Using Microsoft Forms Pro

Intro

Have you ever asked yourself, “How many people visiting our website actually like this product or feature? Would they recommend it without being prompted?” What about, as an employer, would you like to know how your employees feel about working for your company? Both scenarios represent opportunities for qualitative research to answer to basic questions with a simple survey. Microsoft Forms Pro is a new and improved survey tool used to help retrieve answers to questions like these on your website, mobile app or through digital channels like email and Twitter. Forms Pro allows individuals to create virtual questionnaires, that are used to generate responses to gain insight. This product shows great potential in becoming a new, efficient way to reach customers. The advantages of Forms Pro include, its many distribution channels, rich customizable feature set and tight integration with Microsoft cloud services. As a Project Manager working with this new research tool, I am going to break down the many reasons to consider using Microsoft Forms Pro to gain insight on what matters to you and your company the most.

Creating the Survey

MS Forms Pro has developed a new streamlined means of survey creation with intuitive, well designed UI. In the creation of my first survey, the first thing I noticed was the number of questions that were already created, organized by topic and ready to add to the survey.This logical workflow enables researches to quickly build powerful surveys and quicklystart gaining insights. Another great feature is being able to customize any question, font, color, size, etc., making the survey match brand guidelines and color palettes. Once I finished personalizing the survey design for my client, I previewed the survey but was still not convinced that it was personal enough. Researching additional features in Forms Pro, I was able to change the feedback message and make it align with our client’s vision and replace the commonly used generic, “Thank you for your feedback”. The unique message also included my client’s webpage URL, adding another touch of personalization. In the end survey creation was easy and my client was happy.

Distribution of the Survey

Once the survey is ready to be sent out, you need to decide which distribution channel is best to reach to your target audience. MS Forms Pro offers five different distribution channels: 1) embedding the survey into a web page, 2) generating a QR code for recipients to scan on mobile devices, 3) sending via email , 4) setting a business trigger to send automatically with Power Automate, or 5) create a link to be shared with your audience. Different channels also offer customizable templates which are important in grabbing a person’s immediate attention, and improving the take rate on the survey. You can do this by adding what are known as variables, specifically first name and last name variables which are a significant improvement over a a generic message such as “To whom this may concern” or, “To our valued customer”. After the survey is sent out to the client’s target audience, the next stage is figuring out what the responses mean.

Response Analysis

Forms Pro has a lot of great features, but my absolute favorite is the automatically generated response analysis. Once customers begin to respond to the survey, their responses are recorded on the “Responses” page, and turned into graphs, word clouds, etc., making it easy to read for users. Once the client has their response analysis, our work here is complete! Leaving us ready to begin the next round qualitative research whenever the client requests.

Conclusion

Microsoft Forms Pro is a survey tool used to gain insight through direct response qualitative research. Whether companies need to see product feedback, or understand employee satisfaction. Forms Pro offers a multitude of different features to help personalize each survey so that the audience feels as though they are recognized and appreciated in a way that encourages them to complete the survey. Although Forms Pro is a new product and there are not many product reviews out there, I will choose Microsoft Forms Pro for any and every survey need that comes my way. It is unique, efficient and easy to use.