Zoomerang Blog

Halloween 2009 Survey Results

October 30, 2009

Halloween 2009 Survey Results

                                  Double, double toil and trouble;
                                  Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
                                  Fillet of a fenny snake,
                                  In the cauldron boil and bake;
                                 Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
                                  Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
                                  Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
                                  Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,
                                  For a charm of powerful trouble,
                                  Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
                                  - Incantation of the Three Witches, Macbeth

Despite the consecutive steady increase on Halloween spending over the last several years the economy has finally caught up to Halloween, with this year’s trend best summed up as creativity on a budget. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey consumers are expected to spend an average of $56.31 on Halloween, down from $66.54 last year, with total spending expected to reach $4.75 billion. The survey found consumers plan to spend an average of $20.75 on costumes (including children’s and pet’s costumes); $17.99 on candy; $14.54 on decorations and $3.02 on greeting cards.

To gain further insight into celebration plans for this year, Zoomerang recently conducted an online Halloween survey. The spirit of the holiday (pun intended) is still running strong for respondents, with 71% of respondents planning on celebrating in some form. Holiday plans vary from handing out candy (67%) to attending a costumed work party (9%). With 41% planning on going trick-or-treating, others will be busy visiting pumpkin patches (27%) and haunted houses (18%). For the 54% planning on dressing up, humorous costumes at 19% are the more popular choice over the 11% who are choosing horror-related costumes.

There is good news on the eco-friendly front: 42% will be making their own costumes at home, 18% will be reusing previous costumes, 6% will be going to a used clothing or consignment store and 5% will be borrowing from friends. Only 11% will be buying from a brick and mortar store while 18% will be buying from an online retailer (it is always a good thing to cut down on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by shopping online).

One thing does remain true each year: Halloween is the perfect time to express your individuality. As for my plans, I tried my best to be creative on a budget while celebrating in an eco-friendly way. With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, I decided that I will celebrate with a weekend-long Simpsons Treehouse of Horror 20 episode marathon. Oooh, Scaaareeeyyy! – Count Floyd

Okay Marge, you hide in the abandoned amusement park. Lisa, the pet cemetery. Bart, spooky roller disco. And I’ll go skinny dipping in that lake where the teens were killed one hundred years ago tonight. –Homer Simpson

Happy Halloween!

Leave a Comment » | Marketing | Tagged: Halloween, Holiday, Holiday Shopping, Holiday Spending, Market Research, Marketing, MarketTools, News, Online Survey, Online Surveys, Research, Research Study, Retail, Survey Results, Zoomerang | Permalink
Posted by Donna

Zoomerang’s Survey Tip Of The Day On Twitter – Weekly Update 10/28/09

October 28, 2009

Zoomerang has a wealth of information available to help you collect the actionable data you need and analyze the results. You can find a new Zoomerang Survey Tip each day on Twitter which are designed to help make your survey experience a success.

To help keep you up to date, I have compiled the survey tips from the last week for easier reference and I will be posting an update weekly.

- Use Statistical Analysis to Measure Your Survey Results

- For employee or company satisfaction surveys, surveys should be conducted quarterly rather than conducting them once per year. If there is only one data point for each year, a single recent event could have a large impact on results, impacting business decisions

- While it is important to have some written conclusions, an illustration usually speaks louder than words

- Spend time and effort to plan your survey – Bad information is worse than no information at all

- To gather input for a smoother, more effective meeting send a Meeting Planning Survey

You can find compiled lists of the previous Survey Tip of the Days as well as additional online survey tips and suggestions here at the Zoomerang blog as well as links to helpful Zoomerang tutorials and Zoomerang webinars.

Be sure to follow Zoomerang on Twitter if you would like to view the Survey Tip each day. You can also add the Zoomerang blog to your RSS feed or bookmark the site to get the weekly recap. If you have any survey tips you would like to share leave me a comment or send me an email, Zoomerang is all about sharing knowledge.

Leave a Comment » | Online Survey Tips | Tagged: Business, Create Surveys, Customer Satisfaction Survey, Employee Satisfaction Survey, HR, Improve Survey Quality, Improve Surveys, Market Research, Marketing, MarketTools, Online Survey, Online Survey Solution, Online Survey Tips, Online Surveys, Research, Small Business, Survey, Survey Questions, Surveys, Twitter, Write Surveys, Zoomerang | Permalink
Posted by Donna

Survey Results Graphs and Charts

October 26, 2009

In creating a visual representation of your survey results there are a few options to consider so be sure to choose the format that will best illustrates your results.

A survey results pie chart is best for seeing how something is divided among different groups Pie charts show categories of data in proportion to the whole data set. The entire pie acts as the visual representation of the compiled data and each slice represents a different category within. When analyzing pie chart data look for the largest piece to find the most common category and be sure to pay attention to the relative sizes of pieces; some categories may be unexpectedly similar or different in size.

For a pie chart, the following statistics are calculated:

Mean: The average of all the data points in the series

Maximum: The maximum value (biggest slice) in the series

Minimum: The minimum value (smallest slice) in the series

Sample Size: The number of values (slices) in the series

Range: The maximum value minus the minimum value

Standard Deviation: Indicates how widely data is spread around the mean

A survey results bar graph makes for easy comparisons. Like pie charts, bar graphs are useful for comparing categories of data where you can have a single category of data or you can beak down the data further into multiple categories for greater depth of analysis.

For each bar in the bar graph, the following statistics are useful:

Mean: The average height of all the bars

Maximum: The maximum value (tallest bar) in the series

Minimum: The minimum value (shortest bar) in the series

Sample Size: The number of values (bars) in the series

Range: The maximum value minus the minimum value

Standard Deviation: Indicates how widely data is spread around the mean

For more information on how to get the most from your survey report and improve the way you analyze surveys be sure to read the Survey Results Report post and 10 Tips to Get the Most out of Survey Reporting

Leave a Comment » | Marketing | Tagged: Business, Market Research, Marketing, MarketTools, Online Survey, Online Survey Solution, Online Survey Tips, Online Surveys, Research, Small Business, Survey, Survey Analysis, Survey Results, Surveys, Zoomerang | Permalink
Posted by Donna

Zoomerang’s Survey Tip Of The Day On Twitter – Weekly Update 10/21/09

October 21, 2009

To help keep you up to date, I have compiled the survey tips from the last week for easier reference and I will be posting an update weekly.

- A targeted follow-up survey may help reveal causes of negative responses from employees working in the same dept

- Keep respondents moving at a quick pace through the survey by mixing up the easier questions with more difficult ones

- Sample size can often make or break your results – If the sample is not large enough results may be inaccurate

- Your customers’ time is valuable so don’t ask for more than 10 minutes of it when you invite them to complete your survey

- When building a survey results graph choose the graph that best illustrates your results: A line graph is great for showing trends or specific data values; A bar graph makes for easy comparisons; A pie graph is best for seeing how something is divided among different groups

Leave a Comment » | Online Survey Tips | Tagged: Business, Create Surveys, Improve Survey Quality, Improve Surveys, Market Research, Marketing, MarketTools, Online Survey, Online Survey Solution, Online Survey Tips, Online Surveys, Research, Small Business, Survey, Surveys, Twitter, Write Surveys, Zoomerang | Permalink
Posted by Donna

Survey Results Report

October 19, 2009

Survey Results Report

The final stage of your survey is the preparation and presentation of the survey results report. This stage is as important as, if not more important than, any other stage in the market research process. Regardless of the care taken in the design and execution of the survey itself, the time and effort expended on your research project could be wasted if the report does not communicate effectively.

The research report is your factual message relying on tables, figures, and graphical displays of various types to clearly communicate the research findings. The report presents actionable data and vital recommendations so that the most informed decisions can be made. Keep in mind there are usually stakeholders involved in the decisions you are trying to make who want to see a visual representation of your survey results and survey analysis.

When building a survey results graph or chart choose the format that best illustrates your results:

- A bar graph makes for easy comparisons

- A pie chart is best for seeing how something is divided among different groups

Analyzing and illustrating your survey results is fast and simple to do with Zoomerang. In just a few clicks you can graph survey results or apply cross-tabulations, filters, and comparison reports. With Zoomerang you can quickly and easily create a survey results graph directly from a question—even with a filter or cross-tabulation applied—and output it to PowerPoint or a PDF making it easy to share information with key stakeholders.

For more information on how to get the most from your survey report and improve the way you analyze surveys be sure to read “10 Tips to Get the Most out of Survey Reporting”