An Online Survey Isn't So Easily Ignored

Don't Turn People Off

You know why an online survey is far superior to a phone survey? Just think about the last time you go an unwanted, unsolicited phone call from some marketer. We've all been there. Phone rings right as we're sitting down to dinner. We answer it - it's a telemarketer with some amazing new deal that we simply cannot pass up. Get the newspaper on weekends only for a reduced rate, or something like that. Or it's a survey-taker, wanting to know if we can spare a few minutes for a few questions. Invariably, we cannot. Well, we can, but we usually choose not to.

With an online survey, however, we are far more inclined to take the time to actually sit down and fill it out. Some online surveys include prizes for filling them out, but that doesn't explain why they're so successful, because plenty of them do not offer anything tangible in return. It's just that many people think of an online survey as far less intrusive than an actual phone call. Rather than have to talk to a person, a person taking an online survey can actually sit there and fill out the form at their leisure. As a result, you get better, more honest answers coming from people that are less annoyed and more likely to be cooperative.

No body likes intrusions into their daily lives. Everybody likes having the option to turn the computer off or stop taking the survey. In a phone survey, you either stick it out or excuse yourself from the conversation; that can be awkward for some people. In an online survey, you can simply stop taking the survey without worrying about excusing yourself from a conversation. And for millions of people, that is far more desirable and attractive than being interrupting during dinner to take some survey they probably don't even care much about.