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.