Introduction

A survey for due diligence is a way to get insight into the people you plan to do business with. Surveys can be used in a variety of situations, from entering new markets to hiring new employees. The purpose of a survey for due diligence is to get accurate, actionable information that can improve your organisation's performance and make better-informed decisions.

A survey for due diligence will help you uncover insights about the industry in which you operate

A due diligence survey will help you uncover insights about the people you plan to do business with. In addition, a survey can help you understand your target market by asking a variety of questions regarding demographics and psychographics. Surveys are also useful for understanding how customers feel about your product or service, and how they think about it.

The purpose of a survey for due diligence is to get accurate, actionable information

One of the main reasons why a survey for due diligence is so popular today is that it gives accurate and reliable information, A survey for due diligence is a way to get information that can be used to make decisions about the future.

You may consider using a survey for due diligence when you're thinking of entering a new market

Surveys are great ways to get actionable information and make better decisions. Moreover, a survey is an excellent way to get important information about your potential customers, so it's a great tool if you want to:

• Understand what they want from your products or services
• Learn more about their needs and concerns before developing solutions that address them

For a guide on market entry strategies, check out this post. 

Use a survey for due diligence to help inform your decision-making

Surveys are a great way to get data and feedback. They can help you make better decisions, understand your customers, and improve your business processes.

Every good survey for due diligence should have the following criteria:

The following criteria should be used in every good survey for due diligence:

• Objectives - What are the overall goals of your study?
• Scope - How far will you go in your research? Is it local, regional, or global in scope?
• Methodology - What methods will be used to gather information and what types of analysis will take place once data has been collected?
• Budget and timeline - How much money do you have available for this study, how long can you dedicate resources to it, and who else might be involved?

Objectives

Before you can begin, you need to define your goals and objectives. This is important because it helps you understand what problem you are trying to solve. Defining your goals will ultimately guide your project.

It's also worth noting that setting goals before starting a project is vital for ensuring that your solution meets the needs of its users. If the team isn't clear about what they're trying to accomplish, there's little chance of success.

When defining your objectives, avoid getting bogged down in details: instead, think about what kind of change you want to happen in the long term and make it specific enough so that everyone understands what they're aiming for. You should always think big but stay realistic. Setting challenging goals will help motivate yourself and others on the team as well as give an indication of where things stand after completion. Set internal deadlines to ensure that the project is running as you want it to. 

Scope

The purpose of a survey for due diligence is to gather information from people who have had experience with the business, or with similar businesses. The scope of your survey is a list of questions that you want answered by those individuals, so it's critically important that these two things are aligned: what you want to know and how you're going to frame your questions.

Choosing the right scope will help ensure that all relevant issues are covered. However, it also serves another very important function: it will help set expectations among participants about what type of information they should be providing. By defining what topics need to be covered before writing any questions, both parties can be on the same page as far as what’s expected from each other.

For instance, HBR’s recent article explains the importance of setting the scope for an employee satisfaction survey. Check it out here. 

Methodology

The survey should be conducted in a way that is unbiased and accurate, ethical and legal, and consistent with the organisation's values and mission.

The following sections provide more information about how to conduct your survey in an unbiased way:

• How to avoid sampling bias:
  Sampling bias occurs when there is a disproportionate representation of certain groups in a survey sample. This can lead to inaccurate results and a misrepresentation of the population being studied.
  To avoid sampling bias, it's important to ensure that your survey sample is random and representative of the population you are studying.
  For example, if you're interested in finding out how many people in the United States have diabetes, but you want to know more about women than men so you only ask women about their diabetes status. In this case, you would not have an accurate representation of all people with diabetes because you did not include men in your sample.
• How your survey can be anonymous: To anonymise your survey, remove any identifiable information from an individual before including them in your sample. This could be anything from names and addresses to social security numbers and birthdates.

Budget and timeline

• Set a budget and timeline for the survey.
• Don't rush the process of conducting due diligence.
• Make sure you have sufficient resources to complete the survey in its entirety. If not, consider hiring additional staff or subcontracting with a third party.
• Don't go over budget during the process. If you do, it will be necessary to re-evaluate your funding sources or change strategies altogether. Changing strategies can become costly as well. 

For more information on budgets for a research project, check out this post here. 

Using surveys for due diligence is an effective way to get actionable information that can move your organisation forward

Surveys for due diligence can be a valuable tool in your organisation's toolkit. If you're looking to use surveys as part of your due diligence process, here are some guidelines on how to get the most out of them:-

• Ask the right questions. The way you ask your questions matters. You want to phrase each question in a way that will elicit specific information and make sense to the user who is filling out the survey. Make sure that you ask one question at a time. Additionally,  give users enough time between questions so they can think about what they want to be answered with each response.
• Get actionable information from responses. Actionable data means having clear next steps based on what's being asked in the survey. This helps ensure that everyone involved knows exactly where things are going next if something comes up during verification or post-verification checks that require further investigation or research. Further research could be required into an area where more answers may be required before continuing with other areas of due diligence work like finalising documents for closing contracts with key stakeholders (i.e., vendors).

Conclusion

In order to make the most of your survey for due diligence, you need to consider your objectives and scope. Once you’ve done this, it’s time to look at the methodology for your survey. You should also include budget and timeline information so that everyone involved knows what they can expect from this project before they begin working on it together. By following these steps, you'll be able to create an effective survey for due diligence that will help inform business decisions and improve decision-making processes within any organisation. If you’d like more information, check out our blog post titled ‘How to run a b2b survey for due diligence the right way’.