanced market research automation tool, you need to know who your customers are, what their preferences are, and how to analyze the competitive landscape. 

While you can scrape some of this information from third-party data, there’s nothing like zero-party data for the most accurate information about your customers. (After all, why not go straight to the source?) That’s why research methods like surveys, observational studies, case studies, and other descriptive types of research are necessary: They all provide that sweet, sweet zero-party data for your team. 

Today, we’ll explore the nature of descriptive research and what differentiates it from other research types—plus look at how you can put these strategies to work for your business. 

If you want to understand your customers better, descriptive research is a powerful tool for determining what users want. This approach is typically used to discover more information about a specific segment or demographic or to further segment an existing group.

It can be helpful to think of descriptive research as the opposite of experimental research—if you’re doing experiments, you’re changing variables in your target group. (Think of famous experiments like Newton’s discovery of light!) If you’re doing descriptive research, however, you want to understand the characteristics of your target group without changing any variables. 

In business, the data from research like this is invaluable, as it can help you better understand (and segment) your customers. 

Now that we’ve learned about the definition of descriptive research, let’s look at some common characteristics of research like this. (Spoiler: It’s a lot of surveys.) Because we’re not looking to answer any “why” questions, this type of research will analyze data without impacting or altering it.

If your research contains the following elements, it’s probably descriptive: 

• Measuring data trends with statistical outcomes: This method analyzes data using statistical tools and techniques to identify patterns and changes over time. 

• Quantitative research: This method analyzes numerical data to uncover patterns and relationships—frequently utilizing the forms or surveys we know and love. 

• Designed for further research: If your research has different phases and starts with a general study to pave the way for a more detailed study, that’s descriptive research.

• Uncontrolled variables: In descriptive research, none of the variables are impacted by the team doing the research in any way. (Doing so could introduce bias and impact the validity of the research.)

• Cross-sectional studies: These studies examine data from a single point in time, like taking a picture of your audience at a specific moment. 

Now that we better understand what descriptive research looks like, you might recognize this research type in work your business is doing already. If so, congratulations, you’re ahead of the game! If not, you may wonder why one might go through all the trouble of doing this in-depth analysis. 

Here are a few ways we’ve seen companies successfully leverage descriptive research: 

• Customer satisfaction surveys: A company might conduct a customer satisfaction survey to gauge customers’ feelings about their products or services. By asking customers to rate their experience with product quality, customer service, and even pricing, the business can identify strengths and areas for improvement.

• Market segmentation research: A company might use descriptive research to segment its market based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral characteristics. This helps the marketing team target specific groups more effectively. 

• Trend analysis: Analyzing historical survey data to identify trends and patterns can help businesses forecast future sales, surface key insights, and even benchmark for future performance. 

• Competitor benchmarking: A company might use descriptive research methods to benchmark performance against competitors. (Yes, you can!) A simple customer research survey can arm your team with information on competitors’ pricing, product offerings, and market share.

• Employee satisfaction research: A company might conduct research to assess employee satisfaction and engagement. An employee satisfaction survey can help businesses understand their workforce and identify factors contributing to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. 

Now that we’ve covered some examples of descriptive research in the wild, you may be itching to start your own. Here are the four descriptive research methods and how to utilize them.

The observational research method is perhaps the simplest (and arguably the most effective) of the descriptive research methods we’ll examine today. In observational research, the researcher simply records behavior as it occurs without manipulating the variables. This can look like qualitative or quantitative research—and yes, both can be observational!

In qualitative observation, the researcher simply documents what they see and hear. They may not even need to interact directly with the study subjects. This can include social media research, focus group interviews, forum discussion analysis, or even surveys with open-ended questions. 

In quantitative observation, the researcher takes a much more structured approach to collecting hard data. For example, they may perform detailed data analysis on survey results containing information about age, race, gender, position, or industry. They can then splice and dice the results to reveal numerical insights about the group in question. 

When utilizing either of these methods, you’ll want to be careful not to skew the data as you work. (For example, don’t accidentally exclude any customer segments!)

Survey research is fairly simple conceptually—it does what it says on the tin. (They’re probably also the first thing you think of when you think of market research.) A researcher using this method sends surveys or questionnaires to the selected groups and uses the data gleaned from this research to inform business decisions. Surveys are a very popular research method due to their accessibility and straightforward nature, as users can access them online and from any location. 

Case studies are another popular method of performing descriptive research. They’re a great way to dive deep into the experiences of a particular individual or group and really understand that specific experience with your product or service. You can do this using multiple interviews with multiple parties involved. 

The downside is that data gleaned from these studies may not be particularly quantitative—but you will likely get a very strong understanding of how your customers feel about the topic of your study.  

Finally, a method of descriptive research design that’s gaining popularity in businesses is the interview method. This is distinct from the case study method in that interviews focus on gathering in-depth information from individuals, while case studies comprehensively analyze a particular experience within a context. All case studies should contain interviews—but not all interviews must be part of case studies. It’s sort of a squares-and-rectangles situation.

All that said, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for learning about your customer in a practical, actionable way you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. Next, we’ll cover the pros and cons of this type of research—and how we see research teams working with (and around) those elements. 

• Detailed data collection: Descriptive research provides rich and highly detailed data about the studied demographics. You can analyze this data and use it for various market research purposes. 

• Cost efficiency: With the power of online surveys, research is easy and cost-efficient. 

• Highly accurate: Descriptive research captures a highly accurate picture of the subjects, meaning any data you glean will be valuable to your business. 

• Versatile: This method can be applied across various fields and disciplines and used for business research of almost any variety.

• Easy to build on: Once you’ve begun a descriptive research program, it’s easy to build on year after year—making each compounding round of research more valuable. 

• Time-consuming analysis: While collecting large swathes of data may be easy—especially with surveys—analyzing that data can take time and resources. 

• No causality data: Since you’re only looking at a snapshot of data, you won’t know why certain things are true, only that they are true. Additional research may be necessary to discover more. 

• Static: Again, since you’re only getting a snapshot of data, it will not remain accurate over time, and you may need to do another study to keep your information up-to-date. 

Here are some examples of descriptive research in practice. 

Example 1: Customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry 

A cruise line conducts a comprehensive survey of guests who have booked travel with them in the last year. The survey includes questions about their stay, including ease of booking, room cleanliness, staff service, check-in and check-out, food and beverage experiences, entertainment options, and overall satisfaction. 

The company can then analyze this data to identify patterns, such as the most common complaints about food options. The data is then shared with hospitality management to improve the quality of the food on the cruise. 

Example 2: Market segmentation for a SaaS platform 

A company that developed a SaaS platform for developers conducts a cross-sectional market research study to understand its users’ demographics and usage patterns. They collect data on users’ location, industry, number of employees at the company, frequency of use, and more. 

By analyzing this data, the company identifies distinct market segments, such as learning that a large percentage of its users serve the automotive industry. This allows the company to develop new features explicitly targeted to these users. 

Example 3: Employee engagement at a dental office

A dental practice conducts an annual employee engagement survey to measure employee satisfaction at the company. The survey covers topics such as work-life balance, management support, career development opportunities, and company culture. 

The survey results show a trend toward employee dissatisfaction with the policies for requesting paid time off, allowing leadership to revisit those policies. By positively addressing these policies, the following year’s employee satisfaction rate increased by 25%. 

Research doesn’t have to be hard. If you’re ready to learn more about your customers, users, or employees, don’t overengineer it. Typeform’s user-friendly form templates make research easier for you (and more fun for everyone else!). Try Typeform for free today.

Ever skipped an ad only to find yourself humming the jingle two hours later? Yeah, us, too. 

The truth is, some ads are just plain magic. They tickle our funny bone, tug at our heartstrings, and leave us wanting more. But beyond the laughs and tears, these campaigns are actually marketing masterpieces, persuading us to grab that product or consider a new idea.

Ad campaigns are strategic efforts to promote a product, service, brand, or social cause. They can have different goals, from building brand awareness to driving sales to sparking conversations about important social issues. They use creative concepts, humor, emotional storytelling, or visuals to capture your attention, leave a lasting impression, and ultimately influence the target audience’s behavior or brand perception.

Get ready as we explore 17 of the funniest, most heartwarming, and downright creative ad campaigns ever. We’ll dissect the genius behind the giggles, the secret sauce of sentimentality, and the sheer brilliance that makes these ads stick in our brains.

Brand awareness campaigns are the key to success in the competitive marketing world. These ad campaigns aim to introduce new audiences to a brand or reinforce an existing image, prioritizing positive associations and lasting memories over immediate sales.

Catchy slogans, memorable visuals, and creative storytelling are their weapons of choice, building brand loyalty and recognition through impactful experiences. Here are a few examples of brand awareness campaigns that have left their mark on the world.

Concept: This ad campaign aimed to challenge beauty standards and promote self-esteem for women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and ages.

Execution: The campaign showcased real, everyday women instead of models to show diversity and celebrate unique features. Dove wanted to show how common and normal it is for people to have insecurities but emphasize that it doesn’t make them any less beautiful.

Impact: The campaign ignited conversations about the unrealistic portrayal of beauty in media and advertising. Dove’s campaign influenced the beauty industry to embrace greater diversity in their advertising and portray women as they are in real life.

Concept: The “Taste the Rainbow” campaign for Skittles aimed to capture the unique and diverse flavors of the candy through a sensory experience. It elevated the traditional “taste” association with candy by linking the vibrant colors of Skittles to a spectrum of flavors.

Execution: Skittles used vibrant colors, catchy music, and the now-iconic slogan “Taste the Rainbow” to create a memorable and fun brand experience. Many video ads for Skittles feature humorous skits or characters for a fun, lighthearted message.

Impact: This ad campaign successfully created a strong brand identity for Skittles. The colorful visuals and catchy slogan are easily recognizable and have become synonymous with the candy. 

Concept: This marketing ad was created to raise brand awareness for the Thailand expansion of the European cell provider Orange.

Execution: Orange showcased black, white, and orange billboards all over Bangkok to spark curiosity and local connection. After a few weeks, the photos were replaced with new billboards showcasing the cell phone service.

Impact: By building suspense, Orange was able to increase brand awareness through the reveal. They were also able to capture the attention of locals and foster a sense of community.

Concept: This ad campaign for Sony’s Bravia televisions focused on a single, powerful message: superior color reproduction. It was designed to differentiate Bravia from competitors by highlighting its ability to display vibrant and realistic colors.

Execution: The campaign relied on simple yet visually stunning elements to grab attention. The tagline “Colour Like No Other” was central to the campaign, emphasizing the superiority of Bravia’s color technology.

Impact: This campaign positioned Sony Bravia as a leader in television technology. It emphasized the visual experience their TVs offered, setting them apart from competitors.

Concept: Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas company, uses annual National Day campaigns to celebrate Malaysia’s national identity and strengthen its brand association with patriotism and national pride.

Execution: The ad campaign uses narratives that resonate with Malaysians to evoke emotions and connect with their audience on a deeper level. Through the use of music and traditions, they’re able to create a sense of belonging.

Impact: This annual campaign reinforces Petronas’ position as a leader and fosters a sense of unity among Malaysians. It connects the brand with a sense of patriotism and pride.

Concept: Promote WestJet airlines and spread holiday cheer by surprising travelers with gifts and reunions with loved ones.

Execution: WestJet surprised passengers at the airport with personalized gifts, upgrades, and reunions with loved ones. They documented these heartwarming moments and released a video online.

Impact: This campaign generated positive publicity for WestJet and showcased their commitment to customer service. The emotional storytelling in the video resonated with viewers and created a positive association with the airline.

The world of marketing thrives on creativity and persuasion. But beyond catchy jingles and funny commercials lie strategic campaigns designed to influence our behavior. Here’s a closer look at sales and promotion ad campaigns and how they use humor, emotion, and innovation to not only sell products but shape our perceptions.

Execution: McDonald’s launched a website and social media campaign that answered frequently asked questions about their food. They also invited customers behind the scenes to see their kitchens and ingredients.

Impact: This campaign aimed to rebuild trust by openly addressing customer concerns. It showed a willingness to be transparent about their food practices.

Concept: To position Sprite as the more down-to-earth, refreshing option, they used parody advertising tactics like a cartoon mascot to poke fun and make them stand out against other drink competitors.

Execution: Instead of portraying a happy family enjoying a refreshing drink, the ad campaign flipped the script and used dark humor to make it more memorable. They used a catchy tagline to reinforce that Sprite is a safe and enjoyable option.

Impact: This campaign generated buzz and positive word of mouth. The campaign also helped solidify Sprite’s image as a cool, refreshing brand that resonated with younger consumers.

Concept: This ad campaign promotes Samsung’s foldable phones, particularly the Galaxy Z Fold series. 

Execution: The campaign utilizes captivating visuals that showcase the phone’s innovative foldable design and its use in various scenarios. It highlights its unique capabilities and how it can “unfold your world” by offering new ways to interact with technology and experience daily activities while harping on nostalgia. 

Impact: The campaign increased brand awareness for Samsung’s foldable phones and drove more sales for these foldable devices.

Concept: Promote Cards Against Humanity, a party game known for its dark humor, by offering unconventional gift ideas for Hanukkah.

Execution: Cards Against Humanity released a humorous online ad featuring a list of inappropriate and somewhat offensive gift ideas for Hanukkah, alluding to the game’s edgy humor.

Impact: This campaign used humor and targeted messaging to reach their specific audience and boost sales during the holiday season. It played on the brand’s reputation for dark humor and resonated with their existing customer base.

Concept: This long-running ad campaign by Snickers plays on the idea that hunger can negatively affect our behavior and personality. The core message is that a Snickers bar can satisfy your hunger and restore you to your normal, pleasant self.

Execution: This campaign uses humor to depict the negative consequences of hunger, including crankiness, irrational behavior, and saying or doing things you wouldn’t normally say or do.

Impact: The “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign has become synonymous with the Snickers brand. It’s highly recognizable and has helped solidify Snickers’ position as a go-to snack for satisfying hunger pangs. This campaign has been successful in driving sales while becoming a pop culture phenomenon.

It’s not uncommon for ad campaigns to leverage the power of marketing to raise awareness about important issues. These campaigns go beyond entertainment––instead, they use powerful visuals and captivating storytelling to spark conversations. Let’s jump into some examples of social awareness campaigns.

Concept: This campaign was designed to challenge gender stereotypes and empower young girls.

Execution: Always released a video ad that showed young girls performing actions typically associated with weakness if done by a girl (e.g., running “like a girl”). The ad then switched to these same girls performing the actions with confidence and strength.

Impact: This social purpose campaign went viral and sparked important conversations about female empowerment and confidence. It challenged the limiting stereotypes associated with the phrase “like a girl.”

Concept: This ad campaign was designed to bring awareness about the dangers of texting and driving to reduce traffic accidents.

Execution: This public service announcement (PSA) used a powerful and emotional story to depict the consequences of distracted driving.

Impact: The campaign aimed to shock and educate viewers about the dangers of texting and driving, encouraging them to be more responsible behind the wheel.

Concept: This ad campaign discusses pet adoption and pet ownership through humorous videos featuring talking animals.

Execution: Pets Add Life created a series of YouTube videos featuring adorable animals with funny voices discussing the joys of pet ownership.

Impact: This campaign uses a lighthearted approach to raise awareness about animal shelters and encourage pet adoption. The humor and cuteness of the animals resonate with viewers and make the message more engaging.

Concept: Flo Health, a leading women’s health app, prioritizes providing accessible and engaging information to its millions of users. They use a data-driven approach to tailor content specifically for women’s needs.

Execution: Flo ditches traditional, text-heavy articles and embraces an Instagram Stories format. This approach uses bite-sized snippets of information, visuals, and a more conversational tone, appealing to the way many women already consume content online.

Impact: Flo’s engaging format makes learning about health topics easier and more approachable for a wider audience of women. Flo fills a gap in women’s access to clear and engaging health information. 

Concept: This is one of the best ad campaigns that tackles drunk driving by tugging at viewers’ heartstrings. It highlights the idea that someone, often a loved one like a pet or family member, is waiting for you to return home safely.

Execution: This campaign uses heartwarming visuals without excessive dialogue, featuring the bond between dogs and their owners while emphasizing the importance of drinking responsibly.

Impact: By advocating for safety, Budweiser positioned itself as a responsible brand that cares about its consumers and their communities. The campaign significantly raised public awareness of the dangers of drunk driving and the importance of responsible drinking. 

Concept: This campaign aimed to challenge the prejudice that women’s football is less skilled or exciting than the men’s game.

Execution: Using visual effects (VFX), they meticulously replaced the men’s bodies with the women’s bodies while adjusting details. 

Impact: This viral social campaign resonated with viewers by showcasing the skills of women’s football and challenged the misconceptions of the quality of women’s football. 

The art of creating ad campaigns goes beyond an idea––you have to create the concept, build out the execution plan, and document the data. As technology and consumer behavior continue to shift, the ability to adapt your approach is paramount. 

Craft messages that resonate with consumers on a deeper level, building brand loyalty and fostering emotional connections. This will, in turn, drive not just sales but brand advocacy. 

Ready to create effective ads? Turn to Typeform to build surveys and forms to uncover challenges and content preferences and better understand your audience. This way, you can tailor your ad campaigns to resonate directly with them.

The options are limitless with our extensive templates ready to execute. Build better forms with Typeform.

Ever wonder how data is categorized? How do people rank scores, draw conclusions about product reviews, or conduct simple yes/no survey questions? These are all types of measured data, but they’re measured differently.

Understanding data types is crucial for any analysis, as it determines the most appropriate statistical methods to use. In the world of data, two fundamental types you’ll encounter are nominal and ordinal data. 

Nominal data refers to categories with no inherent order, while ordinal data involves categories with a ranking or sequence. 

We’ll dive into the key differences between nominal vs. ordinal data, along with examples to illustrate their usage in various contexts. By understanding these distinctions, you’ll be well equipped to interpret data effectively and draw meaningful conclusions from your analyses.

Nominal data, also known as categorical data, is a type of qualitative data that represents categories or classifications. This type of data is also known for being sorted into groups. Nominal data doesn’t have a set order or hierarchy when sorted––these variables also don’t represent any kind of measurement. 

You can use the nominal level of measurement by dividing variables with no mathematical value into categorized groups. Since variables are ranked by their names, there isn’t an order or hierarchy organically associated with them.  

Nominal data examples include a person’s gender, eye color, or ethnicity. Since these nominal data categories aren’t associated with specific numbers, they are ranked by category instead. You can then give these arranged groups corresponding numbers to collect and analyze the data. 

Here’s a closer look at nominal data examples:

Demographics:

• Hair color: Blonde, brown, red, black, etc. 

• Eye color: Brown, blue, green, hazel, etc. 

• Nationality: American, French, Cuban, Canadian, Irish, etc. 

Products and services:

• Car brands: Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevrolet, etc. 

• Clothing size: Small, medium, large, extra large, etc. 

• Customer satisfaction: Satisfied, not satisfied 

Surveys and questionnaires:

• Preferred genre of music: Rock, pop, country, hip-hop, etc. 

• Preferred mode of transportation: Car, bus, train, bicycle, etc. 

• Marital status: Single, married, divorced, widowed, etc. 

Ordinal data, also known as ranked data, is a step higher than nominal data––it involves categories that have natural order or ranking. The ordinal scale of ranking involves arranging data in a certain order in comparison with one another to rate different variables. The order of variables (like ascending or descending) is important here.

You can use ordinal data in market research, for example, to analyze feedback, perception, and even choices––then use this data to gauge customer satisfaction with the creation of surveys and forms.

Ordinal data examples include rating your ordering experience or rating a product’s quality. The ordinal scale involves arranging data in a specific order to compare one another and essentially “rank” each variable. 

Let’s take a look at some more ordinal data examples:

• How satisfied are you with our product or service? (Very satisfied, Satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, Very dissatisfied)

Movie ratings:

Social media sentiment analysis:

Education levels:

• What is your highest level of education? (High school diploma, Associate degree, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, Doctorate)

T-shirt sizes:

• What size T-shirt do you wear? (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large)

Restaurant experience:

• Rate the food quality at this restaurant. (Excellent, Very good, Good, Average, Below average)

How the variables are measured is a key difference between nominal vs. ordinal data. Since each variable has a scale of degree (mathematical or categorical), you’ll be able to make informed decisions about your data. Let’s break down nominal and ordinal scales and data.

Nominal data (categorical data):

• Focuses on classification: Nominal data groups items into distinct categories that have no inherent order or ranking.

• Related to labels: Imagine labels on boxes. Each box represents a category (e.g., shirt color) and the items inside (e.g., red shirts) belong to that specific group.

• Limited math: You can’t perform mathematical operations like addition or subtraction on nominal data because the categories themselves don’t have a numerical value.

Ordinal data (ranked data):

• Focuses on ranking: Ordinal data arranges items into categories with a specific order. There’s a clear hierarchy, but the intervals between categories aren’t necessarily equal.

• Similar to levels: Imagine steps on a staircase. Each step represents a category (e.g., customer satisfaction), but the exact distance between steps (difference in satisfaction) might be subjective.

• Order matters, measurement doesn’t: While you know “very satisfied” is better than “satisfied,” you can’t say someone who is “very satisfied” is twice as happy.

Choosing between nominal vs. ordinal data depends on the kind of information you’re trying to capture. Here’s a breakdown of when to use each:

Use nominal data when:

• You’re simply classifying items into distinct categories with no inherent order.

• The categories themselves don’t have any numerical value.

• You only care about identifying groups and not ranking them.

Use ordinal data when:

• You want to rank items in a specific order, but the exact difference between those rankings isn’t important.

• The categories have a clear hierarchy, but the intervals between them are subjective or not precisely measurable.

Understanding the distinction between nominal vs. ordinal data is a fundamental step in data analysis. The ability to classify your data correctly will ensure you get the most out of your analysis and avoid misinterpretations.

Remember, nominal data helps categorize information, while ordinal data allows ranking within those categories. 

So, next time you encounter data, ask yourself: Is it simply classified, or is there a ranking or order involved? The answer will guide you toward the most appropriate statistical analysis and clear, insightful results.

Whether you’re conducting surveys, analyzing marketing campaigns, or interpreting research findings, recognizing nominal and ordinal data will empower you to make more informed decisions.

Scale up your research with Typeform––create visually appealing forms and surveys designed to obtain maximum response. Choose from one of our customizable templates to take your branded forms to the next level.

Imagine riding your bike on a sunny summer day, pedaling furiously up steep hills, hair blowing in the wind. You’re probably not thinking about the mechanics of your bike or how they all work together to propel you forward.

But without your pedaling, the bike wouldn’t move. Or, if the tires were missing, you’d be stuck. Everything needs to work in unison for you to ride your bike. The same goes for lead generation and customer acquisition.

Without leads to convert into customers, your customer acquisition efforts stall (just like your bike). Lead gen is the fuel that powers customer acquisition. We’re breaking down how both function independently and the connection between the two, plus a foolproof strategy for converting leads into loyal customers.

HubSpot defines lead gen as “the process of attracting prospects to your business and increasing their interest through nurturing, all with the end goal of converting them into a customer.”

Organizations often use gated content—like industry reports or white papers—discounts, and online content (like blogs) to bring in leads. Once you have a lead, you can warm them up with email campaigns to build awareness and drive home your product or service as the solution to their problem.

Like lead generation, customer acquisition has the same end goal: to get more customers. But they’re not the same—they work together.

According to HubSpot, customer acquisition involves getting potential customers to buy your products. It typically includes lead gen, nurture sequences, and eventually turning leads into paying customers.

Simply put, there is no customer without lead generation. Every customer starts as a lead—someone who attended a webinar, heard about you from a friend, or followed you on social media and then joined your email list.

No leads, no nurturing them, no converting them into customers. It’s that simple.

Lead generation isn’t the first step in the customer acquisition process. Collecting data that turns a casual visitor into a hot lead is. Many companies leverage marketing efforts to gather that data, like requiring an email address to register for a webinar or get their results from your product quiz.

But why is data so important? When you have high-quality data, you get to know your leads on a deeper level. You understand their preferences, who they are, and how to more effectively nurture them into eventual customers.

Data gives you the power to design more personalized experiences—something we know customers want and expect from you. 

While zero-party data—data straight from your customers—is the most trustworthy data you can get, it’s not the only kind. Leverage a mix of zero, first, second, and third-party data to collect as much information as possible on your leads.

While it sometimes feels like we’re missing the data we need to understand our customers fully or prove return on investment (ROI), the truth is that there’s no shortage of data. Most organizations collect vast amounts of it.

What’s really going on is your data is living in silos across teams and tools.

Sales may collect data in a CRM like HubSpot. Your customer support team’s data may live in Zendesk. And your marketing team may have data in Hotjar, Google Analytics, and many other tools.

And none of your tools talk to each other.

When you have dozens of tools in your tech stack that don’t communicate with each other, you create data silos that make it impossible to paint a clear picture of your lead. And when you don’t understand your leads, you can’t create the personalized outreach necessary to drive your customer acquisition process.

You already know data is crucial in building better, more personalized experiences for your leads and customers. But that’s only one part of the puzzle.

Leads engage with your company in a thousand ways before becoming customers. This means they also likely interact with different teams at touchpoints along their journey to becoming a customer.

But your leads expect a single seamless experience, whether they’re talking to your sales team, filling out a product quiz, or contacting customer support. Everyone across your organization needs to align on what that experience looks like and how you can make sure every lead’s experience is personalized.

While lead generation and customer acquisition are both part of the same process, they each require their own strategy.

Think of your lead gen strategy as creating a neverending pipeline of leads to be nurtured over time. While every business will take a different approach, there are a few basic strategies any team can implement, like:

• Creating high-quality content that builds brand awareness and trust with leads. Once you give them a reason to keep coming back, they’ll likely sign up for your email newsletter so you can nurture them.

• Optimizing lead magnets to collect enough information without overwhelming potential leads. Someone earlier in the customer journey may not be willing to provide extra details like job title, organization, or company size.

• Focusing on search engine optimization (SEO) to drive organic traffic to your site, especially to lead generation landing pages.

• Using giveaways, contests, or product quizzes like this to get people to share their contact information with you.

• Offering free trials, a freemium version of your product, or free tools in exchange for their email addresses. Again, to send tailored marketing campaigns that nurture them into customers over time.

There are so many things to consider when building your lead generation strategy, but the single most important thing you need to remember is that you need to provide something just as valuable as your leads’ email addresses in return.

So, you’ve got leads coming in. Now what? Customer acquisition. And just like with lead gen, you need a solid strategy to convert leads. Here are a few things to consider:

• What channels will you use? There’s a plethora of ways to convert customers—your website, social channels, blog, ads, and more. Which makes the most sense for your organization?

• Where are your leads in their buying journey? Lead qualification will help you understand where leads are and the content or actions that will move them closer to becoming a customer.

• What’s the most effective way to nurture our leads? While email marketing is an effective option, ask yourself how else you can keep your leads engaged.

• Can we offer free trials or a free self-serve product offering? Think of these as previews of your product and what leads will get (and more) when they become paying customers.

• How can we incentivize existing customers to refer more customers? Loyalty and affiliate programs can bring in more leads… and customers.

Again, customer acquisition isn’t just spamming leads with sales content or marketing emails. It’s about providing value and proving that your product or service can help them.

Both lead gen and customer acquisition require you to know your future customers, and doing so requires data. That data helps you understand what leads are interested in so you can create compelling lead magnets. It also makes for more effective targeting by meeting leads where they are, whether it’s on social, in the inbox, or at events.

But data also paints a complete picture of your leads to create personalized experiences. A McKinsey study shows why it matters:

• 76% of consumers are more likely to consider purchasing from brands that use personalization

• 78% of consumers are more likely to buy again from brands that use personalization

• 78% of consumers are more likely to refer friends and family to brands that personalize experiences

So, what’s the best way to get data on your leads and customers? Get data straight from them.

Try Typeform—for free—to start collecting more and better data directly from your leads to fuel your lead generation and customer acquisition strategies.

Have you ever stopped to think about the power a color can hold? The color black, with its depth and mystery, has captivated cultures for centuries. It embodies the night sky, the exclusivity of credit cards, and even the timeless elegance of an evening gown. 

But the color black is more than just aesthetics. 

The dark hues of black carry a range of psychological associations, from conveying sophistication and power to hinting at the unknown and death. 

Let’s delve into the meaning of the color black, the way this color impacts our emotions, and even some fascinating facts.

All colors evoke emotions. Red inflames passion, yellow shines with joy, green breaths peace, blue when you’re sad. Sure, all of these colors can spark other sentiments, too.

But black has a special full-spectrum status when it comes to the feelings it reflects.

Power, elegance, sophistication, status, formality. Evil, death, grief, mourning, the occult. Mystery, bleakness, heaviness, depression, rebellion, fear.

A color of many sentiments.

Why are so many feelings associated with the color black? Maybe it’s because black goes with everything and brings out the best—or worst—in whatever it surrounds.

The color black evokes a range of emotions in humans. For some people, black evokes mystery or fear, whereas others may associate it with power and sophistication. But have you ever wondered why a color can spark contrasting emotions?

Through its hues, black can influence mood, perception, and behaviors. Cultural associations and historical contexts can also influence one’s understanding of this color.

 Let’s take a look at the positive and negative associations of the color black.

The color black often gets a bad rap due to its common associations with darkness. But it has plenty of positive associations, too. Here’s a closer look:

• Power and confidence: Black is often linked to authority, seriousness, and control. Think of a powerful black suit or a sporty black car. It can project the essence of success and accomplishment.

• Luxury and exclusivity: Black is frequently used in high-end products, creating a perception of value, rarity, and sophistication. From designer handbags to limited edition black credit cards, the color black signifies something special.

• Sophistication and timelessness: A black outfit never seems to go out of style. Black clothing represents classic elegance and can be dressed up or down for any occasion.

• Mystery and intrigue: The hues of black absorb all light, so it’s naturally associated with the unseen and unexplored. This can evoke a sense of curiosity, hidden potential, or the vastness of space.

Despite its favorable qualities, black can also evoke feelings like fear and sadness. Let’s dive into the darker side of the color black to reveal the negative associations it can conjure.

• Death and mourning: In many cultures, black is the traditional color for mourning clothes. The color black symbolizes loss, grief, and solemnity.

• Fear and the unknown: Its association with darkness can lead to feelings of anxiety, fear, or negativity. The dark hue can represent danger, evil, or the ominous.

• Emptiness and absence: The complete lack of color can evoke a sense of emptiness, nothingness, or a void.

• Anger and aggression: The intensity of the dark hue can sometimes be associated with violence, anger, and aggression.

Black was one of the first colors humans used. In prehistoric times, people used charcoal and manganese oxide to create black pigments to draw and write on cave walls.

The color black held different meanings in ancient culture. In Egypt, black symbolized fertility and the rich soil of the Nile River. Other cultures associated black with the underworld and death.

The development of black dyes shifted the fashion world, signifying importance, wealth, and sophistication. Wealthy Europeans began wearing black clothing, and the color black eventually became a symbol of power.

Black also played a significant role in the Renaissance movement. Artists used black to create depth and create dramatic shadows. With the invention of the printing press, black ink became the standard for text.

Today, black is everywhere. It’s used in survey design and user interfaces (UI) for its neutrality, dyes from natural sources to reduce harsh chemicals, and even in minimalistic art, which emphasizes clean lines and negative space.

The color black is more than dark pigment––black is deeply rooted in history and science and is now prevalent in our daily lives. Here’s a closer look at some fascinating facts about the color black––they may even make you see the color in a new light.

1. Black Friday: The phrase originally referred to factory worker absenteeism after Thanksgiving but was later adopted by retailers for the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.

2. Black cats: They represent bad luck in some cultures and good luck in others. In some cultures, black cats are wedding gifts that symbolize happiness for the bride.

3. Vantablack: This is the world’s darkest material that absorbs 99.9% of light. It’s used in art, automotive sensing, and telescopes.

4. “Black” albums: Metallica’s self-titled album (1991), Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” (2003), Prince’s “The Black Album” (unreleased), and The Beatles’ unofficial “The Black Album” compilation used “black” in their titles to define themes.

5. Black credit cards: These are exclusive credit cards for the wealthy, including the American Express Centurion and the Dubai First Royale with no spending limit.

6. Black and white nostalgia: This color combo represents a simpler time, from black and white TVs to black and white movies.

7. “The new black”: This phrase refers to something that has become suddenly popular.

8. Black belts: In martial arts, a black belt signifies expertise in techniques and principles. 

9. Black holes: Although called “black,” they don’t emit light because of their immense gravity.

As you can see, the color black represents many different things. From nostalgia à la black and white films to the mystery of black holes, it’s hard to find something the color black couldn’t represent. 

The symbolism of the color black runs far and wide. If I asked you to close your eyes and conjure a mental image of black clothing, you may have thought about an LBD (little black dress), funeral clothes, or an outfit for a burglar. 

See? All vastly different images with very different meanings.

The color black has become a staple shade in design, technology, and fashion. You can even use black to create depth or sophistication in surveys. Create visually stunning forms designed to match your overall brand. 

User needs are always evolving—to the point where it can feel hard to keep up. In this customer-centric environment, product-led growth (PLG) has emerged as a pivotal strategy for businesses across industries. 

In contrast to marketing-led growth, where traditional marketing activities and campaigns are the primary drivers of growth, PLG is a strategy where the product itself drives customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. This approach aligns product development with market needs and empowers users to become advocates for the brand. 

The key to unlocking PLG’s potential for your company lies in one critical element: customer feedback. From understanding the nuanced preferences of your users to identifying friction points that may deter their experience, the insights you gain through customer feedback are invaluable. 

Leveraging customer feedback—through intuitive and well-designed surveys and forms—is about tapping directly into what users want and need. It’s about making sure every part of your product hits the mark. From sharpening up the user experience to making informed, data-backed decisions, it’s how businesses can keep their products not just relevant but essential for their customers.

The goldmine of insights you get from customer feedback can help you tweak, innovate, and sometimes even pivot your product to make it something they can’t live without. In fact, more than a third of companies consider their customers to be their “most important innovation partners.” 

PLG relies more heavily on customer advocacy than traditional sales or marketing for growth. As your product evolves to meet user needs better, satisfied customers are more likely to become advocates for your brand. They’re apt to be more willing to share their positive experiences, which can attract new users organically. 

Imagine finding out that users are clamoring for a feature you hadn’t thought of or that a small change could make a world of difference in their day-to-day lives. That’s the power of feedback: it turns guesses into smart moves, ensuring your product stays on the cutting edge and truly resonates with your audience.

By integrating feedback directly into product development and innovation, you ensure that your product meets ‌current market demand and anticipates future needs. This proactive approach to product enhancement makes your offering more appealing to potential users and can significantly increase adoption rates. 

Ask customers questions about your features and product in general: 

• What is the one feature you wish our product had that it currently does not?

• Have you encountered any issues while using our product? If so, please describe them.

• How can we improve our product to better meet your needs?

• Which existing features do you find most valuable, and why?

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our product’s current innovation level?

• What would make you use our product more frequently?

At Typeform, we use the Voice of the Customer (VoC) to guide our product’s evolution. Using customer feedback allows us to exceed user expectations and naturally foster brand growth and advocacy.

Using feedback to improve UX/CX directly impacts product-led growth efforts by enhancing customer satisfaction and engagement. A seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable customer experience encourages continued use, reduces churn, and fosters organic growth through word-of-mouth recommendations.

When users share their journeys, they can highlight what’s working and what’s not, from the smallest hiccup in navigation to the overall feel of your digital landscape. This insight is like a compass, pointing you directly to ‌opportunities where your product can become more intuitive, more enjoyable, and, ultimately, more indispensable to your audience.

Say you learn from users that a particular process could be simplified, or you discover they prefer a different layout. This is where feedback evolves from mere data to actionable insights, enabling you to refine and perfect your product so every interaction is positive. 

1. On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy is it to navigate our product?

2. Did you experience any frustration while using our product? Please explain.

3. How satisfied are you with the overall experience our product provides?

4. What changes would make your experience with our product more enjoyable?

5. How likely are you to recommend our product based on your experience?

6. What’s one thing you would change about the product interface?

The goal is to actively seek out and apply user feedback that pinpoints friction areas, uncovers hidden needs, and highlights opportunities for engagement so that every interaction is designed to meet and exceed user expectations.

Keeping your UX surveys clear, concise, and engaging will yield you higher completion rates and more trustable insights.

Nearly three-quarters of people say they’ll leave a brand for its competitor after multiple poor interactions. This fact alone makes feedback a powerful tool for achieving stronger competitive differentiation. Feedback provides direct insights into what makes your product unique. It informs you whether your product is more aligned with customer needs than your competitors. 

By gathering market- and product-related customer feedback, you can easily identify and amplify your best features, services, or user experiences that users find most valuable and not readily offered elsewhere. 

For instance, if feedback reveals that customers appreciate a specific feature for its ease of use or innovative approach, you can double down on these aspects in your development and marketing efforts. This not only enhances your product’s appeal but also positions it as a superior choice in the market.

Differentiation is not just about standing out. It’s also about delivering value that precisely matches your users’ needs to drive preference and loyalty in a crowded market—key factors for sustaining and accelerating PLG.

Consider these questions when you’re trying to strengthen your competitive differentiation:

1. What makes our product stand out from similar options you’ve tried?

2. Are there features you feel are unique to our product? What are they?

3. How well does our product meet your needs compared to competitors?

4. What persuaded you to choose our product over others?

5. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the uniqueness of our product?

6. What additional value do you wish our product offered that you haven’t found elsewhere?

Use customer feedback to spotlight and enhance your product’s unique features and user experiences. Then, you’ll be able to position as the top choice among competitors by directly addressing the specific needs and preferences of your users.

Understanding and acting on customer feedback is not just beneficial to product-led growth—it’s essential. It helps ensure that every step taken is in the right direction toward meeting and exceeding user expectations.

To translate your customer input into actionable insights and meaningful product improvements, the right feedback tools are crucial. This is where intuitive platforms like Typeform come into play, offering a seamless—and aesthetically appealing—way to gather, analyze, and act on the feedback you collect. With its user-friendly design and powerful analytics, Typeform is more than just a tool; it’s your partner in crafting customer-centric experiences with your product.

Ready to take your product-led growth strategy to the next level? Discover how Typeform can transform your approach to collecting and leveraging customer feedback. Dive into a world where every form, survey, and questionnaire is an opportunity to connect deeply with your users and drive your product forward. Get started today—it’s free!

Double Denim Marketing was using static forms on its website and landing pages—both for itself and its clients. Those forms were performing well, but Rob Brooks, Founder and Jeanius Marketer at Double Denim Marketing, wanted to do more to engage, convert, and qualify prospective leads who landed on those pages. 

Rob had the idea of creating an interactive form for Double Denim that would calculate and demonstrate the impact of more qualified leads on prospects’ sales.

“I had an epiphany: What if I built an online calculator to engage users and better qualify leads? I researched the project, and once I figured out what we wanted to do, I looked for a way to make it happen,” explains Rob.

Rob recognized that a form with a long list of questions would have dismal completion rates. He needed a dynamic form that would take prospects through a series of questions, applying logic to determine the questions and the sequence. 

“You don’t want to overwhelm your prospects with too many questions or complicated requests all at once. If you keep your ask simple, users will supply the precise information to qualify your leads.”

While Rob had a clear idea of what he wanted, his small team didn’t have the resources to hire an outside developer to build it. 

At the same time, the form would need to integrate with Double Denim’s existing tools. 

“Our customers are mainly logistics companies. To serve them effectively, we’ve automated our workflow. We needed a form-creation solution that played well with our other tools and integrated seamlessly with Zapier,” says Rob.

Rob tried one or two form-building solutions but rejected them because they couldn’t meet his requirements. 

Then he tried Typeform. 

Rob brought his concept of an interactive calculator form to life with Typeform. He was surprised by how easy the form was to create and implement. 

While Rob opted to use a bit of HTML and CSS to set up the form, he concedes that coding wasn’t necessary.

“If I wanted to, I could have just done an out-of-the-box implementation,” says Rob. “It was dead simple.”

It didn’t take long to see that the interactive form converted more, better-qualified prospects.

“It took about six weeks to start seeing results, and we were getting more qualified leads.”

Based on this experience, Rob and his team started offering typeforms to Double Denim clients.

Some clients hesitated initially but became big supporters once they saw the results.

“I ran some split tests and showed them the hard data: Typeform outperformed traditional lead-capture methods in every scenario, leading to more conversions. All I can say is that numbers talk,” says Rob.

Today, all Double Denim customers use Typeform exclusively in their marketing campaigns.

“From our first test of a one-off campaign to fully implementing it across every customer took about three months.”

When creating typeforms for themselves and their clients, Double Denim can easily brand the CTA buttons and interactive forms to ensure a seamless, cohesive experience for users.

“I can customize the buttons and form to reflect customer branding. I can do it all without coding a single line or hiring a designer. Typeform does all the heavy lifting,” says Rob.

By taking leads through a series of questions that depend on their previous responses, Double Denim and its customers can easily differentiate, and focus on, the most qualified leads.
They can also automatically route inquiries to the right department, reducing workload and shortening response time.

Rob gives an example:

“One of our customers has sales agencies across the U.S. When someone indicates that they need a certain type of service, they are automatically routed to the right agency for them.”

Some Double Denim customers combine typeforms with their lead scoring. He explains:

“One customer uses a scale of one to three as to how good the lead is. If the lead indicates they need support today, that bumps up the score. If they have a gmail.com or yahoo.com address, the score is marked down.”

Typeform also integrates with Double Denim’s tools—and the tools of its customers—for new efficiencies and greater productivity.

“Typeform integrates with all our tools, including PipeDrive, HubSpot, Onepage, and Google Sheets. Our two-person team can offer the same services as a bigger agency, including supercharged lead generation. We automate everything to focus on building outstanding user experiences that get results,” explains Rob.

Rob’s hypothesis about interactive forms was more than correct: Double Denim saw a 50% increase in leads with Typeform versus regular static forms for itself and its customers.

“Typeform exceeded our wildest expectations, so we’re delighted—and our customers are ecstatic,” says Rob.

Conversion rates doubled after switching to Typeform, a much larger increase than Rob predicted.  

“I expected a lift of 8% to 15%. One of our clients had a 7.75% conversion rate before switching to Typeform. It rocketed to 19.35%. Another saw conversions rise nearly ten points from 11.2% to 21.6%.” 

The number of qualified leads has also grown thanks to Typeform, as Rob explains:

“Asking the right questions in Typeform increased the number of qualified leads. We discounted individual inquiries from consumers and focused entirely on B2B prospects. We couldn’t have done that with static forms.” 

Using Typeform, Double Denim generated nearly 2,200 qualified leads for its customers, which contributed almost half of the $8 million in customer revenue attributable to Double Denim’s marketing campaigns.

“We can trace $3.67 million in revenues directly to our Typeform campaigns. That’s almost everything our campaigns have earned in the last two years. It’s a remarkable result. A product I considered ‘nice to have’ turned out to be the foundation of our success,” exclaims Rob. 

Typeform is instrumental to Double Denim’s success, from increasing ROI for clients to enabling them to focus their own resources on the most qualified leads.  

“Typeform gives us the tools to qualify leads with a few simple questions. It has also kept our expenses in check, allowing us to compete with bigger companies. Double Denim runs on Typeform, and that has kept us in business,” concludes Rob.

Between Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify—to name a few brands—we live in a world in which consumers now expect to receive personalized marketing suggestions. However, only 51% of customers trust brands to use their data responsibly and keep it secure. 

Which means that, although personalization is now a consumer expectation, it’s also a source of consumer stress. There’s a privacy paradox that exists: Users want to receive personalized experiences, but they’re afraid to share their data to make these experiences possible. This is largely due to often-shady and soon-to-be-obsolete third-party tracking practices that have shaped consumers’ online experiences.

With just a little effort, you can show your customers that you sympathize with their dilemma and show them respect. Discover why it’s important in marketing personalization, why you should care as a marketer, and four ways to show your customers a little personalization respect.

Marketing personalization provides modern brands with a vehicle to actually reach their customers in an impactful way. Marketing personalization isn’t just “trendy,” it’s the future. And the future is here.

If brands want to remain relevant—or even noticed—in today’s oversaturated market, they have to provide real value for their customers. They have to build real relationships. Consumers are exposed to tens, hundreds, or even thousands of marketing messages per day, and personalization helps brands fight consumer apathy and marketing blindness.

Distractions are everywhere in this ever-changing digital environment. Consumers become more informed and more connected by the minute. As recently as twenty years ago, people watched the news—predominantly on TV—and only if they caught it during one of two daily broadcasts. Consumers now live in a 24-hour news cycle where their phones can (and do) provide them with immediate updates at any moment. 

To put today’s consumer power into perspective, consider this: The Guidance Computer used in the Apollo 11 mission—to put a human on the moon—had 12,250 Floating Point Operations Per Second (FLOPS), which is a measure of how many mathematical calculations a computer can perform within a second. Today’s iPhone has nearly 2.15 trillion FLOPS. And we have it connected to us at all times.

In 2023, the global B2C ecommerce market was valued at $4.8 trillion. Research suggests the market could reach $9 trillion by 2032. When hundreds of millions of brands are all vying for attention at the same time—and the market is only growing—marketers need to find a way to make themselves heard. Treating customers like individuals and personalizing their experience helps organizations do this.

Personalization in marketing benefits both consumers and companies. According to McKinsey, marketing personalization can:

• Help brands reduce customer acquisition costs (CAC) by up to 50%

• Increase revenue by up to 15%

• Increase marketing ROI by up to 30%

Personalization not only drives sales but also increases customer loyalty. In fact, 56% of consumers say they’d buy from a brand again after receiving a personalized experience. And a growing number of businesses are recognizing the value of marketing personalization—69% of them are increasing their personalization investment, even during these uncertain economic times.

“One-size-fits-all” may work for beanies and baseball caps, but it definitely doesn’t work for marketing messaging. Creating custom experiences strengthens your consumers’ perception of your brand. 

By providing each customer with a personalized experience, it helps to engage them. And engagement leads to a more satisfying consumer journey. Delivering tailored content, offers, and recommendations—within preferred communication channels at relevant times—shows your audience that your brand really cares about their needs. 

The connections that marketing personalization helps you create won’t only be stronger, but more also meaningful. It helps your customers not only feel seen, but understood. Personalization shows your customers you see them as real people and not just numbers. However, the most pressing challenge with marketing personalization is collecting, analyzing, and using audience data without invading customer privacy.

Marketing personalization isn’t possible without customer data. And customer data ‌comes in four “forms”: zero-, first-, second-, and third-party data. 

Third-party cookies provide data to marketers that they can use to deliver customized and highly targeted ads directly to consumers, but marketers need to learn to live without them. They’re not only terrible for user privacy—they’re also becoming obsolete.

It’s in a company’s best interest to be upfront about the type of information they’re collecting from web visitors. There’s no federal law that requires “cookie consent” in the U.S., but most brands remain transparent about collecting them due to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This law requires that consumers have the right to know the personal data companies collect and how it’s used, and it gives them the right to delete information or opt out of sharing it with other brands.

When consumers are served ads about products or services they’ve only spoken to close friends about or thought about in their own time, it makes them uneasy. Of course, they didn’t just speak or think about these products and services, but it feels like that to users due to third-party tracking cookies, which are considered the creepy ones. And although Chrome is completely getting rid of cookies this year, they’re still around for a little bit longer.

When third-party or even second-party cookies collect bits of consumer information from website visits, these sites sell or pass this information on to relevant companies or advertisers. And then, these companies or advertisers use the information to serve ads to their consumers. 

And although consumers do have to consent to their data being collected, it’s not always obvious how this data will be used in the future. So it’s “creepy” when a seemingly unrelated marketing message pops up for users when they’re not expecting it.

When 70% of internet users worldwide make efforts to protect their personal data, it’s important that brands take consumer privacy seriously. If companies want to make their customers feel respected, they need to clearly communicate their data intentions and give their users complete control of what they share. This may mean taking extra precautions to make sure visitors explicitly understand what they’re agreeing to.

By offering customers options for how, when, and to what extent they want to receive personalized content, you show them that your efforts are well-intentioned. Marketing personalization should enhance the consumer experience, not make them feel like they’re being watched. 

When brands personalize their marketing efforts for their customers, they need to prioritize consent and transparency. They should also seek to provide customers with something that incentivizes them to share their information, like a unique resource or something of monetary value.

Consumer data needs to be used ethically and without overstepping users’ personal boundaries. This means that even if you have the data, it may not always be the right choice to use it. But if you do use it, you need to make sure you’re doing it like a respectful marketer.

Modern customers are sophisticated and more well-informed than ever, so using someone’s first name in a brand email isn’t necessarily going to set off any alarms. However, addressing customers unexpectedly could feel like the equivalent of cold-calling ‌them.

When you personalize your customer’s marketing messages, make sure you’re speaking to them on the communication channels they prefer (and actually use). This means that some people will be more comfortable with social media messages or text over email. It’s worth it to look into this instead of just calling them out on all platforms and hoping for the best. 

The best way to make sure you’re addressing your customers in a respectful way is by asking them directly to provide their preferred contact information. And then, when addressing them, make sure the content you’re providing is respectful to users’ time and attention and relevant to their preferences.

Of course, marketing personalization makes product and service recommendations possible, but make sure they’re actually recommendations—not wishes. Use your customers’ shopping history to offer complementary products and services based on things they’ve already purchased. Don’t just pitch random products with the hopes of making a sale. Remember, creating better customer experiences is key to personalization.

When you offer your customers things they’re actually interested in, you demonstrate that you understand them and value their attention. One way to reach customers more specifically is by segmenting them well. This means breaking down your customers into groups based on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors. The more direct data you have, the more granular your segmentation (and recommendations) can be.

When personalizing marketing messages, one of the most important considerations you can make is how your customers spend their time. People are often struggling to find ways to fit social outings and recreation into their schedules—they certainly don’t want to spend their precious moments reading lengthy marketing messages. Opt for direct language and brevity.

For example, if you have a conversational automated message that pops up on your website when a user navigates to the checkout page, try a simple “you might also be interested in” based on the items in their cart instead of a lengthy message about a suggested product’s uses and benefits. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t ever highlight your product’s uses and benefits because your customers will want to know this information, but the placement of your messages is also important. Save longer content for emails or send customers links to blog posts or product pages.

Your goal with marketing personalization isn’t just to make sales—it’s to build lasting relationships with your customers. And these relationships won’t last very long if you’re not providing any real value. 

Trigger-based marketing messages can provide customers with offers that are ‌relevant to their online activity and behavior. For example, if users complete a registration or form on your website, a trigger-based marketing message could pop up and offer them a discount for something they stated they were interested in. 

Behavioral-based marketing messages can also provide users with value. For example, if a user has purchased luggage and a winter coat, offering them a coupon code for snow boots would be a lot more valuable than a code for swim trunks. 

Offering personalized value doesn’t just increase the likelihood that your customers will convert immediately, it incentivizes them to come back for future purchases. And most importantly, it improves customers’ overall experience.

If you collect zero-party data, or data that your customers offer up to you willingly, you can use it in your marketing personalization efforts confidently. Because this data comes directly from your exact customers, you also won’t have to worry about offending them or not fitting your target audience’s needs.

The respectful marketer knows that marketing personalization is more than just putting someone’s name in an ad or bombarding people with sales pitches across the internet. Respectful marketers understand that the medium is equally as important as the message—and the message should be based on data collected ethically and transparently.

Yet brands can’t deliver personalized experiences without collecting personal data.

And that’s the paradox of our time (as marketers)—the great irony of personalization. We want the ends, but we aren’t sure if it justifies the means. 

It’s something every company is grappling with. Customers crave personalized experiences but are wary about sharing their data. Brands want deep relationships with their audience but are wary about violating customers’ trust. 

It’s a razor-thin line to walk. One with‌ no compromise—we either have personalization (and with it, data collection), or… we don’t.

There’s one shade of gray, however. As third-party cookies go away, consumers can get personalization without risking sharing their private information with unknown third parties. For consumers, it means choosing to provide zero- and first-party data to brands that they want to know more about them.

You likely don’t want to share your data because, historically, web activity has been tracked, analyzed, and sold by shadowy brokers for nefarious purposes. Not to mention the data breaches. 

It’s easy to fear surveillance when you don’t know where your data might end up. However, a default assumption that data collection—as a whole—is harmful is a misguided belief. 

In the ongoing battle of privacy vs. personalization, many thought leaders recommend a “right down the middle” balance between the two. And although there are ways to collect only necessary data or only tailor select customer interactions, the balancing act can lead to the undermining of utility on both sides. Privacy won’t be private enough, and personalization won’t be personal enough.

Personalization drives business performance through improved customer experience (CX). Faster-growing organizations see 40% more of their revenue driven by personalization than their slower-growing competitors. When personalization efforts are decreased—because data collection efforts are decreased—it does a disservice to both customers and companies.

In the vast digital landscape, among oceans of information, consumers seek out opportunities for individuality—curated content, spot-on recommendations, and meaningful interactions. We live in an era in which personalization isn’t just a luxury—it’s insisted upon. In fact, 71% of consumers expect brands to provide personalized interactions, and 76% become frustrated when it doesn’t happen.

In almost all cases, data collection shouldn’t be prevented. Instead, it should be discussed transparently and safeguarded by ‌collectors. And you should be able to choose what you’re willing to share, but you should also understand that it may come at the expense of less-than-personalized experiences.

When you’re online, you’re typically operating under the illusion of anonymity. People tend to believe that they’re untraceable if they’re behind a screen or layers of encryption or firewalls. This is why people with online handles like “user54687720” are usually the ones who say the worst things in the comments—they feel untouchable.

Little do some of these people realize, every click, every like, every share leaves behind a digital footprint that can be traced back to them. All of users’ online activities are tracked and analyzed by the very platforms within which they’re trying to remain anonymous. It’s these platforms’ sole intention to mine user data and make money off it through advertising. Even if you’re in incognito mode, you’re still visible to third parties, and you’re still being tracked. So, you may as well log in and tell these companies exactly how you want to be treated with regard to your data.

This is the “irony” part of the whole thing: The very data that enables brands to personalize user experiences is the same data that threatens their privacy. Or so they often believe. 

Today’s customers have become accustomed to the personalized experiences brands offer. From custom-made recommendations on retail sites to curated playlists on streaming services, consumers want to feel like their individual tastes and preferences are being considered. Humans crave feeling special and understood, and they want to stand out in the sea of faceless accounts online.

Consumers want to be treated as individuals, yet fear being stripped of their identities in the process. They want brands to know them, but they also want brands to respect their boundaries. Customers want personalization but often don’t want to share the data that fuels this bespoke treatment. So they find themselves at a crossroads, torn between a desire for tailored experiences and the need to protect their personal information at all costs. This delicate dance is inherently contradictory in nature.

So, how are companies supposed to meet these high expectations if users aren’t willing to provide the information needed to do so? 

Consumers have to be willing to trade fragments of their privacy for the convenience of a customized online experience. Full customer privacy can’t exist at the same time as tailored customer treatment. It’s just not possible.

You’ve heard of cookies. Some use their powers for good to deliver better user experience (UX), like session cookies and persistent cookies that “remember” users’ online activities and preferences. And others are admittedly creepy. These are third-party “tracking” cookies that collect bits of user data to be shared with, or sold to, a variety of companies (usually advertisers) by the website doing the collecting.

More often than not, when users want to protect their privacy, they want to protect it from these third-party cookies. Third-party cookies have historically been used by marketers to track consumer behavior and serve up targeted ads to users. But increasing regulation—like Firefox and Safari doing away with third-party cookies and Google’s plan to phase them out of Chrome this year—and user backlash have made these creepy cookies passé. 

Bottom line: When brands are transparent with how they intend to use customer data and explain the value customers will receive in return, they’re more likely to build trust with these users. And this trust leads to more data-sharing in this circle of [personalization] life.

So, what’s the solution to this privacy vs. personalization problem?

Pick a side. Or at least lean toward one over the other. 

Consumers should most certainly demand transparency from the brands with which they interact. They should 100% hold brands accountable for how they handle sensitive information. Users should educate themselves on the risks vs. rewards of sharing personal data and treat their information as assets that deserve to be protected.  

However, consumers also need to be mindful that personalization always comes at a “price,” even if it’s small. Consumers are smarter than ever, so they’re not completely oblivious to this paradox. Their push for privacy is a reaction to the feeling of being surveilled and having their online behavior monetized. Yet, the allure of personalization is often irresistible, so this draws them back into the fold of a digital landscape that relies on the exchange of information. 

The happiest medium that exists is a nuanced approach to data personalization. Along with transparency, robust security measures and ethical data usage can help brands make consumers feel safer when divulging personal information. 

Brands need to give users the power to opt in or opt out of personalized experiences. This can be accomplished with clear communication about data-handling practices. Shady data collection methods will only hurt both sides. Because although 58% of customers understand that sharing their data is necessary to receive a personalized UX, 87% believe it’s necessary for brands to ask for permission before collecting this personal data. Brands being straightforward about their intentions with user data can help bridge the gap between privacy concerns and personalized engagement.

Privacy by design also needs to be at the forefront of organizational leaders’ minds. This means that privacy is integrated into system designs, products, and services by default. Protecting user data should be held as a guiding force in UX and should be treated with the same care and respect as website functionality. 

Next time you go to mindlessly click that “I agree” button on a privacy policy, you may want to pause for a second and read what you’re actually agreeing to.

You should decide if what you’re giving up—your data—is worth it for what you’ll get in return—personalization—based on your relationship with a particular brand. Because your choices matter. It’s only by acknowledging the complexities of the privacy vs. personalization paradox that consumers will be able to decide what’s best for them.

Personalization makes it easier for brands to offer things you actually want. It also leads to consumers’ increased loyalty, repeat purchases, and customer referrals. When companies gather data to understand their customers’ preferences and needs, they can also enhance their products and services for future buyers. In fact, 62% of organizational leaders say increased customer retention is a benefit of their personalization tactics.

So listen, Hannah Montana, there could be a solution that offers the best of both worlds: telling brands exactly what you want them to know through zero- and first-party data. This can be accomplished via the use of secure forms and surveys (you can get started for free with Typeform). With forms and surveys, brands can ask for specific information based on their products and services, and you can tell them as little or as much information as you feel comfortable providing. 

Another consideration is treating personalization more like customization. Personalization typically happens behind the scenes and is driven by the brand, whereas customization happens up front and is controlled by the user. Depending on a brand’s industry and offerings, it may make sense to allow users to decide the level of personalization they prefer. This way, they can shape their own experience and customer journey. 

Just keep in mind, however, that the depth of the data you (the consumer) offer up will directly correlate to the depth of personalization you’ll be able to experience.

Striking a “balance” between privacy and personalization is a good idea in theory, but one is always going to win out over the other. Instead, decide what is right for you. And, if you choose personalization, take control of the information you share with brands directly. Because contrary to popular belief, privacy and personalization shouldn’t be considered opposing forces. Instead, they should be leveraged together to build consumer trust and provide exceptional experiences. 

If you were to open your inbox right now, chances are you’ve got at least a few emails from some of your favorite brands. Everyone has leveraged email marketing to build their brands and grow their revenues. 

Lead magnets are how you incentivize signups.

If you want to grow your email list, lead magnets might be the answer. Also known as freebies, lead magnets are free assets or discounts organizations offer prospective customers in exchange for their contact details, like their name and email address. 

If you’ve ever entered your email into a pop-up on your favorite site to get 15% off your next order, you’ve interacted with a lead magnet. But there are many other types of lead magnets, including:

• Long-form content like ebooks or white papers

• Access to a webinar

• Digital downloads like templates or worksheets

• Personality or style quizzes

Lead magnets are a powerful marketing tool—they give you access to a potential customer’s email address so you can nurture them into loyal customers over time. And remember, with an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, email is a highly effective method for increasing revenue.

Using the contact details they willingly gave you, you can turn leads into customers with personalized marketing campaigns that build brand awareness, proactively address questions, show off your expertise, and more.

A marketing strategy is more than just email—it’s a balance of many different channels. But lead magnets most closely align with email marketing, and they can be your growth engine when done correctly. Here’s why that matters:

• 41% of marketers report that email is their most effective marketing channel

• Email marketing efforts help businesses acquire 40 times more customers than Meta and X (formerly Twitter) combined

• 83% of marketers say email is their primary channel for customer acquisition

1. List growth. Compelling lead magnets can boost list growth by offering a discount, piece of content, or free class that’s so valuable leads don’t mind forking over their email addresses.

2. Segmentation. Segmented emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs. Why? Because lead magnets help you segment your audience based on where they are in their buying journey, interests, and more, so you can create a more personalized experience. And it pays off—marketers who segment their lists increase email marketing revenue by 760%.

3. Traffic. Whether you host your free asset on a dedicated landing page or someone needs to visit your website to register, lead magnets help drive traffic to your site. This increased traffic is another opportunity to convert leads into customers.

Want to get the most out of your lead magnets? Share them across channels. Incorporate lead magnets in your blog posts, add a ribbon banner to the top of your website, or embed them on landing pages. You can even use them as popups on your website or share them with your social media audience to move them to your email list.

And once you get a potential customer’s email address, start building the relationship immediately with a warm welcome email that sets expectations.

With an average conversion rate between 5.2% and 24.2% (depending on the type of lead magnet), leveraging freebies for customer acquisition is table stakes. But what makes some customer-generating machines winners and some fall flat? We’re breaking down the components quality lead magnets all have in common.

Data is power—when people give it to you willingly, you have a responsibility to not only use their data responsibly, but make giving up their data worth it. The best way to do that? Provide value.

Give your audience something they can’t quickly get anywhere else. HubSpot suggests content like industry reports or a high-value ebook. Keep in mind that it should be something valuable for your target audience—not something generic.

Your lead magnet should focus on helping your prospects, whether it’s saving them time, providing unique insights, or solving one of their problems.

You don’t want to attract just anyone to your business. You want high-quality leads—those who’ll get value from your product or service, have interest in your brand, and may be ready to buy.

To get valuable leads, you need to create a lead magnet that’s relevant and specific to your ideal audience. While generic ebooks or webinars may bring in more people, they may not be as qualified. 

For example, an HR tech brand might choose a webinar about 10 actionable ways you can stand out as an employer over a more generic webinar about the importance of employer branding. 

Finding a balance between providing value (for free) and not giving away too much can be a challenge. You don’t want people to feel like they gave you something very valuable (their data) in exchange for something worthless. But you also don’t want to give away so much value that they don’t want or need your product or service.

Let’s say you’re an email marketing provider. Your lead magnet could be a few email newsletter templates. But if they want to send the emails or access more templates, they’ll need to purchase a subscription.

According to PwC’s 2022 Consumer Intelligence Series Survey on Trust, 71% of consumers say they’re unlikely to buy from a company that loses their trust. And with only 30% of consumers trusting businesses, building trust with customers isn’t only a best practice, but it’s essential for customer acquisition.

Lead magnets are one way to build that trust. The resources you offer in exchange for your audience’s email address should be credible and show off your expertise with data, interviews with credible sources, or research-backed insights.

When you create high-value content, your audience will (hopefully) want to share it. Make it easy by adding social share buttons for Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and Pinterest. 

If you make it as simple as possible for them to share your lead magnet, you can potentially amplify your reach and incoming leads.

Need some inspiration for your lead magnet? We’ve rounded up a few, plus a few different types to get you started:

1. Templates

2. Infographics

3. Guides

4. Case studies

5. Free classes

6. Free trials

7. Quizzes

8. Reports

9. Videos and webinars

We’ve found a few good examples, including webinar, report, masterclass, and free template lead magnets. Take a look!

Mural’s lead magnet for the live webinar is highly relevant to their audience and builds trust immediately by calling out their collaboration with an industry expert.

Plaid’s lead magnet highlights that the content in the report is informed by proprietary data from thousands of fintech customers, further establishing Plaid as an industry leader.

Curlmix’s free masterclass lead magnet builds instant trust with social proof and clearly articulates the value of the class and what their audience can expect from the class.

HubSpot’s lead magnet offers their audience (of primarily marketers) customizable social media templates to speed up content creation.

In the ever-evolving world of marketing, one thing has remained constant: the value of email marketing. Enticing lead magnets that provide real value for your future customers can help boost email list growth, segment your audience, and help you acquire more customers to drive business growth.

Want to stay in the know about marketing best practices, like email marketing and customer acquisition? Subscribe to Informed—a monthly newsletter where we keep you up-to-date on industry trends, related opinions, tips and tricks, and other news.

Today’s ecommerce landscape is a treasure trove of customer data. And if data is the new gold, zero-party data (ZPD) is the new platinum.

In a world where time and attention are the currency and every click and interaction matters, ZPD provides the ultimate consumer insight that can take brands from “giving it their best shot” to “laser accuracy.”

ZPD isn’t just a collection of customer information—it’s a vital resource for creating brand-customer connections, prioritizing customer privacy, and providing customers with personalized experiences. In this guide, you’ll discover more about ZPD’s role in ecommerce, why it’s important for B2C campaigns, how you can collect it, and what brands can do with it. 

Zero-party data refers to any information that your audience willingly and intentionally shares with you about themselves. In an ecommerce setting, this could be things like customer details, purchase history, communication preferences, loyalty membership information, and the like. 

ZPD can also inform e-commerce and B2C brands on how customers want to be recognized and communicated with. And since ecommerce thrives on customer experience and personalization, zero-party data is crucial to these endeavors. 

Plus, ZPD plays an important role in understanding the “why” behind customer behavior. Unlike second- or third-party data, your target audience provides ZPD freely and directly, so it’s the most accurate—which also makes it the most valuable. And since it comes directly from the source, it can instantly provide your brand with actionable insights to help you fine-tune your B2C marketing campaigns.

Other examples of ZPD include:

• Product and service preferences: This can be your customers’ favorite colors, styles, and use cases—all useful information for informing marketing, creative, and product decisions.

• Purchase intent: Finding out more about your customers’ plans for future purchases can help your e-commerce brand better target these shoppers with marketing campaigns and prepare for upcoming demand. 

• Reviews and feedback: Improve your products and services by asking your audience directly about the tweaks and updates they’d like to see. This also helps build trust with your customers, as they’ll see that you value their opinions.

• Interests, hobbies, and habits: Use this information to discover insights about how your customers use your products and services. This information can also serve your campaigns, as you can weave these “stories” into your marketing creative. 

• Social media activity: Finding out more about your audience’s social media tendencies can tell you which platforms your customers prefer and help you find influencers who can help you engage with similar types of shoppers. 

When you engage your customers directly, you can gain access to highly valuable, highly targeted information about your exact audience—not an implied or “lookalike” audience. And this information can be used to create better experiences for your customers and marketing campaigns that actually speak to them.

Modern brands know that personalization isn’t just about addressing your customers by name (although this is great)—it’s about genuinely tailoring your customers’ experiences to their unique needs and preferences. Not only does zero-party unlock these touchpoints of personalization, it also helps improve conversion rates and build loyalty.

And, as privacy concerns continue to grow and third-party cookies disappear, ZPD provides compliance and aligns with consumer concerns. Collecting ZPD reflects a brand’s commitment to respecting its customers and their privacy, which fuels brand reputation and trust. 

If you have a smartphone, you’ve likely experienced the “I was just talking to my friend about this product, and now I’m getting ads for it on Instagram” phenomenon. Consumers now know that this isn’t coincidence. Social media platforms and web browsers track everything users do: the websites they visit, the terms they search for, the things users purchase online, users’ locations, likes, comments, interactions, sign-ins, and the people they surround themselves with online and IRL (again, location tracking). And users have agreed to all of it because of, for lack of a better term, FOMO.

Aren’t we all scrolling past the terms and conditions or clicking the “accept” button on every website popup that stands between us and whatever nice and shiny webpage is behind it? Well, it’s not so clear anymore. More and more users want their privacy back and are demanding more from companies who do collect their data.

Instead of tracking cookies and pixels, brands need to shift to transparently collecting consumer data directly from ‌customers themselves. Consumers want personalization, but they want to have control over what they give up to receive this personalization. They way they can have this control is through ZPD.

E-commerce and B2C marketing strategies that leverage ZPD can eliminate the “creepiness” that users have felt due to second- and third-party cookies. It’s a lot less surprising to see product recommendations in your inbox or social feed if you know you’ve given your favorite brands access to your preferences. It also helps to relieve the personalization and privacy paradox, which has long been a frustration for both brands and consumers.

Collecting ZPD for ecommerce should be a strategic initiative—not a free-for-all. The way you collect and employ ZPD needs to align with your brand’s overall content and marketing strategy. More importantly, it needs to align with your consumers’ preferences and feedback.

One way to collect ZPD is with surveys. A pre-purchase survey will tell you more about what your customers are looking for (and how they’re looking to spend their money), and a post-purchase survey will give you insights into your customers’ decision-making process and connection to your products or services. 

With surveys, you can discover customer preferences, habits, interests, shopping and technical experiences, pain points, and referrals (what led them to your brand). All these help you develop or improve products and determine if your product is the right fit for your target market.

When you create a survey, think about it as another strategic element in your overall ecommerce campaign. Consider the timing, content, design, and length of the survey. If you’re including a survey on a thank you page, you’ll want to keep it brief—one to two questions. And, if it’s on a thank you page, your customers likely have not had time to receive and/or interact with your product yet, so those should be more about the customer’s technical experience with your website. If you’re sending the survey via email a week or more post-purchase, you can get more in-depth with specific product questions. But always remember to respect your customers’ time.

This strategy will require you to make a small investment in its success, as you’ll need a product to “give away” or serve as the prize for your contest winner. But everyone likes free stuff and winning—especially if the barrier to entry is relatively low. 

Ask customers (or potential customers) to provide their names, email addresses, and other relevant information for the opportunity to “win” one of your products or services. This can help you collect valuable target audience information and also increase customer engagement. You can even ask customers to share the link to your giveaway or contest for an extra entry. 

Interactive experiences include forms, quizzes, and polls designed to engage your audience and encourage them to share their preferences in a fun, creative way.

One of the most popular interactive techniques for collecting ZPD is through a product recommendation quiz. Lead customers to the right product while gathering their contact information and finding out more about their preferences, interests, and needs. 

If you have a product or service that can be customized—by size, style, frequency of use, pain point, or other user-specific attribute—a recommendation quiz is a great place to start your ZPD collection journey. These are especially useful for ecommerce brands that can link directly to the product(s) in the quiz results.

If they’re designed well, forms, quizzes, and polls can help you provide customers with immediate gratification and value through personalized results and suggestions. And the information you gather will allow you to also personalize their experience in future marketing efforts. But remember, the creation of your ZPD collection efforts needs to be just as strategic as the campaigns you’ll create using the ZPD.

User profiles and preference pages are dedicated places where customers can opt in and customize their personal information, interests, needs, and expectations. When creating your preference center, make sure to align your questions/fields with your brand—and if you don’t need the information to provide customers with the optimal experience, don’t ask for it right away. For example, if you represent a clothing company, asking for a customer’s size and style preference up front is important—their social media profile links aren’t. 

Beyond asking for a name and email address (or phone number if you have an SMS text opt-in), try to keep your questions to two—maximum. You don’t want to lose customers before you really have them. Implementing an A/B or split test may be helpful here, as it’ll let you know if the quantity or quality of questions is causing you to lose users. It may be most beneficial to have a multi-step user profile process that collects the most pertinent information first and more detailed customer information in a follow-up form.

Customer profiles and preference centers let your audience tell you things like:

• Contact information

• Demographic information

• Communication channel preference (e.g., email, text, social media)

• Communication frequency preference (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly)

• Content preference (e.g., blog posts, deals or sales, product launches)

By allowing users to determine their own preferences, you’re not only empowering them but also building a more nuanced and comprehensive understanding of your customers.

Customer reviews help you identify both the selling points and pain points related to your products and services. You’ll be able to zero in on what they like best about your brand’s offerings, but you’ll also get valuable insights about details that may be hindering your sales. For example, if you sell cosmetics and a customer writes a review of a lipstick that they didn’t like, it could help you in a couple of different ways:

• The customer didn’t like the lipstick color: This is a personal preference, and you can use this information to adjust your product recommendations to them. 

• The customer didn’t like the lipstick product itself: This may be a personal preference, so you’ll need to look at other reviews to determine this. If it’s ‌common opinion, you may want to consider reformulating.

And, as your product reviews increase, so will your brand’s trustworthiness in the eyes of potential buyers. One low-touch way to encourage customer reviews is by adding a call-to-action on relevant product pages.

Conversational pop-ups and texts allow you to reach your customers where they are. As customers navigate your website, you can use pop-ups to help them along their shopping journey. User actions will determine the type of message they receive. For example, by taking customer browsing history into consideration, your pop-up could ask specific questions or provide recommendations for specific products.

Not only does this help your customer find what they’re looking for in the moment, but it also allows you to store that information for future personalization efforts. 

If you’re sending texts to your customers, they’ve already opted in for at least your basic brand communication, so you have some of their ZPD. You can take this a step further and gather more information by texting links to surveys, quizzes, and other types of ZPD collection techniques.

Loyalty programs offer customers something of monetary value in exchange for their information, so they’re one of the most effective means of collecting ZPD. When customers sign up for your brand’s loyalty program, they typically provide at least their name, preferred contact information, and birthday so you can offer them rewards and other benefits. And according to Statista, seven in ten U.S. consumers consider these programs a leading reason they’re loyal to specific brands. 

Loyalty programs also provide you with a channel to use the ZPD you’ve collected to offer customers rewards that they actually want. In turn, you’re able to help your customers create an emotional connection that facilitates even more allegiance to your brand.

Brands should use ZPD to inform their overall marketing efforts. All brand channels and creative campaigns should work together to provide customers with an experience that truly resonates with them. When you’re transparent with your ZPD collection efforts, and you let your customers know how you intend to use their information, you can develop a mutually beneficial relationship.

Beyond addressing customers by name, “speaking” to them directly also means providing them with the products, services, content, and information they want and need. 

E-commerce brands can speak to customers through things like personalized newsletters that highlight products or related content they’re interested in. Brands can also speak to customers through targeted messages in their communication channels of choice.

Product and service recommendations are one of the most effective ways to use ZPD. This can be accomplished with quizzes and surveys, but it can also be shared through direct messages related to products customers have previously purchased.

For example, if a customer has purchased an industrial flashlight from your outdoor supply website, you might consider recommending rechargeable batteries in your next marketing message.

When analyzing your ZPD, you may discover insights that can lead to a specific type of creative or unique messaging opportunity. For example, you may find out that the majority of your customers are located in a particular area. You can use this information in your campaign’s creative with regional phrasing or design that features recognizable landmarks. 

By collecting information about customers’ behaviors and preferences, ecommerce brands can segment their audience and create highly targeted promotions that can drive higher engagement and conversions. The goal is to make your customers feel like you’ve sent them an offer that was created especially for them.

Product reviews provide specific feedback about how brands’ actual customers are using their products, so this could lead to unique marketing and messaging opportunities. You may discover brand new use cases and characteristics you haven’t even considered promoting.

Reviews can help shed light on customers’ nuanced information, like the context surrounding their use of a product, leading to better audience segmentation and targeting.

ZPD is great for brands that provide many options of one base product, like flavors of a protein shake or roasts of coffee. Sometimes, brands develop and promote the product options their internal teams think are popular, but until they poll their audience directly, they may be missing big opportunities.

Customers’ ZPD can lead brands down completely new paths or help them tweak their existing products and services to better fit customers’ preferences

Zero-party data isn’t just information—it’s a goldmine mine of audience insights that can help you create long-lasting, symbiotic relationships with your customers. And in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, where authenticity and user privacy are paramount, ZPD serves as a beacon of trust for both customers and ecommerce brands. 

SAN FRANCISCO, May 15, 2024 — Typeform, the intuitive form builder and conversational data platform, announced the promotion of Aleks Bass to the position of Chief Product Officer, highlighting her pivotal role in building customer-centric solutions and designing the company’s product vision. Reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer Joaquim Lechà, Bass oversees Typeform’s product strategy, development, and execution to meet the needs of the company’s expanding customer base consisting of more than 150,000 businesses around the world. 

“With deep expertise in our space and a nuanced understanding of both B2B SaaS and DTC self-serve products, Aleks brings an informed perspective, as well as strategic vision and executional excellence, to Typeform,” said Joaquim Lechà, CEO, Typeform. “Since joining the company, she has inspired our product roadmap with her unique approach that blends research and design, and that keeps customers at the core. Aleks leading as Chief Product Officer will be a powerful driver of our next wave of growth.”

Bass has over 18 years of diverse experience in product management, marketing, and consumer insights. Prior to her promotion, Bass was Typeform’s Vice President of Product, where she served as the architect of the company’s product strategy and led product, design, operations, and research teams. 

“Millions of people use and love Typeform every day, giving us a concrete foundation to continue building on to deliver more value to our customers,” said Bass. “We’re bridging the gap of what our technology can do with a deep understanding of our customers’ pain points, ultimately helping us create comprehensive solutions that companies can use to propel their growth.” 

Before Typeform, Bass played a key role in shaping product management at SurveyMonkey, with overall responsibility for a product portfolio that drove $500M in 2022 revenue. Her experience also spans leadership roles at Adobe, Workfront, and Qualtrics, where she launched a new line of business that grew from $5M in services to $60M in technology sales in one year. Additionally, Aleks has advised startups that have seen notable success, including acquisitions by Google and Walmart, as well as an IPO. 

About Typeform

Typeform is a distinctly intuitive form builder that helps over 150,000 customers collect and validate the data they need to grow their businesses. Designed with striking visuals, a conversational flow, and powerful data capabilities, Typeform empowers brands to give and get more with each form. Typeform drives more than 500 million responses each year and integrates with essential tools including Zapier, HubSpot, and Slack. For more information, visit www.typeform.com.

A Likert scale is a way to answer a survey question on a five- or seven-point scale. The choices range from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree so the survey maker can get a holistic view of people’s opinions. All Likert scale survey questions also include a mid-point for those who are neutral on the subject matter.

We can all agree that there’s no single question that designates someone as politically liberal or conservative. Political affiliation is complicated—a person who’s liberal on matters of health care could be conservative on questions of international aid.

So instead of asking one question, you measure how much people agree or disagree with various statements about political policy with a Likert rating scale . Then when you combine or average a person’s responses, you get a more accurate measure of their opinions. Let’s jump into how to create a Likert scale survey and what to do with your results.

Okay, so how do you craft a Likert scale survey that gets you results? That’s the hardest part. Don’t fret—these four steps will help you get it right.

What is it you want to find out? Let’s say you’ve noticed some people love online shopping while others wouldn’t do it if their lives depended on it. And you want to quantify this.

So your task is to measure how people like shopping online. Likert questions will help you here.

Remember: A Likert scale survey works best when you want to learn about something that can’t be understood with one question. That means you have to measure indicators—specific types of questions that help you understand the concept you’re trying to measure.

Likert scale questions are great for when you need to do a customer satisfaction survey because there are several characteristics that can influence the phenomenon: perceived quality, customer expectations, pricing, speed of service or delivery, and so on. Each of these is an indicator of customer satisfaction—you can find out if the customer is delighted with their purchase overall or very dissatisfied.

So what question types can you ask people to find out how much they enjoy buying things online?

You could start by asking them to list words they associate with online shopping: boring, complicated, easy, quick, intangible, and so on—you want to gauge the respondent’s opinion here.

Build the indicator statements, or Likert items, around this list.

1. I prefer to touch things before I buy them (Strongly Agree—Strongly Disagree)

2.  The variety of options online overwhelms me (Strongly Agree—Strongly Disagree)

3.  Checking out is easy online (Strongly Agree—Strongly Disagree)

It’s important that every statement gets to the heart of what you’re interested in understanding.

Here are a few more tips for writing your indicator statements:

Use positive and negative indicators for balance. A positively worded statement should have a negatively worded counterpart later in the questionnaire or survey.

So if you have the statement, “The variety of options online overwhelms me,” then you should also have an item like, “I appreciate the wide selection online shopping has to offer.”

People who agree with the positive statements should disagree with the negative ones, and vice versa. That’s how you can be confident that your questions are clear and the responses are reliable.

Follow best practices for creating survey questions. Cater to your audience, use their language, and avoid double-barreled or long, complicated statements.

Remember: how we phrase a question influences the response. So use neutral language, avoiding words like “love,” “hate,” “terrible,” “incredible,” and so on. Let people tell you the strength of their feelings instead of cueing it in the statements.

When it comes to the Likert-type response ordinal scales, you have to make two decisions.

First is the semantic scale. You want to choose options that are simple and unambiguous. Among the most common: Agree—Disagree, Helpful—Not Helpful, Excellent—Poor, Satisfied—Dissatisfied, Always—Never. But just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they’re clear.

And make sure the differences between the categories are valid and useful. Let’s say you want to measure how often a person gets up from their desk at work. You choose Never—Seldom—Sometimes—Often—Always. How do you quantify the difference between seldom and sometimes?

If a scale is potentially ambiguous, either explain the meanings in your introduction or change the scale. Don’t use “Sometimes” when you really mean “Once a week.”

Second is the number of response choices. Likert-type responses often have an odd number, so respondents have a neutral option. The jury is still out on whether that is necessary or even desirable.

Most researchers agree that, at a minimum, you should use a five-point Likert scale survey. But other research shows that the more choices there are, the less often respondents use the middle or neutral category. What seems clear is that a seven-point Likert scale approaches the upper limits of reliability—so adding more options is likely to give you worse, not better, Likert scale data.

Think about those HappyOrNot terminals you find in airports, shopping malls, and even in toilets. You know, the ones with the happy and angry faces on them? Most of them use an even number of response choices. Why? Because it forces people to choose a side, making it easier to collapse responses into two categories (positive vs. negative experience).

Which you choose depends on how you plan to evaluate the responses.

Here are a few more tips for creating your Likert scale responses:

Be creative 

• Just because you’re collecting data doesn’t mean you need to sound like a robot. 

• Survey tools like Typeform let you edit the labels so your brand voice can shine through your questions. 

• Try out Interesting—Not Interesting, or even No Way—Meh—Totally! to keep people engaged.

Use unipolar responses 

• The aim of a Likert scale is to get at a larger concept with a series of questions. 

• Don’t name that concept with polar opposites like Safe—Dangerous or Strong—Weak. 

• Instead, measure in degrees, like Very Safe—Not Safe and Very Strong—Not at All Strong. 

• They’re just easier for people to understand, and you can be sure that one extreme is the exact opposite of the other.

Stay consistent with your scales 

• Creating a Likert scale involves summing or averaging the responses to measure a concept or phenomenon. 

• Without consistent scales, you can’t be certain you are measuring the same thing with each statement.

Surveys are an iterative process. The key to successful research is testing, analyzing, revising, and improving the way you collect data.

Test your survey on a small pool of participants that represent the larger group you’re trying to learn more about and analyze the data. If you’re going for extra credit, you can conduct an item analysis.

An item analysis helps you find out which items, or statements, are most useful and which are problematic. The math’s a bit tricky (which is why I defected from psychology), but a statistical analysis tool can help you find the correlations between your questions.

Once you’ve crafted the questionnaire for a Likert scale survey, most of the hard work is already done. If the statements in your questionnaire measure a particular concept when combined, that’s a Likert scale. Averages and standard deviations among your participants describe the data.

If you’ve used Likert-type items in a survey, then averages, medians, and frequencies are the tools you need for analysis. The tendencies in the data will give you answers to the questions that prompted this survey.

Although Likert scale surveys are relatively simple, a major weakness to consider when interpreting your results is respondent biases.

As with most surveys, social desirability bias can affect the reliability of your Likert scale survey. Even when you tell respondents their responses will remain anonymous, many people still try to give socially acceptable answers rather than being honest. This can be minimized with an even-number scale, which prevents people from sitting on the fence.

Likert scale surveys are particularly susceptible to central tendency bias: People avoid choosing the most extreme responses, such as Very Helpful or Strongly Disagree. You can reduce the effect of this bias with some clear definitions, such as “In this survey, Very Helpful means you got everything you needed from our customer service agent.”

At the other end of the spectrum is extreme response bias. This happens when people only choose the extreme options. There are several causes of this, including cultural attitudes and IQ. But the one you have control over is the wording of the question. Use neutral language and don’t ask leading questions—it’ll impact your data analysis.

People tend to agree with statements to please others. This is known as acquiescence response bias—otherwise known as the when-in-doubt-just-agree bias. 

There are two ways to minimize its effect:

1. Phrase your statements as questions.

2. Include a positive and negative statement and evaluate the pairs for consistency.

Overall, Likert scale surveys are pretty simple to create and complete and provide highly reliable data. They allow you to capture the variation and complexity of people’s attitudes, giving you deeper insights into what people are thinking and feeling.

Getting your Likert scale survey right means loads of useful data to help you get to know people better. Ready to get started? We can help you create a survey today!

Demographic survey questions are used to gather more personal information from survey respondents. Most questions ask for details about age, gender, profession, income, education level, and ethnicity.

But being put into boxes and endless Excel sheets isn’t the nicest feeling. So it’s no surprise that people often ditch demographic surveys quickly. Often it’s right after the first question that asks for something personal, like their annual income—which in some countries is as rude as insulting their mother.

Keep the quizzing to a minimum and stick to what’s expected. Don’t be like your nosy neighbor. 

Some numbers are uncomfortable to ask for. A stranger’s phone number is one—and age is another. So how do you knock this tricky demographic question out of the park?

One way is to use a multiple choice question with different age ranges (15-20, 21-25, 26-30) instead of leaving them with that awkward blank space.

Make sure your age categories don’t overlap, like including the number 30 in both 26-30 and 30-35. People could get annoyed and click the X button. Your data will be completely skewed for anyone on the borderline of age ranges.

So why is age so important to ask? Can’t you just leave it out? 

By finding out the age demographic of the people who took your survey, you can also discover a correlation between age and opinions. Use what you learn in your marketing or product design. 

For example:

Katie is somewhere between 21-25. She eats out once a week and spends most of her free time on Instagram looking at brunch bloggers—a classic millennial. You start to see that this is a trend with the younger demographic who took your survey.

What can you learn from this?

You learn that people aged 21-25 are likely to eat out often. This makes your search engine wizards happy because they can better plan targeting. It also helps finance and marketing because you’ll save money and reach a better-quality audience through Instagram targeting.

First up, do you really need to know gender, or are you just doing it out of habit? Cause if you get this question wrong, your survey completion rate will go down the pan.

There are a few ways to ask about gender, depending on what you want to do with this information later and how many people you want to survey.

The simplest way to do this is just to ask, “Gender?” and allow people to self-describe.

With bigger sample sizes, present people with a drop-down answer selection, including female, male, non-binary/non-conforming, and prefer not to say.

But always make sure to give people the option to self-describe for gender questions in your survey.

Think about whether marital status needs to be one of your demographic questions.

Is it 100% relevant for you to know whether someone is married, in a domestic partnership, or using Tinder?

When in doubt, cut it out.

Still determined to ask this question? Give people the main options. Done.

Let’s talk about cash.

If you want to ask how much money people make, you can do it with a lot more tact in a few different ways.

Try asking these three questions, which have a selection of answer options to ease the blow:

1.  Hey, Tom! What’s your highest level of education?

• No formal education

• High school diploma

• College degree

• Vocational training

• Bachelor’s degree

• Master’s degree

• Professional degree

• Doctorate degree

• Other

Tom says he has a PhD—clever cookie. Maybe it was the educational demographic—and not the income demographic you considered—that was relevant here.

You can compare his results with those who have a high school diploma and see if there are any trends in opinion or behavior. And with this more sensitive phrasing, you dodged half the bullet.

This question isn’t the best way to calculate how much people earn if that really is the demographic you’re looking for, but it’s great for finding correlations.

Maybe Tom is more likely to buy your new fresh fruit yogurt, whereas his students are all about the latest soy shake you’ve launched.

1. Hi there, Natalie! What’s your work status?

•  Employed

•  Self-employed/Freelance

• Interning

• Part-time

• Unemployed: Looking for work

• Unemployed: Not looking for work

• Homemaker

• Studying

• Military/Forces

• Retired

• Not able to work

• Other

Natalie is employed full time. She earns a salary and probably some disposable income, but we can’t assume how much she has.

1. What’s up, Lewis? Can you tell us your household income?

• Under $20,000

• $20,001-$40,000

• $40,001-$60,000

• $60,001-$80,000

• $80,001-$100,000

• $100,001 or over

Asking about household income allows Lewis to give you the juice without feeling like you’re snooping on his dollar—and you can make some rich conclusions for your demographic survey responses. Don’t get too excited now.

Learning about somebody’s ethnicity can be really important in your demographic survey. Your background can affect your opinion on certain topics, which can be super interesting for us survey makers. But it’s a touchy topic to cover.

We’ve all wondered at some point: What’s the difference between race and ethnicity?

Quite a lot. When we talk about race, we mean certain specifics. Race concerns your physical traits.

Now ethnicity is another thing. Ethnicity concerns your cultural upbringing and everything that comes with it.

To find out someone’s ethnicity, first up ask:

Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?

If they say “yes” (and you’re using Typeform), add a Logic Jump and move onto the next question. 

If they say no, ask them:

How do you describe your ethnicity?

• Native American Indian or Alaska Native

• Asian

• Black or African American

• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

• White

• Unknown

• Other/Prefer to self-describe

• Don’t wish to answer

If you’re a restaurant manager wondering how to tweak a crème brûlée recipe, maybe it doesn’t matter if it was a 40-year-old marketer or a 14-year-old student who said they loved it.

However, if you’re the head of HR and want to find out the office’s age or gender balance, it might be a good idea to dig a little.

So before you start asking for potentially sensitive information, ask yourself: Do I really need this information, or am I just including it because that’s what forms and surveys normally do?

You’ve sent out your demographic survey questions—nice job.

That’s not the end of this story, though. Asking is the easy part; now, you have to try to find some trends in the answers.

Do baby boomers rate your product more than millennials? Are part-timers more or less likely to use your app on Wednesdays?

You can even cross-tabulate and discover that men over 25 are your biggest fans. That’s going to cut your ad spending.

So this article was all about making awkward questions, well, less awkward.

Asking these questions will make your survey smoother, but to really make your demographic survey more conversational, you need to be appropriate—just like in a real conversation.

• Don’t ask a sophomore student for their household income. They probably don’t know.

• Do ask a recent college graduate about their work status. You can find out how they’re doing in the big, bad world.

• Don’t ask your grocery customers for their marital status. What does that have to do with how much they like bananas?

It’s possible to ask demographic questions in a chatty way—so don’t be afraid to ask.

Just ask in the right way.