Posts Tagged ‘research’

Setting the bar at a low level

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 8:22 am

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We’re not ones to kiss and tell. Sometimes you just have to get something off your chest and to clear the mind don’t you?

Well just the other day we had a call come in.

We thought it odd as it seemed to be a competitor (and they usually just nosey on the website and then run for cover).

Now we’re always happy to collaborate and share ideas and look at ways we can improve what we do for the good of our clients. So having missed the call initially, we called back.

In the meantime we had a nosey at their website, got a grip of what they did and could see they offered very similar services to ours without the consultative value and cherry on top.

So the call back went something like this…

*ring ring… ring ring* (that went on for a bit with lines tripping to other lines)

“Yeah?”

We then said who we were trying to get in touch with.

“Who?… Oh yeah. Errrr….oh ok” *click* (we guessed we were on hold… but that didn’t happen for 20 seconds or so in which time we heard a grunt, a shuffling of paper and general movement!)

*click*… international dial tone, long dial out, through to mobile voicemail.

I spy, with my little eyes, an online survey company that didnt make a very good impression beginning with…… Q

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The Time Out survey… come on guys, you can do better than that

Saturday, June 5th, 2010 at 10:30 am

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I was thumbing through the latest London Time Out magazine… actually not thinking about work for a change and then there it was.  An insert to take part in the latest Time Out survey.  Red rag and bull are the words that spring to mind.

So I had a nosey and followed the link.

Let’s just say I was someway from being impressed by such a large company.  It’s obvious from this survey that there are a number of pitfalls in putting together an online survey, so by critiquing the Time Out survey, perhaps you’ll pick up some tips and ideas and avoid repeating mistakes, attaining poor click-through rates and actually damaging the perception of your product, service and company.

1.  Design…. it’s left justified and looks messy, it has a token TimeOut logo in the top right corner but the fonts, margins, buttons don’t match… it looks cheap, naff, poorly thought through and subsequently hinders the professional Time Out brand (pity that).

2.  Personal pet hate… the survey starts by trawling for information instead of opinion.  The options are two lengthy and it makes the survey feel huge (which it turns out to be.)

3.  Questions of frequency… it asks if people are subscribing or frequency of buying Time Out.  Now fair play if thats used to group responses so those who don’t subscribe are analysed together… but otherwise, whats the point.  Imagine the results…. 28% of people who responded are subscribers.  So?  Is that good?  Does that mean subscribers saw the link in their magazine… and if someone “never” buys Time Out or visits TimeOut.com… how did they find the survey?  You can see the flaws in thinking.

4.  Scoring/ ranking options.  The options are quite leading.  By using words (which don’t always correlate or fit together), you have the potential issue of leading your participant.  Try and use numeric scoring where possible.  It’s just consistent and everyone knows what numbers mean and how to interpret them.

5.  Fishing…. the penultimate point of note (and there could be plenty more)… As you look at the questions, you wonder the value of the participant.  Which drink do I like?  How much do I spend going out, eating out, theatre?  Whose benefit is that for?  Is that data going to be sold to third parties to build a profile of who I am (the fact iPad’s are being offered as prizes suggests so!) and mean I get hammered with spam?  Thats proven late in the survey when asked about when my home insurance is due, what car you drive, household income.  You could argue that it’s to build a profile of it’s audience, but all too often there are data selling companies who encourage organisations to survey their customers/ members and then sell the data to external companies.  Beware!

6.  The final point….. size.  The survey is huge.  It’s too much.  It’s too extensive and many of the questions are pointless and will struggle to generate information of value for Time Out.  The survey would have been much better if they had used branching.  Give the recipient the option of selecting what is relevant to them.  That way the participant is more likely to complete the full survey (beceause it’s relevant) and the survey will be shorter.  And the survey results will be more credible.  How many people “fly tick” something when a prize or reward is attached?  58 questions and 18 pages (long pages at that)… way too long.

The nutshell (I’ve noticed I say that a lot) is the survey is poor.  It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t inspire the participant, it’s lengthy and potentially damages the integrity and perception of a well known organisation from data farming.

Come on TimeOut…. you can do better than this.

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Survey reporting… breaking the mould

Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 7:56 am

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Reporting.

That document, piece of paper or digital output that interprets the work done and is seen as the deliverable of the project.  All the time taken to understand the business, the purpose.  Understand the company style and tone of language.  Form the questions and flow.  Design the survey and invite.  Run it, monitor it.

Then to the last… the report.

We have a reputation for constantly evolving what we do… and next in line for evolution is our end output that our clients see.

So… what’s important in our research reports… and how can we shape them to be of even more value?

Should they be word…. powerpoint…. HTML or something else?

Our layout (simply) is:

  • key issues
  • executive summary
  • summary of results

Should we be mainly narrative based or highly graphical?  Should our reports be heavily branded or more basic?

Could we use wordle (generates “word clouds”) or is that a bit gimmicky?

The question is…. as a potential reader of a survey report, that could have been for a customer or client survey, a staff survey or market research…. what would make the survey report the most innovative and valuable that it could be?

Don’t be shy….

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The future of online surveys … discuss

Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

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The time was ticking past 10pm, the networking event winding down and then from left field a suggestion that surprised me.

Quote

“Online surveys have only got 2-3 years left so make the most of it”

So taking that line of thought, I asked why, thought about it some more and came up with a conclusion.

And that conclusion for those of you interested…. rubbish!  Hmm was that too subtle?  No?…. Good…. So, why do I think that?

Let’s look at the sectors that influence online surveys.  Research and technology.

Research is a mature sector.  Technology is evolving at break neck speed and changes are occurring every day.

Now let’s consider information and knowledge.  Is there a chance that in say 3 years time, society will lose its thirst for knowledge?  Is it likely business leaders will stop undertaking research ahead of fundamental business change or merger and acquisition activity?  Is it likely companies launching new products and services will do so without a research project?  No.  If anything, we can perceive this becoming more of a crucial aspect of business to ensure company directors are protected from stakeholders as legislation changes and evolves. 

None of us know the future with certainty but if we look back 3 years, maybe that could provide an inkling of insight.  3 years ago… where was the iphone or its smart phone counterparts?  What version of internet explorer were we running? And how intuitive and accurate was google?

Smart phones, web browsers and search engines all utilise information.  Some entered, some interrogated.  Three years ago information was crucial.  Today information is crucial.  In three years time information will still be crucial.

If we go back further to the start of the internet.  Consider the dotcom bubble.  Technology has evolved incredibly in that time, and it would be naive to say that online research will stay static. 

As humans we naturally want to learn, to know, to understand.  And surveying is a vital way to do that.

Will the survey market be the same as it is today?  I would hope not.  My hope is the seedier side of “research” is exposed for what it is (data reselling of personal information) and that technologies improve and allow a more intuitive mechanism for canvassing opinion.

The questions I would pose to our online surveying counterparts.  How are you going to remain relevant in a market that burgeons with cheap or free solutions that show no desire to gain information of value?  And by value I don’t mean in monetary terms.

How will you capture information safely and share it in a method that assists, analyses and translates into knowledge? 

And how will you demonstrate the value of sharing opinion to participants and encouraging uptake in surveys once society understands the downsides to financial inducement?

We believe our collective quest should be to harmonise with companies and individuals.  Not interrogate and pester.  Not to negatively impact on an individuals activities.  But instead to run alongside them.  Provide honest choices and options and ensure our views aren’t impressed upon others.

And if we’re waving a magic wand now…. in three years time I’d love web surveys that pop up before I’ve had chance to look at the site itself to explode!!!  Seriously… how annoying are they???  Maybe we should look at creating a web tool that smashes web pop up surveys… hmmm, that’s a thought!  Sorry… a very swift soliloquy.

As with all sectors, all industries and all businesses of varying shapes and sizes…. our industry will evolve.  It’s a relatively new addition to a mature market.  We hope we’re not alone amongst our peers in driving that evolution to be moral, ethical and innovative.

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Why do you take part in online surveys?

Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 6:21 pm

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I had a different topic all worked out and then a different thread emerged.

I’ve just been sent a digest from a Chamber of Commerce and one of the links was for a survey to assess the views of apprenticeships.  Now I hope you’ll forgive me… but I’m sure you do this too when encountering exposure to a competitor.  Yes….. I clicked on the survey link for a nosey.

My thoughts….. well it wasn’t visually very stimulating.  Rendered poorly (it was a Populus survey by the way) in the web browser.  It didn’t have a welcome.  And my biggest bugbear, it only had one question per page making it feel like an epic time consuming survey.  Actually, my biggest fault with it was it asking me for lots of company information before I got into the swing of it.  The first 2 questions before I dropped out were,  how many employee’s my company had and what region the HQ was.

The sweetener they used was a free ipod draw.  Now if there is 1 ipod and say 300 responses your chances are slender.  So they get your data, get your e-mail address (populus often ask for e-mail addresses… and how can they send you the ipod if you win otherwise?).  I just thought it was a shame.  We prefer to ask the questions for views and opinions and then if we need to analyse the information on say company size or gender or demographic, we ask that at the end and are open about it.

Anyway, I digress….. Why do people take part in online surveys?

Are we naive in thinking truth, fairness, honesty and accuracy and sharing what people think are enough?  Do people really want to be rewarded financially or with a prize draw to give some information?

Do you only take part in topics that have or may directly affect you?  Do you care what the results are?  Do you take part if at work or at home?  Is it dependent on day of the week, time of day, the season and whether its sunny or a snow drift?

We’re just curious….. so come on….. what makes you click on a survey link?

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Golden Rule for online surveys

Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 8:35 am

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In any given week, we receive around 15-20 requests to take part in online surveys. Many of those are DIY surveys often put together by someone whose been charged with the task of undertaking a customer survey or online research.

Now we could be all protective and keep our cards close to our chest…. but what’s the point of that? So here is a golden rule we believe anyone thinking about putting together a survey in the online environment should heed.

Listening?

Never…… ever… ever, ever, ever…. ask this question or a variation of it….

“Are you a customer of XYZ?”

Now in research circles it’s a pretty accepted convention to ask such questions. After all, it’s important to filter results based on a current customer and a lapsed one. We agree with that.

Look at it a different way though. What message does that give to an ex customer? They aren’t using your products or services anymore and they probably wonder why a survey is being sent to them. They may think you aren’t aware they have left you and it suggests your databases aren’t up to date at best.

Now the current customers. Our belief … if you are spending money with a company is that they should know you’re a customer. A feeling of resentment created right at the outset of a survey.

In the last 6 months alone we’ve seen the AA, Nectar (the loyalty card company) and Sheffield Chamber of Commerce all start online surveys with that approach. It’s not very impressive is it?

There are ways to make a much better impression.

Make sure your database is accurate before you run a survey. Run separate surveys for lapsed customers and current ones. And if you want to just run one survey, you can attach a piece of code in the survey invite that can differentiate a field…. such as customer or none customer.

So please…. if you’re going to send a customer survey, don’t start it by alienating the person you’ve convinced to click on the link. At best it may cost you a survey response, at worst you may just convince a previously loyal customer that you don’t care about them.

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