The landscape has shifted over the last decade. In the same way that the internet has changed the way we purchase products and services, it has altered the manner in which companies interact with their respective markets. More businesses than ever are leveraging online surveys to attract the data they need at a substantially lower cost. This article will provide a high-level view of the advantages and potential drawbacks of using online questionnaires.

Shortened Response Collection Time

It's no longer necessary to send researchers into the field to personally interview people. Nor is it necessary to maintain a team that enters individual responses into a statistical analysis program. By posting your questionnaire online, the data can be collected and collated automatically. This dramatically reduces the window of time between your survey's launch and being able to take action on the responses. Indeed, what once required weeks now takes days.

Also, by allowing respondents to complete your survey online when it is convenient for them to do so, you'll enjoy a higher response rate. The more people who participate, the more reliable your data.

More Flexibility In Design

Questionnaires that are used in a "real world" environment lack flexibility. For example, consider a market research survey that is soliciting responses from a broad audience. There will be many people within that population to whom questions will be irrelevant. A researcher or interviewer would be tasked with identifying which questions were relevant to the individual participant.

Online surveys make use of skip, pipe, and branch logic to personalize each item on the questionnaire. Skip logic allows each participant to automatically pass over items based on their responses to previous questions. Branch logic lets you (the surveyor) send participants along different routes based on their previous responses. This type of technology not only saves time, but makes the experience more fluid for the respondent.

Better Profile Targeting

Because you can control the paths by which participants find your online questionnaires, you can target specific profiles. For example, suppose that you operate an online bookstore. If you maintain a robust customer database, you can send email invitations to specific groups of customers. You can target them based on the types of books they have purchased, their average order size, and the recency of their orders. Better profile targeting yields more valuable data.

Potential Drawbacks: Server Crashes And Programming Errors

Depending on the software or third-party vendor you use to manage your online questionnaires, server crashes and programming errors can occur. When they do, they can become problematic. For example, if you're using an in-house solution and your server crashes, you may lose your data. Or, if you have hired a programming team to design your survey software, and they have done a less-than-perfect job, it can lead to errors during the execution phase. This may cause confusion among respondents, leading to a rise in your abandonment rate. Worse, it can influence the purity of your data.

The advantages of conducting online surveys far outweigh the potential drawbacks. In fact, server crashes and programming errors (arguably, the two most significant drawbacks) can be eliminated by choosing the right third-party software vendor.

Price, while important, should not be the sole criteria by which you identify potential providers; many low-priced vendors offer very little flexibility on an unreliable infrastructure. Instead, consider price, level of support, feature set, and server reliability. Those four criteria will help you find a reliable survey software provider that can meet your company's needs.