Within each industry lies unique trends, patterns, and preferences. And the gardening community is no exception to this!
Surveying gardeners will reveal important insights around topics like…
- Preferred gardening methods and tools
- Areas of improvement for gardening supply companies
- Common challenges faced by gardeners, such as pests, diseases, or weather-related issues
- Primary motivations and purchasing behaviors behind gardening
Creating surveys for gardeners allows relevant teams to gather this type of feedback (and more) that can help inform data-driven decisions.
In this post, our full-service online survey company covers the key benefits of surveying gardeners, how to survey them, and example gardener survey questions.
Benefits of Surveying Gardeners
Whether you are a gardening product manufacturer, landscaping company, garden retail center, or home improvement store, gathering feedback from gardeners provides several benefits.
From discovering trends to improving outreach programs, surveying gardeners can yield plenty of actionable data.
Discover New Trends
No industry remains stagnant. Gathering insight from gardeners will allow various groups to keep tabs on current trends and preferences among these communities.
Relevant horticulture organizations can obtain data from surveying gardeners such as:
- Preferred gardening methods
- Preferred plants
- Preferred gardening techniques and tools
Key stakeholders can use this data to promote their services and how they cater to gardeners. Additionally, this data can shape how organizations stock inventory and so on.
Better Marketing Strategies
Surveying gardeners can also enhance marketing strategies.
As the data reveals important trends and patterns among gardeners, this will inform marketing teams about ways they can reach this niche community. Marketing strategies based on data can tackle many areas of the outreach process.
Common ways marketers can connect with gardeners using data include:
- Targeted marketing campaigns
- Allocating marketing budgets
- Creating advertisements that convert
By improving their marketing strategies, gardening companies and other related brands can ensure they will have a better chance of reaching their target audience and increasing sales.
Improved Products and Services
Gathering data by surveying gardeners can also help improve the products and services they use.
By using this data, garden supply brands and related organizations will be able to use these points to tweak their offerings.
Making these types of changes based on legitimate consumer data takes the guesswork out of improving services. As a result, gardening brands can save time and money when they're crafting products.
Another great benefit of using data this way? More ideas for new products gardeners can use.
Gathering this type of data is often a great foundation for brands to brainstorm new products, as they know what their audience will use.
How to Survey Gardners
Surveying gardeners is similar to the process of most online survey projects. We always recommend partnering with a third-party team like Drive Research – leave the data to the professionals!
Step 1. Kickoff
The first step is always a kickoff meeting!
This meeting acts as a way for both the market research team and the client (in this case, whoever is surveying gardeners) to discuss key objectives and how they want to proceed.
Since many key topics are covered in kickoff meetings, it's never a good idea to skip them. Doing so will likely lead to miscommunication and unmet goals in the end.
Step 2. Survey design and programming
After the kickoff, the survey will be written by the research team.
Once written and carefully reviewed, the survey will be designed and programmed.
When programming a survey, researchers pay close attention to key factors like redirection, and anchoring, along with testing the survey in real-time.
Step 3. Fieldwork and cleaning data
Now it's time to survey gardeners! After the survey is written and programmed comes fieldwork.
This simply refers to the amount of time the survey is actively being taken by the public. The amount of time this takes depends on the needs of the client.
After fieldwork wraps, the data is carefully reviewed, or "cleaned."
Cleaning the data includes looking out for...
- Duplicate responses
- Completion times (too short compared to average times)
- Straightlining (when respondents choose the same answer down a line of questions)
- Reviewing open-ends for nonsense responses
This step is essential, and will never be skipped by a reputable research firm.
Step 4. Analysis and reporting
Lastly, after cleaning, the data from surveying gardeners will be carefully analyzed by research teams. By doing this, the research team will ensure they provide the client with good advice about how to cater to gardeners.
At Drive Research, we always include these findings in a market research report.
This report takes the analysis one step further and includes recommendations from the research team, key findings from surveying gardeners, and other ways the client can use the data.
Step 5. Debrief meeting
A debrief meeting mimics a kickoff meeting but finalizes the research. In a debrief meeting, the report will be reviewed with your team.
All of the recommendations, key findings, and so on included in the report will be discussed with the client. This type of meeting is especially helpful for teams that work with niche groups, like gardeners.
It's also a good chance for your team to bring up any final questions or concerns.
Example Survey Questions for Gardeners
Lastly, let's cover some questions you can include when surveying gardeners.
The key here is to ensure questions are relevant to this group - another reason why it's a good idea to partner up with a research team.
For example, questions may include topics around plant preferences, preferred products/tools, purchasing factors, and much more.
A market research company will work with you to ensure the right questions make it into your survey.
Below are some questions you may include when surveying gardeners:
- What plants do you prefer cultivating?
- Why do you prefer gardening [insert specific plant]?
- Do you cultivate fruits/vegetables?
- Are there specific gardening techniques you follow?
- Do you follow any themes/design patterns while gardening?
- What are common issues you face while gardening?
- How large is your garden space?
- What are your go-to gardening tools?
- What brand/s of fertilizer do you use?
- Where do you find gardening information/tips?
- How often do you spend time gardening?
While these are examples, you'll likely include at least one or more of these questions in your survey. Again, working with an online survey company will help you tailor the questions accordingly!
Contact Our Online Survey Company
Drive Research is a national market research company located in New York. Our customized online surveys provide the affordable and actionable insights you need. Our team has experience surveying thousands of gardeners across the country.
Interested in receiving a proposal or estimate for a customer satisfaction study? Reach out through any of the four ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Lark Allen
As a Content Marketing Specialist, Lark has a strong background and passion for creative, professional, and journalistic writing. She is also a self-proclaimed music freak and 90s enthusiast.
Learn more about Lark, here.
