How to find Best Online Survey Companies?

Online Surveys are offered by specialized companies to anyone who needs to get feedback for the improvement of the companies public perceptions regarding the product or service quality issues, service after sales or the about the rival products in the market. They are also conducted to assess the efficacy of the advertisement campaigns, employees' level of satisfaction and the general public per caption about the image of the company.

Whatever is your need for getting the feedback from large number of respondents, it is necessary to have the services of experienced professionals who know how best to conduct the surveys. The direct face to face surveys are being replaced by the online internet surveys for obvious reasons. Online surveys are highly cost effective and since the respondents can be classified with a program used in online surveys, it is possible to target the survey optimally instead of conducting the survey on unnecessarily on a large set of people. Secondly internet surveys are not disliked by people as they do not intrude on the privacy like direct survey or survey by telephone calls without any idea about whether they are free to provide the time required. In email based survey people can answer the survey questionnaire at the time of their choosing.

Best Online Survey companies are experienced in all the facets of surveys and they will make the goal of your survey to be reached. Not all surveys are same; the purpose, the involvement of respondents in the survey topic, their academic levels decide the nature of questionnaire. The questionnaire has to be designed smartly so that in a few questions it must be possible to get the required data. An experienced survey company will make it simple. Some companies offer to get the surveys done on anonymous public and present the result. But these are applicable to specific areas like advertisement ratings that are relayed to a large population. For targeted group special means of reaching to them must be planned. It is very important to know the credential of the online survey company as there are many fraudulent companies which generate false data in the name of surveying!

Gauge the Customer satisfaction from Online surveys!

Succeeding in today's competitive world requires the companies to ensure that their products and services are actually liked by them indeed. Innovative marketing efforts might yield a spectacular sales figures; but if the company is blind to the major or minor dissatisfactions or sometimes even grievances, there is no doubt that the product and in turn the company will get negative image and it is practically impossible to gain the goodwill and increased sales by merely aggressive marketing.

In this context, monitoring the customer satisfaction regularly becomes an essential tool for the top management to know the shortcomings of the product or services and take corrective actions. It must be noted that the lower or middle managements involved in various functions do not pass such information to management because such grievances often are due to the shortcoming of such personnel. So, the management must get the customer surveys undertaken by people not involved in the activities that may reflect their efficiencies. It is normally outsourced by specialized agencies that can conduct the surveys and report the results to the management.

There are many ways in which the customer satisfaction survey are conducted. Basically, the method chosen depends on factors such as the nature of the product, the type of the users of the products, geographical dispersal of the users of the product and many such factors. Internet offers a great means for conducting economically and conveniently. There are many firms that offers specialized customer survey and one can enlist their surveys. Face to face surveys can give maximum information and sincere feedback though the method is very expensive. You can call the chosen customers on phone and take their opinion about the products. But the disadvantage of this method is that many consider this an intrusion of privacy and may not answer properly.

In order to conduct the survey, one has to define the scope of the survey objectives. If you are having range of products of varied nature it is not useful to club all the products in single survey as the experiences and hence the feedback may differ for different products.

Market surveys - Essential for success for any venture!

Whether you are planning for manufacturing or marketing a new product or a service or to expand the existing product base by diversification, it is very essential to know in advance the most probable way the market and the customers are going to receive these products or services. Many times this information makes a difference of glorious success or a dismal failure. There are various ways of getting such information and these ways are described as Market Research Surveys. Many times the market surveys are carried out to measure the effectiveness of the advertisement campaigns.

Like all other major surveys, the Market surveys require lot of resources in terms of human resources, expenses and management involvement. That is the reason why many companies utilize the services of specialized organizations which conduct the market surveys professionally. As such organizations are experienced in conducting products of varied nature and also have the resources needed for conducting the marketing surveys at their disposal, it is always advisable to take their services. However, since the outcome of the survey results depends on the basic requirements as spelt by the client, it is necessary for the client company to be involved in defining the requirements of the survey.

Internet promises a great convenience of conducting online market surveys very cost effectively. No other medium offers the ease and cost effectiveness of getting information from a large population as internet. You can conduct special marketing survey campaigns through emails or promotional offers that require the users to answer few questions. It is important to design the questionnaire very intelligently. It should not demand too much of information as the individuals participating in the survey may get be irritated. But at the same time the main points of the marketing research surveys must not be left out.

After conducting the survey, it is important to analyze the results in a scientific and meaningful way. Depending upon the results company can decide upon the future course of action. For example, a product may find acceptance from younger generation only, in which case the product may be fashioned to utilize this factor.

Cost effective online surveys help you to get customer feedback

Internet is not only a great tool of communication, but also has offered so many new tools for the business world. One of such tools is the conduct of the Online Surveys. Surveys are very important to business as they provide the vital feedback information about the products and the services of the company. They also let the company management know the public perception of the company and their products. In business world, it is very important to have a positive image of the company and for achieving this they spend lot of fortune in form of advertisements and other public activities. But without feedback in the form of surveys managements would be in dark about the real status of the public opinion.

There are many reasons for which companies need to conduct online surveys; it may be to gauge the response about the launch of a new product or it may be for understanding the shortcoming of any product already in the market but showing poor performance in sales or for understanding the efficacy of their advertisement campaigns. In all such cases the online surveys help the companies to get the feedback from the public.

Online surveys are usually done by the professional organizations which specialize in conducting surveys. There are varieties of tools at their disposal to conduct these surveys. Email surveys are best for they give the participants sufficient time to answer the questionnaire at their own convenient time.

Free online surveys are one more new convenience that can be availed for conducting online surveys. There are free survey tools or templates which can be customized to suit your requirements. It is not necessary to buy software for creating the questionnaire. For small number of samples you need not pay anything. You can customize the questionnaire and the program automatically gives the analysis of the survey results. These can be used as trial or sample surveys.

You can get the participants for the free online surveys by posting the links to the survey in advertisements or in your own website where you give useful information attracting the visitors.

Professional Online survey companies for your survey needs

Surveys give the most useful information about the public perception of your products, services, advertisement campaigns and also about the image of the company like no other information as you are getting the information directly and anonymously from the people. Without such information companies can not take proper decisions about the launch of new products, diversification or about the future course. A continuous feedback is essential for the companies to fine tune their product quality, marketing and other functions so that they will be optimally satisfying the customers' expectations. There is no doubt that this kind of rapport with the customers is one of the reasons for the success of many famed companies.

But surveying is a specialized task requiring lot of experience and insight into the essentials of measuring the public perceptions. It requires lot of resources for conducting surveys, especially if you are planning to conduct a face to face survey. But whatever is the type of survey you are conducting, it is essential to understand the objective of the survey and know the interest level of the participants so that best survey method can be designed. Since it is a specialized service it is better to take the services of the Survey Companies who offer their services and design a suitable survey and conduct it.

Online Survey companies have experience and the data required to conduct surveys on behalf of the companies. Again, in the online surveys also you find that there are many ways in which you can conduct the surveys. Email campaigns are very cost effective and are usually promptly attended by the target population. Usually online survey companies make the advertisement campaigns linked to the surveys. Many sites giving you useful information can also request the visitor to take part in the survey. It is also possible to promote the survey through the offer of some product at discounted price. There are some online survey companies that can conduct the surveys from anonymous public and give the results.

To use online surveys most effectively, it is necessary to define the scope and the objective of the survey and the actual task can be executed by the online survey companies.

Online surveys to get insight to market forecasts

Marketing research is the way which associates the general people including consumer, public and customer with the marketing strategy. They all are linked to each other through opinion and views of each other. A research is always done in order to refine things so that better output is generated from the business. Similarly market research also aims at improving and refining the whole marketing process.

Marketing research is not feasible by a single entity as it consists of opinions and views of people by large. So then the genesis of market research surveys took place, which was opted to record the opinion of the target audience. A marketing research survey aims at gathering data and opinion about issues which are related to marketing.

With passing time marketing research surveys became more and more popular means of recording the views of people or in a broader sense they were now then the new face of marketing surveys. Marketing surveys aims at finding how any changes with a person or an environment around him affects the behaviour of an individual or a customer towards the market.

Marketing research surveys are of great importance, and if this step is bypassed or overlooked it can result into major loss. Marketing survey gives you a better way of communicating about your marketing strategy and new ventures. It helps you in understanding who all other than your company are doing the same business in the market that is you will know about your competitors very well. This prepared approach which takes into account all the view of the concerned parties helps in minimizing the risk factor associated with any market.

A marketing survey enforces up a standard of business procedure which eventually helps out in successful running of the venture. A marketing research survey appeals to mass audience. More and more people are discussing their genuine opinion and ideas it is not something which is done just by chance. There are times when while doing a market research survey the answer or reaction of the person being surveyed gives you a new idea for your product.

Internet offers simple means for customer surveys

A survey has now become an inevitable part of any business as only through a survey we get to know what a customer expects and desires from a product. With the wide spread of technology and internet traditional surveys have now changed to internet surveys. Internet survey can be explained as taking up surveys on an all over connected network which is nothing but Internet.

There are many best online surveys which are conducted by companies who are pioneer in case of internet surveys. The specialties of these online surveys are that they are very well drafted in terms of content and questions. They hit right on the subject and do not contain questions which are out of context.

In today's scenario internet surveys are very prominent in all business may it be service driven or product driven. Mostly all best online surveys try to capture the expectation of customers in very efficient manner. Best online surveys are designed by keeping in mind that the process doesn't become cumbersome for him/her. Usually all the best online surveys are seen to catch the responses in form of check marks, check boxes, rating, agreement etc which is not very time consuming and at the same time doesn't bug the person who is taking the survey as well.

Internet surveys cover a very vast area in terms of coverage. There are various kinds of surveys which are conducted by best online survey companies. The popular types of internet surveys are survey about customer satisfaction, survey about market research and many a times the survey is product specific. Before starting any survey it is important to do a research that whether it's a new survey or it just the continuation of any survey which was started earlier. The aim of good survey should always be to capture the most genuine and authentic response of the people by mass, it should not be biased and it should ensure reliability.

Surveys: Tools for measuring customer feedback

We all know that it may be any business or any venture it is driven by the customer. It If they are not satisfied and they don't come back it's the business's loss. To know a customer's expectation, desire, needs we carry out a process called Customer survey. A customer survey is a comprehensive way of knowing the customer and his expectation out of the product or the business.

Customer surveys are often conducted in the form of customer satisfaction surveys which aims at measuring the satisfaction level of the customer. It takes allot of effort for maintaining a new customer every time, thus it is very important that the customer comes back. A customer will only come back if he is satisfied and his expectations are fulfilled by the product. It costs much more to attract new customer than retaining an old customer. An unhappy and dissatisfied customer always ensues with loss in business therefore customer satisfaction surveys are of great significance.

Customer satisfaction surveys helps in capturing a customer's satisfaction level. It mainly helps in retaining of a customer which is of utmost significance. Apart from these things a customer satisfaction surveys also unveils the area for amelioration which eventually helps in business progress. There are other ways to achieve the aforementioned objectives but doing a customer satisfaction survey has proven to be the most cost effective way and thus the popularity of customer survey in increasing day by day.

A customer satisfaction survey is often conducted face to face and in some cases it may be done online as well by mailing the customer survey form to the customer. It's very important that you choose the correct time to start such survey. Along with it, it is also important what question do you ask in a customer survey. The questions should not be childish and stupid in nature they should make sense and aims at finding answers to questions which deals with customer satisfaction and customer retention.

After this the question that arises is how often customer satisfaction survey should be conducted? There is no rigid rule or timeline for it. Keep going for these surveys often, but here the frequency of often should be in such a manner that it does not irritate the customer else they will end up giving opinion which is not genuine.

Survey Companies to provide intelligence to companies

Internet technologies have revolutionized the way business is conducted in many ways. There have been new tools altogether that have benefited the manufacturers, traders and consumers alike. One such tool is “online survey” that has benefited thousands of companies and also allowed people to find a source of income. This is made possible by Survey Companies that gather information of about products and services and the information is of great use to the companies.

The main advantage of the online surveys is that it costs a fraction of what it would otherwise cost with manual surveys in diverse regions. If one was contemplating a survey of a large population then the costs would be prohibitively large. The solution to this problem is found by Online survey companies which use the cost effective internet medium to conduct these surveys.

Why are the surveys important to companies? There are several situations where surveys are important to the manufacturing or service providing companies. It may be the launch of a new product or a service about which the company is interested to gauge the public acceptance in advance before committing huge funds to the project. It may also be to get a feedback on existing products or services so that they can fine tune their product t match the expectation of their consumers.

Sometimes the companies are interested to know the strategies of their rival competitors in which case they can appoint these Survey companies to get the correct picture and fine tune their marketing policies. Thus the surveys are very important part of the marketing strategies that help the companies to remain in right track in these days of severe competition.

Online survey companies conduct the surveys on behalf of these clients and since the internet has a great influence all over the world, they conduct the surveys easily online. But to get the people interested in participating in these online surveys these companies offer attractive returns so that people who participate in these surveys also get benefitted.

There are many companies that offer attractive compensation for participating in surveys. One needs to be registered with these companies so that they will assign regular surveys.

Online surveys offered by reputed companies benefit both their clients and the participants in these surveys.

Internet offers earning opportunity via online surveys

A survey is an activity where certain people are treated as target audience and their opinions about a certain topic is recorded. Earlier surveys were done manually with a person visiting everybody and taking their opinion. But now with growth of technology and Internet all over the sphere it has been replaced with online surveys. Online surveys are a forum where people give their opinions online that is over internet.

The first question that knocks our head here is are these surveys important? The answer to this is yes, before starting any venture it's important to know whether the target audience is interested in it or not and that is done through surveys, traditionally through manual and nowadays through online surveys. In most cases it not feasible to do a manual survey that is the reason why companies switched to online surveys, so that's how it works and got into existence. The combined opinion of the target audience is then stored on a server from where the business decisions are made as to whether further proceed or not.

The second aspect that arises is that why will somebody give his/her precious time in doing an online survey, the remedy to which was offering money or goodies in return to doing an online survey. Then the concept of paid online surveys came into the picture, in which the person was paid certain amount per survey for giving his genuine opinion about the product or the idea. The surveys came to them for free that is they received free online surveys for which they were paid. After this the popularity of free online survey was on peak. It became an important tool in the market for knowing the view and opinion of people by mass.

It is very important to pay special attention to the questions of a free online survey. The questions should capture business needs and requirements. Free Online surveys if done judiciously and if the involved parties are genuine are of great benefit. They benefit the organization as well as the survey taker. For the organization it was a convenient mode of research, marketing, and customer service and for people taking surveys they were rewarded for doing those surveys. So it benefits both the parties equally.

Use Online Survey Companies to Get Proper Feedback on Your Business

Whatever may be the nature of your business, you can always stand to benefit from utilizing the services of survey companies. There many online survey companies which will design the survey according to your business' specific needs, even if your business is largely web-based. They have software which is specially designed to collate and evaluate research data. Many survey companies are able to offer services which are backed by highly advanced technology.

An example of online survey companies using advanced technology is the use of software which is tailored to the demands of web-based and telephone based research. This automates the data collection process like offering skip options to respondents of surveys. It also enables statistical enumeration and analysis of results that are thrown up by the survey.

Why do you need the services of survey companies? Whether it is a matter of online research or surveys with different methodologies and media, surveys are an excellent way of gathering data which can be quite critical in fashioning several marketing decisions. Suppose you need to know whether your target audience is ready for the launch of a new product/service, the best means of finding out would be to take advantage of some of the offers of online survey companies.

Sometimes businesses are unable to correctly define their customer profile, which is critical in designing promotional programs or even defining promotional strategy. Survey companies which offer multiple publishing options for surveys aid such people to clearly define the demographics and other details of the existing customers. The surveys are designed to elicit responses on social and economic status as well as technological, cultural (like reading, music etc.) and leisure preferences. Of these mail and web-based surveys carry the least risk of interviewer bias.

So whether you need to undertake exploratory research or confirmatory research which endorses some marketing hypothesis you may have; go ahead and grasp one of those enticing offers made by online survey companies to get the most reliable results.

Take the Guesswork out of Marketing with Market Research Surveys

Market research surveys and marketing surveys have ensured that your marketing efforts are not based on guesswork. In fact informed use of both can help create a scientific base for your marketing decisions. From identifying a customer need to creating detailed customer profiles to gathering post-purchase customer feedback, marketing surveys can gather the kind of data which gives you a cutting edge advantage on various aspects of marketing. Whether your pricing decisions are being resented or appreciated would be thrown up by market research surveys.

Sometimes even excellent products can be sunk by poor packaging and substandard after sales service and/or incorrect positioning. A marketing survey prior to the launch of a product would help focus on grey areas to enable you to take corrective measures. Services like infotainment TV channels or press houses often depend on the results thrown up by market research surveys to position programs and convince advertisers.

When you hire a company to conduct your marketing surveys, check out their credentials. What kind of market research survey is being designed in terms of methodology used? What is the size of the universe and how representative is the sample that is being chosen? How is the data to be compiled – via face-to-face interviews or through questionnaires published online or mailed to respondents? Remember the quality and dependability of the data mined through the marketing surveys will depend on the quality of the research design and superior execution of the survey. The response rate of any given survey will determine the reliability of the data mined.

Consumer tastes, preferences and dislikes dictate the success or otherwise of products and services. Marketing surveys are a powerful tool for pinpointing these. Timing of launches, withdrawal of products, decisions on promotional offers, even promotional schedules can be decided on the basis of the findings of market research surveys. Just ensure that you have offered an attractive incentive to respondents to participate in the survey and the results will justify the outlay.

Stay Ahead of the Competition with the Best Online Surveys

Web based businesses more than others stand to benefit from internet surveys in view of the swiftness of the response received. For options on the best online surveys surf around to take a look at what the different companies have to offer. There will be many enticing offers, including free trials. Before you jump at the offer take stock of what is your business all about really. Also you need to take a look at the publishing options for the internet surveys.

The best online surveys are the ones which offer multiple publishing options. You should be able to send your survey questionnaires via SMS and email along with posting it on your site. This will ensure that the respondents have options on the medium which suits those most to respond. While internet surveys which depend on clickable links embedded in the mail might have a somewhat lower response rate as the mail might land up in the spam box unless it is carefully worded; the best online surveys give you the option to skip questions and ample time to respond.

Internet surveys are often thought to present somewhat lop-sided results as the entire target audience for a product or service may not actually be online. This is particularly true of businesses which deal with products and/or services which need face-to-face interaction. Or it might be that the actual end users of that product or service may not be net savvy.

After all if it is simply a question of ordering online, the younger members of a family might do so. However, if the end user of the product/service is one of the older members of it, then the likelihood of that individual responding to the internet survey is slim. A case in point would be products like gadgets and other non-medicinal remedies for the relief of certain distressing conditions like rheumatism and arthritis. Or suppose the younger members of a family are trying to help an older member to quit smoking. Certain aids are available online, but responses on personal reactions, feelings, relief or even adverse effects can only be given by the end user.

Go Ahead and Take That Free Online Survey

Online surveys are a great way to get feedback on various marketing aspects. Whether you need to find out before launching a new product or service that it is actually the right time to do so or whether the features are indeed what people are looking for; or need to find out how a newly launched product has been received; the number of marketing angles that can be researched by online surveys is mind boggling.

Add to that the fact there are a number of web companies offering free online surveys, you are indeed likely to feel that you have got it made. There are companies out there which will offer you very sophisticated tools to design, track and evaluate online surveys. The advantage with them is multiple. The biggest being the saving in terms of monetary outlay and manpower needed to conduct, collate and then evaluate surveys.

The effectiveness of any survey depends on the design as much as the response rate. These companies have the professional expertise to design online surveys that can be published on your website as well as through emails. Just check out, even if you opt for a free online survey, to test its effectiveness and see for yourself whether the links that get embedded in your mails are clickable and whether they actually lead the reader to a landing page or the page on your site which has the survey questionnaire.

While the tools provided by the online survey companies to manage and measure response need to be used, keep in mind that you need to check for yourself whether the design is calculated to yield the kind of information you are searching for. The relevance and value of any survey, even a free online survey, are in direct proportion to the quantum and quality of data generated. This would also depend partly on the kind of brief you give to the company before designing the online survey. The results will accordingly be either affirmative (confirming some pre-defined notions) or else will yield some new data or might even startle you with the kind of feedback that gets generated.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys to Strengthen Your Marketing Efforts

One of the smartest marketing moves any company can make is to conduct a customer survey. Whether they are customer satisfaction surveys or means to understand who potential customers are, customer surveys are a minefield of information. Any company that needs to promote its products and/or services or shop that wants to increase its sales can benefit from customer surveys. Since marketing as opposed to selling hinges on an understanding of customer needs and wants, customer satisfaction surveys go a long way in telling a company how well it is on track with its agenda or whether a degree of redirection is required.

To begin at the beginning, ask yourself just why you have decided to conduct a customer survey? At which stage of the product life cycle is the product that you need to find out more about? Is it a new product about to be launched or is it an old product which has been re-launched with improved features? If the product is already doing well, a customer satisfaction survey would enable you to find out whether it is at risk from some angle. These threats could be in the nature of pricing or packaging issues. People might be happy with the product per se, but would prefer to see certain modifications in it in the near future.

If the product has been doing well but has plateaued, or worse has started sliding, then you definitely need to conduct a customer satisfaction survey to find out why. Remember that the best time to conduct customer satisfaction surveys is immediately after the purchase while the experience is still fresh in the mind. This would enable you to gauge whether you can expect a repeat purchase. Also, the single most important grievance that many customers have about a product is after-sales-service. A customer survey should try and find out how a customer feels about the frequency or even need for after-sales service.

Remember: A single satisfied customer brings in ten others, but one dissatisfied customer would discourage a 100 other customers.

Watch Out for these Indicators which Could Make Your Text Survey Lopsided

Text surveys are conducted frequently enough by any number of companies for a variety of reasons. This makes it doubly essential that they should yield valid results which are reflective of market realities. These surveys may take the form of Sms surveys too. So ask yourself whether the baseline you intend to use is actually indicative of the target audience whom you need to survey.

If you are planning to measure the results of the current text survey against the results of an earlier survey, then you have to watch out for any errors of selecting the universe. Also the chances of the definition of the universe for a given Sms survey may actually have changed radically. This is caused by changes in the purchasing patterns of the population, by changes in economic ground realities, by major technological changes that may have affected the product for which the text survey is being conducted.

Is your purpose for conducting the Sms survey clearly defined? Or are you asking questions which may not necessarily shed light on the issue at hand? Where you are using the mobile phone as a medium, you have to remember the KISS principle – keep it short and sweet. If you design a questionnaire which seems comprehensive, few people, if any, will complete it. The attention span of mobile users, specifically the kind who will bother to respond to a text survey, is relatively low. The questionnaire should be either very short or else sent in parts over a period of time.

The kind of questions being asked can also influence the responses. These would be the double barreled questions as well as the double negative questions. The double barreled questions relate to more than one issue in the same question. In trying to keep the Sms survey short this kind of error can occur frequently. Unfortunately, there could be inaccuracies in the responses when people focus on only one aspect to the exclusion of other/s.

Pinpointing the Target Audience Needs through Marketing Surveys

The traditional method of taking product differentiation decisions was by gut feel. This was a hit-or-miss method. The more scientific way is to conduct market research surveys. Marketing surveys ensure that you can pinpoint the needs of the target audience. Companies can now save valuable time and resources using surveys. They are then able to adjust their product offerings and marketing plans accordingly. T he basis of a good marketing strategy is understanding customer behavior.

Market research surveys allow companies to use the resulting data to make informed marketing decisions by questioning customers and potential customers on their tastes, habits, and preferences. In this way marketing surveys have taken much of the guesswork out of marketing, brand positioning and product development. So much so that it has become a necessary component of all marketing efforts inclusive of promotion.

While utilities enjoyed a monopoly business they did not make any major marketing efforts. However, now with even utilities having to contend with a level playing field they have to outdo a number of rival companies and stay ahead of the competition. Gradually they have also begun to appreciate the need for conducting market research surveys to upgrade the quality and variety of services offered.

Marketing strategy is increasingly being defined by marketing surveys. This means that when companies run promotional campaigns they take into account purchaser preferences with regard to pricing; place of purchase with virtual marketing eating into large chunks of market shares; discount schemes; premiums offered etc. The means used to carry out the marketing survey would in some ways influence the nature of the findings. This is because people hate to fill in and mail back mail surveys. On the other hand, all households of a universe may not be online making a probable online or web based survey results lopsided.

Face to face market research surveys are very costly and can be influenced by interviewer bias. People are also very chary of responding to telephonic marketing surveys. So you need to analyze all aspects before choosing the medium for carrying out such surveys.

Online Surveys are the Fastest Growing Segment of the Survey Scene

Given the response rate online surveys are proving to be the fastest segment of the survey scene. Many people who are online cheerfully participate in online surveys for the sheer convenience involved. Unlike face-to-face encounters or telephonic interviews, an individual can participate in an online survey at one's own time, when one has the time and the inclination. On the other hand various companies take advantage of free online surveys to extract maximum mileage from the promotional schemes offered by companies which design and host online surveys.

One problem with conducting web-based market research is that only about a third of all households currently access the Internet from their homes. This makes free online surveys not quite representative of the existing and prospective customer population. By contrast, the majority of households have telephones and nearly everyone receives snail mail. Nonetheless, with more and more people entering cyberspace everyday, the demographics of respondents of online surveys tend to be very similar to the general population.

Another potential problem with web-based marketing surveys is the ever-increasing amount of spam (unsolicited junk mail) cluttering up email boxes. Recipients might confuse a survey with junk email. This would entail response rates suffering or worse might lead the online surveyor being brought to book under the Can-Spam laws. Therefore, it is extremely important that a survey's subject line clearly articulates both its source and its purpose.

To ensure greater responsiveness from the target audience many online surveys offer various kinds of incentives. Incentives not only entice people to respond to free online surveys, they can also help establish a reliable population for future surveys. When offering incentives, it is important to establish conditions, such as completing the entire survey and providing necessary demographic information along with contact information which can later be used to follow up in other marketing campaigns. For those who are interested, there are software companies which offer software to design suitable online surveys.

Hone Your Marketing Strategy with Consumer Satisfaction Surveys

When any company decides to conduct a customer survey, it takes a marketing decision which has the potential of changing the way the company does business. In particular customer satisfaction surveys go a long way in telling you what the customer really thinks about your product/services. However, the two kinds of surveys should not be confused since their scope and purpose are entirely different.

A customer survey might be conducted to define a customer profile with greater clarity. This means that the survey would try and identify the geographic, demographic, economic and social profile of the existing and potential customer. When a customer survey seeks to identify the average age/sex/race/educational level of the customer, then the customer profile is only partial. A comprehensive profile would take into account professional profiles; average family income to determine purchasing power; leisure activities; reading habits etc to analyze the marketing pitch that will convince the target to invest in a specific product/product range/service. Depending on what you want to promote, the marketing pitch will hinge on the aspiration levels of the target audience or on play on the hidden fears.

On the other hand customer satisfaction surveys help you get to the heart of this critical relationship between marketer and buyer in ways that help you move your business forward. The satisfaction, loyalty, and reference-ability of your customers directly affect growth and profitability. So customer satisfaction surveys help you assess the desires, needs and wants of your valued customers. They tell you whether or not your customer wants to repeat the purchase experience. This is especially relevant for those dealing in customer goods.

Timing is a critical factor when conducting customer satisfaction surveys as a delayed survey might yield inaccurate results for a variety of reasons. The details of the experience may have been forgotten or else may be confused with a later or earlier experience. So whether you intend to conduct a customer survey or customer satisfaction surveys, strike while the iron is hot.

Check the Offers of Survey Companies for Their Technological Capabilities

There may be several reasons why you need to conduct a survey. And there are many survey companies which have many enticing offers for you to take advantage of. The rider is that you should check out whether the kind of survey being offered is actually suitable for your purposes. For example if you need to survey readership of a particular publication, running an online survey may not be suitable. This is specially true of professional journals which are usually read in hard copy.

However, if the bulk of your customer base is online then it would make sense to evaluate offers made by online survey companies. Just take out some time to see whether the online company you are looking at is offering you options for mobile surveys, text based surveys along with web-based surveys. Some online survey companies use such advanced technology that software provide automation of data gathering and significantly ease statistical analysis efforts. These types of software have been developed for Web survey and telephone survey methodologies.

Some survey companies have developed a facility called CATI, which is an acronym that stands for computer-assisted telephone interviewing. Used in telephone surveys, this system allows for automation of participant responses as they move through the survey (e.g., skip a question), and rapid data analysis. This is particularly useful in customer/employee satisfaction surveys. There are other technological aids which help you to track participant responses in real time, collect information on how customers use/rate your products/service.

Online survey companies suggest using their powerful online survey designer tools, by which you can distribute or publish your surveys on multiple channels…..on the mobile, on the web or by e-mail. Surveys are a great way to measure education, networking and motivation of employees. Online survey companies develop modules for managing lists of contacts, including details, with the ability to direct messages and questions to a segment of the group. You can also operate a sequence of questions and messages as a block; manage an unlimited number of questions at the same time; generate graphical display of the results of each question, including the choice of format: Pie, bar, column etc; break down the results using the attributes of the survey participants and their answers to former questions.