Microsoft Forms: Powerful Way to Survey

I’m sure this always happens to you as it does to me.

Your father-in-law sends you an email. He has been out that morning off Mornington, fishing. He’s “bagged out” on whiting and snapper and wants to share his haul with you. So in his email, he tells you to check out the attached photo. 

Except the attachment is missing. 

Always. 

So you go back and forth until he works out how to attach an image to his email. 

It’s a frustrating exchange that is all too common in our personal lives and workplaces – missing attachments.

Some Melbourne businesses still send attachments to their customers for annual surveys or data collection. 

But is there a better way? A way that is frictionless and improves your customer’s experience with your business.

Let me introduce you to Microsoft Forms, one of Microsoft 365’s most underrated and underutilised apps. As Microsoft 365 is a comprehensive tool, it’s easy for many users and companies to be unaware of all the features, options and tools available to help.

With about 345 million users, Microsoft 365 is one of the world’s most popular cloud platforms. Moreover, its popularity shows no sign of abating, with cloud tool numbers up 32% in Q3 2022 compared to the prior year. Microsoft 365 continues to grow based on the success of its core twenty apps offered as part of its suite of cloud tools.

Using Microsoft Forms (MS Forms) is simple and easy and is included free as part of your subscription. Many businesses have leveraged MS Forms to send annual customer surveys to assess their companies’ change readiness.

What is Microsoft Forms?

Imagine being able to create a quiz or a survey using a drag-and-drop form. Well, with Microsoft Forms, completing a survey has never been easier. You can create a survey effortlessly and then send a link for completion. And your recipients can quickly fill out your form online from any device they choose.

Next, once recipients fill out the survey, the results are available immediately for you to review. Finally, you can see the collated results charted in the software or export them to Excel.

Here’s how to get started using MS Forms:

1. Visit Forms.office.com and log into your Microsoft account.
2. Select “New Form” or “New Quiz” from the top menu

3. Alternatively, you can choose to explore the built-in templates.

4. Click “Add New” to add a new form field so that you can select:

• Choice (e.g. a multiple-choice question or free-form text)
• Text box
• Enter a rating
• Chose a date
• Rank a list
• Likert scale (this records attitudes or opinions)
• Customer satisfaction scores such as the Net Promoter Score® 
• Section (you can include a title and image)

5. Enter your questions.
6. Once finished, click “Send” at the top. You can send your survey using the following options:

• Link to a web form
• Email
• QR code
• Embed in a web page
• Via Facebook or Twitter

7. View responses on the “Responses” tab

Advantages of using Microsoft Forms

Included with your Microsoft 365 subscriptions

Unlike using a separate survey tool, such as Survey Monkey, MS Forms is included with your Microsoft 365 subscription, saving you money.

Save time

You know that sending surveys by email is time-consuming. However, you must also be concerned about email deliverability if you send it with an attachment and manually collate the results as your recipients email you back. 

To save time, MS Forms removes sending attachments and manually collates data. So the recipients completing your survey can do it quickly by filling out an online form – avoiding the need for them to open and attach, complete, save and resend. 

Instant access to survey responses 

You can quickly see the survey results displayed visually in meaningful graphs. MS Forms make it effortless to export to Excel. That way it’s easier if you want to upload the survey results to another platform. Additionally, using the “Responses” tab, you can hover over the result graphs to see the specific details.

Simple to use, easy to learn

Microsoft Forms provides an intuitive and straightforward interface that most users can adopt quickly, with minimal training. 

How can you use Microsoft Forms in your business?

Annual customer experience survey

You can improve the response rate from your customer surveys by making them simple and easy for them to complete. MS Forms helps you deliver excellent customer service by allowing your clients to complete the form on any device, anywhere and anytime. 

Check your employee’s security awareness. 

You could consider integrating your security awareness quiz into your cybersecurity training using MS Forms. Not only will this simplify the process for you, but you can gauge the average response time per person for compliance. 

Change readiness survey

As technology continues to evolve and change in our fast-paced world, being ready is top of mind for many companies. One way to use MS Forms is to help improve user readiness for change adoption. MS Forms allows you to create and send out a change readiness survey to impacted groups to obtain feedback.

Event registrations

MS Forms can quickly help gather registration details if you’re hosting an event. You can send an MS Forms link via QR code, social media, text, or email.

Volunteer registrations

If your business regularly seeks volunteer assistance, you can embed a form on your web page to register volunteers. MS Forms will automatically collate different talents or other volunteer information so you can better match people’s skills to your needs.

Other ways MS Forms can help your business

The options for MS Form are endless, but here are some more ways you can leverage it to help your business:

• Competitor analysis research
• Post-event feedback survey
• Office facilities request form
• Employee engagement survey
• Product pricing survey
• Catering request form
• Save the date form for future events
• Enrollment form for courses, webinars and workshops

Need to learn more about Microsoft 365?

If your Melbourne business wants to learn how to leverage all the tools in Microsoft 365, including Forms, contact us for a no-obligation chat.