There are many online survey creators available to businesses. These tools help organizations connect with audiences and receive valuable feedback.
While many services promise to be a free survey maker, this is rarely the truth. Lots of “free” survey tools hide features behind premium memberships that cost a fee.
You may be able to make surveys for free, but it costs you money to send the form to others. Or, you can only ask certain types of questions unless you pay to unlock more features.
Google Forms free online survey tool is a rare exception. It is absolutely zero cost and there are no restrictions. You gain access to every feature and can make and send as many survey forms as you wish.
Most free survey makers are basic in their offerings. You can only make simple questionnaires, not the professional quality businesses need.
On the other hand, Google Forms is a robust survey maker with several features and settings. You can make custom feedback questionnaires and other forms with little hassle.
Google Forms enables you to ask any style of question (multiple choice, open-ended, rating scale, ranking, etc.). With these options, you can make varied surveys that audiences enjoy taking.
The tool even helps when it’s time to send the survey and tabulate the results. It is easily the best free survey maker available. It will transform how you approach customer feedback from start to finish.
This discussion will explore how to use the Google Forms free online survey tool. We’ll cover the process from creating surveys to analyzing the responses.
Many people sign up for a Google account to use Gmail, the company’s popular email service. What you may not realize is this Google account gives you access to many other powerful tools.
One of these tools is Google Forms. This Google app helps users create and send forms or other documents (including surveys) to others.
For instance, there are several Google Forms templates, such as:
You can edit any template to fit your needs, adding questions, pictures, videos and other elements. You can also opt to make a completely blank form from scratch.
With so many free features and options, you can make the high-quality surveys you always wanted. There are no roadblocks or obstacles to deter you from utilizing certain features.
You can send finished forms to any audience through an email list or direct link. Alternatively, Google Forms allows you to share completed forms on Facebook or LinkedIn. There are no limits to how many forms you send.
As you start gathering responses, the data appears instantly. The Google Forms free online survey tool even gives you few simple visualizations to help break down the results.
These simple features facilitate the audience feedback process from survey creation to results analysis. You can’t ask for more from a free survey maker!
Let’s walk through each step required to use Google Forms free online survey creator. This will help you make sense of the tool’s various features and capabilities.
The first step is to create a Google account. Again, if you have a Gmail address or even a YouTube account, you may already have a Google account to use. Otherwise, it is very easy (and free) to sign up.
With your Google account, visit any Google site (Google, Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, etc.). You’ll notice a grid of 9 dots at the top-right corner, next to your user profile.
Alternatively, you can simply search for Google Forms using the search engine.
After you access Google Forms, your first step is to choose a free survey maker template. Again, you have several template options to choose from. You can also make a blank form.
For these instructions, we’ll use the blank template. This will give complete freedom to how we design our Google Forms for survey.
You can put a title and description on your survey if you want. Then, you can begin writing your first survey question. As you type the question into the designated field, the Google Forms free online survey system will automatically update the available responses to match.
For example, if you type in “Rate your experience today”, the question type and available responses will change to a rating scale. However, if your survey item says “Describe the best part of your experience with us today”, the field will change to a long-form answer.
It’s a subtle feature but it saves a lot of time when writing lots of survey questions!
When you’re satisfied with the Google Forms free survey you created, click the purple “Send” button at the top of the page. This will pop up the following menu:
These are all the options you have for sending surveys to customers and other audiences. It’s very easy to select how you want to share your questionnaires and other forms.
To check on your survey responses, click on the “Responses” tab at the top of the form.
You’ll see how many total responses the survey received and the distribution of answers for each question.
Google Forms free tool offers a basic overview of your response data. However, you may want to export the results of Google Forms to Google Sheets or Excel for deeper analysis.
Thankfully, the Google Forms free online survey tool makes it very easy to do this. Under the Responses tab, you can click the “Link to Sheets” link.
You’ll be able to create a new spreadsheet for the data, or select an existing one.
For Excel users, the process is a little longer, but still very easy. Instead of clicking “Link to Sheets”, you’ll choose the three vertical dots next to it.
This creates a dropdown menu with the option to download your responses as a .csv file.
Choose the location on your device for the file download to go. Then, open up Excel, import the .csv file and presto! Your is exported from Google Forms to Excel.
The more survey responses you receive, the harder spreadsheet analysis becomes. A few rows quickly grow to hundreds. It’s all too much stuff to take in and understand.
This is known as data overload, where it becomes paralyzing to look at your spreadsheets. Data visualization provides a solution for this tiresome wall of numbers.
Data visualization means taking data and visually depicting it with charts, diagrams, dashboards, etc.
There’s some powerful science to back up the effectiveness of charts. For instance, your brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than raw text or numbers.
It’s the classic saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Charts display thousands of numbers in a visual format. With the right survey chart, you can see what’s happening behind your data instantly.
Plus, charts help communicate the results of your Google Forms free online surveys to others. It’s a much better way to share audience insights between departments or with clients and stakeholders.
Once your survey data is in Excel, it’s very easy to turn it into a visualization. For the best survey charts, we recommend downloading ChartExpo, an add-in for Excel from the Microsoft AppSource.
ChartExpo enhances charting in Excel in two major ways. First, it adds several new chart types not previously found in Excel. This includes options like the Likert Scale Chart or CSAT Score Survey Chart.
ChartExpo charts are available both in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Please use the following CTA’s to install the tool of your choice and create beautiful visualizations in a few clicks in your favorite tool.
Let’s say you want to do a customer satisfaction survey. First let’s have a look on questions which you have asked to customers:
Below are the responses (feedback) that are associated with each questions:
Finally prepared the data table as shown below:
Responses | How much satisfied are you with variety of products offered by store? | How much satisfied are you with the quality of our product? | How much satisfied are you with our delivery service? | How much satisfied are you with the product descriptions? |
Response 1 | Extremely Dissatisfied | Neutral | Extremely Satisfied | Satisfied |
Response 2 | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Extremely Satisfied | Satisfied |
The above table is just sample data. In actual scenarios you will be having a lot of responses and more questions as well.
Overall view, 65% of respondents are satisfied with the product and store. Out of 32% amazing experience with the product and store. 23% are dissatisfied with the product and store. The Grey area is representing neutral which means they are neither satisfied nor unsatisfied with a product and store, which is 13%.
Google offers survey tools free of charge. You can make high-quality questionnaires and send them to as many customers as you wish.
All you need to get started is a Google account. If you use Gmail for your private or business email, you’re already ready to use the Google Forms free online survey service.
Simply visit the Google Forms app page, choose a template or blank form, and start making your survey.
These Google survey tools free you from other confusing audience feedback forms. It’s incredibly easy to use and takes minutes to learn.
When you’re done, you can send the form to customers and see their responses in real-time. You can also export results to Excel or Google Sheets for easier analysis.
Yes. Google Forms is a free survey maker. You only need a Google account to start using these survey tools for free. This account also doesn’t cost anything. You may already have one to use.
Google Forms’ free online survey creator offers every feature to users. It is not a “freemium” service, like many other tools that claim to be free.
These tools let you create simple surveys, but keep most features behind a premium subscription fee. This drastically limits what you can do for no cost.
Conversely, the Google Forms free online survey maker doesn’t have any paywalls or premium subscriptions. Every user has access to the same features and service level.
Customer surveys are a valuable way to engage with your target audience and find out what they are thinking and feeling. With one survey, you can learn everything your customer wants and doesn’t want. That’s some pretty valuable intel!
However, many free survey tools and online survey creators lack the features you need to make quality audience feedback forms. Or, they hide the best functions behind a premium subscription.
That’s not quite free, is it?
When you want a truly free survey maker, there is no better option than Google Forms. It is absolutely free and has all the capabilities you need to make exceptional surveys.
Here is a quick recap of what you can expect from Google Forms’ free online survey creator:
If you want a free survey maker that takes you from creating the questionnaire to analyzing the results, choose Google Forms!