---
title: "Survey Gizmo: The best tool/thing I have used/done"
date: 2007-01-31
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $('#toc').toc({ minimumHeaders: 3, listType: 'ul', showSpeed: 0, headers: '#content h2, #content h3, #content h4, #content h5, #content h6' }); /*..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/01/31/survey-gizmo-the-best-toolthing-i-have-useddone/index.html
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at https://idratherbewriting.com/llms.txt. Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any page URL.

# Survey Gizmo: The best tool/thing I have used/done

![surveygizmo](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/surveygizmo.gif)I have been using [SurveyGizmo](http://surveygizmo.com/) to issue some short surveys to our chapter and found that the tool is not only the best survey tool I've used, but issuing short surveys is also the best thing I have done. The type of feedback that comes back is amazing, particularly when you leave a free answer essay in there. People usually have feedback, and this gives them an opportunity to provide it.

Here are a few tips for surveys.

- Keep them short. Ask no more than 5 questions.
- Provide at least one free answer essay (not just radio buttons).
- If you can lighten the survey up, it may be more appreciated.
- Share your responses with the same people you surveyed

As soon as I close this last survey, I am planning to respond to some of the interesting comments on [the Suncoast blog](http://stc-suncoast.org/). This may generate some more discussion on our chapter blog.

On a tool note, I also tried [SurveyFly](http://plugins.starkware.net/), which embeds the survey more easily into your posts. However, I prefer the way SurveyGizmo collects and sorts the information gathered from the survey. It is much easier to read and even [graphs it into rich, colorful reports](http://www.surveygizmo.com/reports/771/1023/ER5YAMH5Z4A8PC7FLO7IK6H7XB2WIV/).

If you haven't extended a survey to your chapter, check out [SurveyGizmo](http://surveygizmo.com/). The first 250 responses of any survey are free, and since I never plan to get more than 100 responses from any survey, this tool is perfect for me.