Congratulations! You have successfully navigated one of the crucial challenges of data collection, i.e., designing and launching your survey. Now, as the results are out, you might be wondering how to present them in a meaningful and effective way so that the stakeholders can make the best use of them.
Well, communicating the survey responses to stakeholders with transparency and clarity is far more challenging than collecting the data. A well-created presentation can do wonders here! The importance of visual representations of data is evident from research that states communication is 93% nonverbal, and the human brain can process images and visuals 60,000 times faster than plain textual information.
This article will equip you with immense knowledge and make it easy for you to turn complex survey results into a comprehensive and visually interesting presentation. Let’s start!
Expert Tips
1. Choose the Data You Want to Share
Not every response is worth sharing with each stakeholder. So, it’s important to understand who your audience is – customers, clients, peers, or top management. Once you decide whom you want to present, go through the survey result thoroughly and choose the data that actually matters to the target audience. It will help you create value through your presentations and get the desired support you are seeking for.
For example – If you are planning to present survey results of a product and your target audience is customers, they may be interested in knowing how the product will benefit them and how it will help them overcome their problems. However, if your target audience is senior executives, they may be less interested in customer perks and more focused on how the product is growing to increase the customer base and improve the business’s bottom line.
Bonus Tip – Remember, your audience has limited time to listen to you. To make the most of it, be concise and specific while sharing the data and make sure to communicate the purpose and importance of the survey to the stakeholders.
2. Use Different Visuals to Visualize Different Survey Results
There are myriad options for presenting your data in a visual format, such as infographics, spreadsheets, graphs, diagrams and charts, videos and animations, data-driven dashboards, etc. But they are not effective in visualizing all types of results likewise.
Below is a detailed guide on choosing the right visual for presenting specific responses.
a). Binary Results
If your survey had questions with binary options (let’s say ‘True’ or ‘False,’ ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ or ‘Agree’ or ‘Disagree’), you can showcase your results using a pie chart. You can depict the portion of ‘Positive’ responses with vibrant color and ‘Negative’ responses with light color.
If you want to depict the comparison of multiple groups’ response rates for a particular option, prefer a single bar chart over a pie chart. For clarity, label each bar with its percentage.
For example, you can use the below-given chart to showcase the percentage of people of different ages who responded ‘Yes’ to a particular question.
One another way to display your binary result is by using a 100% stacked bar highlighted with two different colors according to the percentage of responses.
b). Demographic Results
If your survey result comprises information related to demographics (gender, age, income, geographic location, etc.) besides other survey results, you can visualize data using maps.
You can also use bar graphs to showcase responses to the same questions by respondents of different demographics.
If you want to portray survey results comprising major features of the distribution of the data, donut charts are the best option.
If you want to showcase the result of a demographic trend survey, you can use pictograms or line graphs.
c). Rating Scale Results
The Likert Scale infographic is the best option to depict the survey results on respondents’ perceptions, opinions, attitudes, and levels of agreement.
If you want to depict the results of customer satisfaction surveys or post-event surveys, you can use 1 to 10 scale infographics.
The rating bar infographics can also be used to present the results of the survey conducted to predict the level of risks or danger.
d). Multiple-Choice Results
If your survey had multiple-choice questions and allowed respondents to tick more than one option, you can use heat maps infographics to present the proportions of those respondents who ticked each option.
A simple bar graph can also be used for this purpose.
Stacked column charts are also a good option to visualize responses of surveys comprising multiple-choice questions.
e). Open-ended Comments
Showcasing responses to open-ended questions (questions that don’t have preset answers and respondents are required to give their own answers) is a bit difficult. To present them effectively, you first need to group the answers on the basis of sentiments, common keywords, or other factors. You can use word cloud infographics to highlight the most frequently-used keywords from the responses.
You can also do a meticulous qualitative analysis to categorize the open-ended responses. You can present the percentage of responses in each category using a bar graph.
Incorporate Venn diagrams in your presentations to display the similarities and differences in responses of two categories.
3. Tell a Great Story to Inspire Action
If you are one of those who think that they can ace their presentations just by brimming the slides with numbers, it’s high time to change your notion. These numbers can be nerve-wracking for many audience members. However, you can make these intimidating numbers interesting by weaving a story from them.
Let’s understand this with an example.
Suppose your sales figures have declined this quarter in the USA due to political ups and downs. Now, you have to create a presentation for conveying this data to your CEO. Injecting interest, suspense, and emotion, you can narrate a story.
You can open up by saying that “sales have declined this quarter,” giving an overview of the organization’s sales. With this data, you are evoking an emotion (maybe anxiety) in your CEO.
Now, insert some relieving numbers stating that sales are not down in all regions. With this, you are building anticipation. You can also reveal the reasons for diminishing sales.
Next, talk about the future and communicate your predictions for the upcoming quarter and year. If your sales are likely to remain down in the next quarter, tell it clearly and support it with solutions.
End the story on a positive note and with a ray of sunshine. You can describe how by implementing solutions, sales will increase in the next year.
Bonus Tip – Use visuals (graphs, charts, tables, infographics, etc.) wherever required to make your story compelling.
4. Add an Interactive Touch through Videos and Animations
According to research, the average watch time of online videos of a person is 17 hours per week. This statistic reveals how impactful your survey results would be if presented in the form of videos. The beautiful colors, sound, and motion in videos and animations will capture the audience’s attention and encourage them to pay heed to your survey reports.
Check out this video presentation in which Cambridge English School survey result has been showcased amazingly –
Bonus Tip – To support your video presentation, you can create a PDF of the findings for the audience for reference.
5. Leverage Traditional Spreadsheets for Survey Results Report
Using spreadsheets for visualizing survey results reports seems outdated, but they are still the best option to display the voluminous data at once. You can complement the spreadsheets with infographics and videos to make your presentations engaging.
6. Organize the Survey Findings in Dashboards
Opt for dashboards if you want to showcase real-time survey insights to the intended audience. The customizable graphs, charts, and widgets in dashboards make your results more meaningful. You can easily export them to PowerPoint.
You can also use data-driven dashboard templates, which are linked to Excel. Excel will display when you right-click on any chart of the dashboard. To customize it, click on Edit with Excel. Insert your data there, and the dashboard will get updated automatically.
Best Practices to Impressively Present Survey Results in Charts and Infographics
- To prevent misinterpretation, label each chart clearly.
- Be selective with your survey responses and data; showcase the important ones.
- Avoid decorating infographics and charts with unnecessary ornamental elements.
- No matter what color, icons, or fonts you use, it’s important to maintain consistency in the infographics.
The Bottom Line
Survey results are not just about numbers, data, or statistics. The real value of survey findings lies in translating the insights into relevant actions, which can be done by presenting them in a concise, clear, and engaging manner. If presented and communicated well, these results can garner support from your stakeholders for future actions. So, be mindful and leverage the power of storytelling and visualizations to make your complex data shine and leave a positive impact on the audience.
The tips mentioned above will help you give the audience a meaningful perspective of your survey results. Give them a try in your next presentations!
