How to write good PR survey questions – a seven-step guide

At Definition, the B2B PR team gets together weekly to analyse the news and pick out themes – it helps us develop stories for our clients. And, every week, without fail, we spot a few survey-led stories – from universities, vendors or the publishers themselves. They’re a stalwart of PR, and for good reason. They provide data to back up your claims, echo or rebuke ideas in the public discourse, start conversations, and give insight into people’s mindsets.

I’ve worked in PR for more than twelve years, so I have spent many hours pondering the exact phrasing of many PR survey questions. They’re still a reliable tactic for telling a story (many others have come and gone in that time). As a B2B media relations agency, we deal with surveys a lot. We write and pitch them – and we get coverage for them. But drafting that golden question is crucial to getting the headline you’re after – and getting there takes a little bit of planning and practice.

Types of PR survey stories

At their core, all (good) research-led PR stories do at least one of the following:

• Reinforce or challenge stereotypes – “Brits stop drinking tea”
• note a rising or changing trend – “Men are buying more moisturiser”
• induce shock and horror about how we live and work – “Brits work in their pyjamas”
• bring to light our lifestyle changes or life hacks – “Brits favourite vitamin to help you sleep, revealed”
• expose large numbers, ideally of money or people – “Christmas party is costing UK companies £12,300” (more on that here).

Your survey questions should start a conversation – think pub chat. Once you’ve got an idea of the type of story you’re looking for, you can begin the hard part – writing the questions.

Seven top tips for writing good PR survey questions

Survey questions for market research (which our consumer research team can help with btw) and PR survey questions are very different. The type of information gathered for market research will (usually) not work for a PR story. There are a few core principles to remember when drafting your PR survey questions. They are:

1. Universal experiences work best

The surveys that get the most coverage are the ones that tap into (mostly) universal experiences – think sleep, health, how we work and how we spend money. Early in my career, we asked cyber security professionals to choose between getting a root canal or telling their boss that the company had suffered a data breach – the former being a universally awful experience. More recently, we have created stories around shopping and, erm, farting – universal experiences we can all relate to.

2. Keep it simple

The most straightforward questions are often the most fruitful, as they leave no room for ambiguity. The more absolute you can be, the better (more on that in the next point). Do you take vitamins? Do you eat breakfast? Do you work from home in your pyjamas? Do you wear a shirt to work? A simple question with a simple answer is the key – like this survey, which was covered internationally, which asked CEOs how many hours of sleep they get each night.

3. No grey areas

Market research often focuses on how people feel or will feel about issues or decisions they might make in the future. PR survey questions should not do that. Instead, they should focus on what people:

• do or don’t do
• think or don’t think
• know or don’t know
• have or don’t have
• spend or don’t spend.

You see where I’m going with this.

There has never been a strong headline that people feel ‘quite sure’ about buying something in ‘the future’. They’re buying it now, or they’re not!

4. Have key themes across questions

It’s unusual to make a whole story out of one question alone (but not completely unheard of). Most will opt for ten questions in total, so try to have a running theme or divide them into two or three parts – that way, you’ll get multiple stories from one survey.

5. Choose your respondents wisely

We’re often asked how many respondents you need for a PR survey. The answer is:

• 2,000 consumers minimum for nationals
• less is OK if you’re looking at more specific respondents. Like those with a specific or niche job title only. Publications aren’t going to expect you to interview 2,000 Hygrothermal Dynamics Consultants for Ferries and Ships.
• ensure your respondents are nationally representative.

Consumer stories are best for the national press, which generally appeals to the masses. So, think about whether you can get your message across via a consumer survey if you want it to have broad appeal. Are general consumers your customer’s customers? If so, that makes them relevant for you to talk to.

6. Would you talk about this outside of work?

Would your story start (and sustain) a conversation outside of work? That is usually a good measure of whether it is a good PR survey question. Getting into the habit of thinking about this means you’ll start tuning into conversations that you’re having with friends and family and thinking about whether you can get a survey question out of them—which, full disclosure, can make you quite annoying.

7. Why are you talking about this now?

You might think that your PR survey questions are evergreen, but journalists will want a reason to publish your story now. Why did you ask these questions now? It could be something related to the season, an awareness day, a trend on social media, something that has happened in the news, or an event coming up. Whatever it is, include it in your pitch.

Do you have an idea for a survey that you’d like to pitch to the press?

Written by Katie Chodosh, Head of Media Relations at Definition