More Businesses Using Online Surveys
Over the past several years, more and more businesses have begun to use online surveys. More businesses using this method of gauging customer sentiment means that more surveys are being given overall, and that more data is being collected by businesses. The basic benefits of the internet have led to massive improvements in data collection, some of which have saved companies massive amounts of money. Understanding the benefits of these polls can help any business to understand exactly why it is important to being posting surveys on the web and why abandoning traditional surveys may help the companies to embrace better business practices.
Better Access
One of the most important parts of handing out a survey is making sure that you reach the right demographics. For data to be statistically useful, one must survey both a large number of subjects and make sure that the interviewed subjects match particular demographic profiles. If your product is meant for women from eighteen to thirty, you might be out of luck if you can only find men between fifty and seventy on a given day. The internet, however, allows a company to cast a much wider net than any in-person survey program could ever hope to match. By attaching the survey website to the end of a receipt or simply placing a survey site online, the business has a chance to reach thousands, or even millions, of customers. This gives the company a better chance to look at how their questions poll among various demographic groups, thus allowing for changes that will actually impact new initiatives in a meaningful way.
Lower Cost
Simply put, surveys cost money. While there is very little that a business can do about the basic cost of coming up with an effective survey, the internet has provided several means of reducing the other associated costs. The most obvious cost eliminated is, of course, paper. While not necessarily a huge cost in the corporate world, printing off enough surveys to get a good sampling is quite expensive compared to posting a survey on a website. More pressing are the costs related to manpower (hiring individuals to go over survey results and to administer the surveys) and other forms of overhead (such as having a space in which the survey can be taken). Eliminating these costs allows more businesses to put out more customer surveys, thus increasing the amount of data that can be used. In fact, these savings can make the difference in determining whether surveys are cost-effective for a business or if other methods of data gathering should be considered.
Easier Forms
Most surveys are exceedingly awkward by design. You have to fill in bubbles, write down numbers and hope that your written answers can fit into a tiny box. Unfortunately, these restrictions are simply part of the process of using paper for survey purposes. If a survey is placed online, though, the forms can have a bit more room to breathe. Users can write longer answers and quickly fill in information that might otherwise take several minutes to write down. This makes the survey process less frustrating for users and allows those who go over the data a chance to read the raw data in a more useful form. Eliminating the problems of bad handwriting and tiny forms helps to allow the business that posted the survey to mine it for data that can actually be used by their experts to make effective changes.
A Better Experience
Perhaps most importantly, internet surveys create a better experience for the users. If you can think of the paper surveys that you have taken in the past, you will most likely think of controlled conditions, cramped rooms and employees seeking to flag you down in the middle of the mall. Online surveys allow users to take the survey in their own homes, cutting down on the awkwardness of the process and allowing them to give truthful answers on their own time. This in turn creates survey answers that are more useful for the businesses, with honest responses that will actually provide the kind of valuable and useful data that a business needs for success.
A business that uses an online survey can reach more people, collect better data and reduce costs. While more businesses using online surveys may mean that some consumers feel overwhelmed, the fact remains that the addition of online surveys continues to help businesses to better target their products and to get to know their own customer bases. Whether the business is large or small, local or international, one thing holds true - the benefits of investing in online surveys are worth the risk of trying out a new way of doing business.
Better Access
One of the most important parts of handing out a survey is making sure that you reach the right demographics. For data to be statistically useful, one must survey both a large number of subjects and make sure that the interviewed subjects match particular demographic profiles. If your product is meant for women from eighteen to thirty, you might be out of luck if you can only find men between fifty and seventy on a given day. The internet, however, allows a company to cast a much wider net than any in-person survey program could ever hope to match. By attaching the survey website to the end of a receipt or simply placing a survey site online, the business has a chance to reach thousands, or even millions, of customers. This gives the company a better chance to look at how their questions poll among various demographic groups, thus allowing for changes that will actually impact new initiatives in a meaningful way.
Lower Cost
Simply put, surveys cost money. While there is very little that a business can do about the basic cost of coming up with an effective survey, the internet has provided several means of reducing the other associated costs. The most obvious cost eliminated is, of course, paper. While not necessarily a huge cost in the corporate world, printing off enough surveys to get a good sampling is quite expensive compared to posting a survey on a website. More pressing are the costs related to manpower (hiring individuals to go over survey results and to administer the surveys) and other forms of overhead (such as having a space in which the survey can be taken). Eliminating these costs allows more businesses to put out more customer surveys, thus increasing the amount of data that can be used. In fact, these savings can make the difference in determining whether surveys are cost-effective for a business or if other methods of data gathering should be considered.
Easier Forms
Most surveys are exceedingly awkward by design. You have to fill in bubbles, write down numbers and hope that your written answers can fit into a tiny box. Unfortunately, these restrictions are simply part of the process of using paper for survey purposes. If a survey is placed online, though, the forms can have a bit more room to breathe. Users can write longer answers and quickly fill in information that might otherwise take several minutes to write down. This makes the survey process less frustrating for users and allows those who go over the data a chance to read the raw data in a more useful form. Eliminating the problems of bad handwriting and tiny forms helps to allow the business that posted the survey to mine it for data that can actually be used by their experts to make effective changes.
A Better Experience
Perhaps most importantly, internet surveys create a better experience for the users. If you can think of the paper surveys that you have taken in the past, you will most likely think of controlled conditions, cramped rooms and employees seeking to flag you down in the middle of the mall. Online surveys allow users to take the survey in their own homes, cutting down on the awkwardness of the process and allowing them to give truthful answers on their own time. This in turn creates survey answers that are more useful for the businesses, with honest responses that will actually provide the kind of valuable and useful data that a business needs for success.
A business that uses an online survey can reach more people, collect better data and reduce costs. While more businesses using online surveys may mean that some consumers feel overwhelmed, the fact remains that the addition of online surveys continues to help businesses to better target their products and to get to know their own customer bases. Whether the business is large or small, local or international, one thing holds true - the benefits of investing in online surveys are worth the risk of trying out a new way of doing business.