Category Archives: Survey Analytics

Survey Pocket Now Available for QuestionPro and Survey Analytics Users

Are you going to a trade show or an event where you’d love to get feedback or use surveys as a lead generation tool?  Now is your chance.  The folks over at SurveyPocket are making an offer you won’t want to refuse!

Now all Survey Analytics and QuestionPro users will have access to this wonderful tool.  If you have an iPad, you will be able to use this feature for free and if you DON’T have an iPad — read on.

[Editor's Note:  This post was originally published on the SurveyPocket blog.]

SurveyPocket is such an awesome system for mobile field data collection, that we wish any researcher could use it anytime they’d like.

However, the sad reality is that some projects require more than just a couple of tablet devices.

Not everybody has a stack of iPads laying around, waiting to be used for research.

Except us, that is.

Yup.  We’re so excited to get you rocking on your next mobile data collection project, that we went out and bought 20 iPads specifically so you can use them for your next research project.

All our iPads are pre-loaded with a copy of SurveyPocket.  And of course, we provide you support along the way.

Call us impetuous.

Call us crazy.

But whatever you do, make sure to call us to arrange to use our iPads for your next project.

 

A Primer on the 4 Data Types You Can Collect in Your Market Research

Making a business research questionnaire is no big deal, but making one that successfully derives the information that is actually required by the business to improve its practices is something not every person can do. One of the things that help make an online survey more effective is the understanding of the different types of data that is required out of survey respondents and of the different ways to measure the response. Different situations demand the use of different types of data. Remember, different scales have to be designed to derive these different types of data.

The feedback of survey respondents can be categorized into two basic forms of data – non-parametric and parametric.

Non-Parametric Data

The sort of data that does not have any direction and cannot be divided is called non-parametric data. Usually histograms are used to analyze non-parametric data. There are two basic types of non-parametric data.

Nominal Data

Nominal data refers to alphabetical or numeric data that is used to name people or objects for symbolic purposes and has no mathematical value.

For example, a questionnaire may ask the respondents to name the brand of shampoo they use. Numeric data too can also be included in the category of nominal data such as numbers written on the backs of sportsmen.

Ordinal Data

Ordinal data refers to numeric data that indicates only the relative ranking of different items, without representing the intensity of the mathematical value or the distance between the values. For example, respondents to an online survey may be asked to rank different brands of shampoo.  Hence, the ranking of different shampoo brands will inform researchers the relative preference of survey respondents but will not inform them about the intensity of the difference of preference of one shampoo brand from another.

Parametric Data

Numeric data that has direction is called parametric data. It can be used to analyze the difference the different responses and can also be at times divided. There are two different types of parametric data.

Interval Data

The collection of internal data is done on a scale on which all points are equidistant from the ones next to them. Scales measuring interval data do not have zero because of the nature of thing being measured. For example, respondents can be asked to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 through 10. Interval data cannot be divided because of the non-absolute nature of the data.

Ratio Data

Ratio data is the most absolute form of numeric data collected from respondents. It can be divided and altered in different ways to derive more meaning. All absolute mathematical values can be called ratio data such as income, age, sales, market share, etc.

Although ratio data may seem the most usable form of data and researchers may feel tempted to ask their survey respondents to answer all the questions in ratio form, it is either not practically possible to do so or isn’t the best form of data because of the objective of the research being conducted. An effective online survey questionnaire contains questions that derive the sort of data that will come handy in getting better insight into the respondents’ minds.

The QuestionPro and Survey Analytics online survey platforms allow you to collect all of these forms of data.  The trick is knowing which type to choose to get the best information that you can use in order to make a decision.

8 Even Better Ways To Designing Online Surveys Without Questioning Yourself

Surveys are very powerful tools that help you figure out how to market and what your market really wants.  You can improve your decisions, by simply following this process:

1.       Establish survey goals:

First off, be very specific on what you are trying to find out. Be sure to write out your goals.

  • What do people think about your web page?
  • Is your target audience business owners?
  • Are they part of small businesses or large companies?
  • Where do they hang out most online?

2.       Decide who your sample audience will be:

Ask the following people to go through your survey:

  • People that visit your home page
  • People that visit your product page
  • People that read your newsletters
  • Get the word out by putting up your ads in Ezine.

3.       Decide which survey method going to use:

There are various choices of survey methods that range from the least expensive to the most expensive ones.

  • Personal Interviews – You can use your online survey tool to conduct phone interviews.  Instead of having the respondent fill out the online survey, you use the online survey as a discussion guide and you write in the answers to the questions.  This is a terrific method to use if you are doing exploratory research or have a longer survey.
  • Standard online surveys – This is the most common survey type.  Remember to keep your questions short and sweet.  Don’t let your audience spend more than 3 minutes answering your survey.
  • Mail – This method is rarely used.  It’s often expensive and doesn’t offer as much control as other methods.  The most common application is to send respondents a postcard with a link to an online survey or to print the link to your online survey on receipts or invoices or other forms of printed marketing materials.
  • Telephone surveys – This method has also become increasingly difficult because of do-not-call lists.  It’s generally expensive but can be effective if you are contacting customers who have opted in to receive information from you or with whom you have a relationship.

4.       Carefully plan out your research:

Once you know the method of survey you’ll be using and who you’re surveying for, you’ll need to:

  • Build a timeline for how long it’ll take from the survey design to the data analysis.
  • Estimate the cost involved.

5.       Design your survey:

Write your survey based on the survey method you’ve decided to use.

DO NOT try to make your survey all things to all people.  Remember, respondents will not want to spend more than a few minutes at a time answering questions.  Instead of breaking up a long survey into sections, consider breaking your sections into individual surveys.

6.       Pre-test analysis:

Carry out a pre-test analysis of your survey before the actual test. Pretesting helps determine if the survey is easy for the audience to understand, whether they’ll be able to successfully fill it out and whether there are any problems that are likely to occur. Remember, you may even need to rewrite the survey.

You can initially decide to pretest your survey to around 15 to 20 people, who you are fairly sure would respond (these could even be friends or family). At the end of the test, you’ll have a number of results what will tell you how your survey will perform with a larger number of audience, as well as the faults in the survey.

7.       Test:

Carry out the actual test once you’re done with the pretest. Collect and organize the data in an ordered format.

8.       Analyze your survey:

If the information you are using is quantifiable, you will be able to analyze it using statistics. However, you may need to dedicate sometime to learn how to use statistics first. And if you are well experienced in the use of statistics, you’ll want to develop a more qualitative survey based on basic reasoning and inferences.

Overall, your goals will shape out the questions to your survey and the answers to those questions will determine how your marketing plan should be, as well as the strategies you should employ.

 

 

 

4 Measurement Scales Every Researcher Should Remember

One of the standard features offered by QuestionPro’s online survey software is a wide variety of scales that you can use to measure customer response.

At a first glance all the different scales that might seem similar and easily replaceable by each other. However, as you study them in depth, you realize the diversity of their natures and differences in their uses and their findings. There are over 20 different types of scales that are used by researchers in online surveys.  They can be categorized in two classes – comparative scales and non-comparative scales.

There are a number of factors you might consider when deciding on which scales to incorporate in a questionnaire and which ones to use while analyzing data. Some of the factors are:

  • The type of data that is required from the respondent – ratio, interval, ordinal or nominal.
  • How the information will be used once it is acquired.
  • Number of divisions in the scale – odd or even.
  • Types of statistical analysis methods to be used after data is acquired.
  • The physical form of the scale – vertical, linear, horizontal, etc.
  • Details to be provided in the scale as labels.
  • Whether or not response to a question is mandatory.

Since non-comparative scaling techniques are easier and simpler to understand, we’ll introduce to you the most important four scales. You’ll be delighted to see how easy it is to understand and use them. Those who already know about it them are encouraged to comment on the post and let us know any tips that might further help our readers in using these scales.

1.     Graphic Rating Scale

A graphic rating scale, also known as a continuous rating scale usually looks like the figure drawn above. The ends of the continuum are sometimes labeled with opposite values. Respondents are required to make a mark at any point on the scale that they find appropriate. Sometimes, there are numbers along the markings of the line too. At other times, there are no markings at all on the line.

2.     Likert Scale

A Likert scale typically contains an odd number of options, usually 5 to 7. One end is labeled as the most positive end while the other one is labeled as the most positive one with the label of ‘neutral’ in the middle of the scale.

The phrases ‘purely negative’ and ‘mostly negative’ could also have been ‘extremely disagree’ and ‘slightly disagree’.

3.     Semantic Differential Scale (Max Diff)

A semantic scale is a combination of more than one continuum. It usually contains an odd number of radio buttons with labels at opposite ends.   Max Diff scales are often used in trade-off analysis such as conjoint.

MaxDiff analysis can be used in new product features research or or even market segmentation research to get accurate orderings of the most important product features. The SurveyAnalytics platform help’s you discriminate among feature strengths better than derived importance methodologies. Like other trade-off analyses, the analysis derives utilities for each of the most important product features which can be used to derive optimal products, using market segmentation to put respondents into groups with similar preference structures, or to prioritize strategic product goals.

You can have your respondents perform Forced-choice nature of the tasks, where in SurveyAnalytics MaxDiff can disentangle the relative feature importance in cases where average Likert-style ratings might all have very similar ratings.

4.     Side-by-Side Matrix

Another very commonly used scale in questionnaires is the side-by-side matrix.  A common and powerful application of the side-by-side matrix is the importance/satisfaction type of question.

First, ask the respondent how important an attribute is, then ask them how satisfied they are with your performance in this area.  QuestionPro’s logic and loop functions also allow you to run through this question multiple times with other alternatives that the respondent might consider.  This yields benchmark data that will allow you to compare your performance against other competing alternatives.

Here is an example of data from an importance/satisfaction question.  The importance rating is the line and the performance ratings are the bars.  With this type of data, you can actually see where your company needs to increase its efforts to more closely meet the needs of the customer.

While there are many online survey tools and online survey software to choose from, you’ll find that not all of them have these different types of scales available to them.

As you’re designing your survey, be sure to offer a variety of scales.  Using different scales in your survey will engage the respondent more fully and prevent them from clicking the highest, lowest or middle rating all the time.  Another benefit to using different kinds of scales in your survey is that each scale provides you a unique perspective on the data that you are analyzing.

Before designing your survey, review the different types of scales and question types inside of your online survey tool and be sure to pick the one that will best help you make your decision.

Market Research Trends for 2012

What should you be looking forward to in 2012 when it comes to market research?  I was wondering the same thing and so I asked some of our community experts for some guidance and here is what I learned:

Consumers will drive technology

Romi Mahajan, Chief Marketing Officer at Metavana and a former Worldwide Director of Sales and Strategy at Microsoft says that consumers will be driving technology instead of the other way around.  Expect to see the blurring between business and consumer applications of technology.

This is evident in our next big trend; Gamification, where surveys start taking on the look and feel of game apps.  Touch screens make it possible to interact with information in a more graphic and engaging way. Betty Adamou, the editor of the Game Access blog says that “We must utilize creativity, think about the way we use language and ask survey questions and start giving respondents feedback.   Gamification can allow us to mix qualitative and quantitative questions in a more interactive and engaging format which will force us to ask survey questions in a more natural, competitive-inducing way.

All things mobile  from apps to games to panels and even focus groups?  Absolutely.  Free up your market research or focus groups and instead of bringing them to your isolated sterile laboratory, let your panel bring you into their homes with the use of mobile sampling.  Now your respondents can upload pictures of the brands they use or how they interact with your brand and let you step inside their world instead of the other way around.  The SurveySwipe platform brings panels and interactive, engaging and fun feedback into one package.

Another trend that has expanded is this idea of location-based feedback.  Special technology allows our SurveySwipe mobile survey app to trigger surveys based on your respondents location WITHOUT sharing any private information.

Panels are accessible to everyone

Community panels used to be exclusively in the domain of HUGE marketing budgets.  But that’s no longer the case.  Andrew Jeavons, from Survey Analytics says that recruiting, running and managing your own panel is within the realm of most small to medium sized businesses.

Shorter, more engaging, conversational surveys

The mobile sampling trend, consumerization as well as social media chatter have  all but wiped out the lengthy survey.  Shorter attention spans –even from avid panel communities will drive researchers to get more creative with how we collect data.  We will find ourselves integrating data from mobile, social and standard surveys more and more.

All of this speaks to another trend; Networked Intelligence.  Mobile panels allow businesses to get on-demand answers to questions from their respondents. Text analysis software allows us to pull social media information together with survey responses to get more meaningful information about our customers and how they interact with our brands.

Register NOW to Listen to the insiders talk about these trends and MORE on Wednesday, December 14, 10am PST/1pm EST

6 Save-Your-Marketing Butt Strategies

The best laid plans often end up failing.  But failing is a great thing.  When something isn’t working, you jump into action and often come up with terrific ways to improve the process or the system.

Rather than pout or rage about what isn’t working, take a look at this menu of six marketing strategies and see which ones will save your butt. 

  1. Drop Unprofitable products.  Profitability is more important than sales.  Evaluate your product lines and drop products that aren’t passing profit muster.  Another option is to raise prices on products that are unprofitable.
  2. Try new sales incentives and commission structures.  Sales people spend effort where they will make the most money.  Take a close look at your commission structure and make sure that you are rewarding sales people for profitable sales.
  3. Change how you sell.  Don’t just assume your current sales strategy is optimal. Consider using affiliates, partners, home parties, catalogs, internet, etc.
  4. Change or adjust your sales process or system.  Your sales process might be out-dated.  Take the time to explore new strategies such as Craig Elias’, Trigger Events or Jill Konrath’s  SNAP Selling.
  5. Develop or focus on lead generation program.  Where are your leads coming from and are they good leads.  Take a good hard look at your conversions from trade shows, web sites, etc and start optimizing all of them to attract your ideal customer.  For help, check out HubSpot – they are masters of inbound marketing.
  6. Develop a personal follow-up program.  Most sales are lost because our follow-up systems stink.  Map out your sales process and develop a follow-up system that touches your customer at least 7 – 10 times.  For help, visit Constant Contact, aWeber and InfusionSoft  and the new Nimble.

SurveySwipe Offers KILLER Price for White Label Mobile Research App

Attention Market Researchers and Survey Analytics Users: Our excess capacity is your opportunity

We have some excess capacity in our development team and would like to offer you a very discounted offer for our Survey Swipe Mobile Survey App — a white labeled version customized to your brand.

Normally our standard pricing is $30K for this white labeled version, but then we thought that this price might be holding you back from seeing what an incredibly powerful tool this was.  And so we decided to do something ridiculous just so you can see it for yourself.  So we’re offering this for $10K per instance for any orders received by December 15th.

How to use the SurveySwipe Custom-Branded Solution

If you have an existing panel: Invite them to download the branded App and take part in in mobile surveys from time to time.   This is really an opportunity to have a conversation and to build relationships with that panel.  The surveys often take less than 60 seconds (most take 10 seconds to 30 seconds).  Because they are so short, the panel will respond quickly and your response rates will go WAY UP.

With this custom-branded app, your panelists would now be able to engage in surveys while out and about in the World interacting with brands and as normal in front of the computer.
What you’ll be able to do:

  • Push invitations to panelists any time based on their screening criteria, typical response is VERY high and VERY fast.
  • Offer always on surveys so panelists can go in and take them whenever they want
    Trigger survey invitations via GPS, Hyper Local  ™
  • Use built in bar code scanner to scan product bar codes to trigger drill down questions regarding those products.
  • Push picture and video out as part of the survey experience

This is an ideal use for retail and in-store shopper projects and consumption panels
What you’d get:

  1. Branded online recruitment website where you would send panelists to, to answer a couple questions and be sent to appropriate smartphone marketplace, support and FAQs included.
  2. An app branded to your organization.
  3. Panel management functionality in your Survey Analytics account, see who’s downloaded and create subpanels, script surveys and issue new screening questions.
  4. Data collection and reporting as part of your already existing Survey Analytics account.Contact John Nelson at SurveySwipe to set up your white-labeled SurveySwipe mobile app and launch a survey today.

Who Says You Can’t ‘Tinker’ With Your Products?

A new year is coming up and the really terrific thing about that is that marketers the world over have opportunities to turn something old and stale into something new and exciting.

I get that generating new products is really exciting — and it can get expensive too.  So here are some ideas on how you can create something new  from something old.  Think of it as recycling.

  1. Test higher and lower prices in different markets. You don’t have to charge the same price in the same market. Different markets have different needs, charge accordingly.
  2. Offer different sizes at different prices.  Pricing expert and author of 1% Windfall, Rafi Mohamed says that people will buy at price points that are appealing to them (assuming they have a need or interest in your product).  Give your customers the opportunity to try and buy.
  3. Change the name to reflect new market. If you’re launching into a new market, change the name of your product to better reflect the benefits your product provides.
  4. Develop new, more varied uses for your product.  We wouldn’t know that there were millions of uses for baking soda if Arm and Hammer didn’t pull them together and advertise them.
  5. Bundle products.  McDonald’s is king of the bundle.  Create a value offer that moves product at good margins and gives customers great value.
There is nothing like taking a whole new look at your products and services and making some basic tweaks and adjustments.  You’ll find that these recommendations actually cost very little and only take time in doing a little research and implementing the results.

Use Survey Timer to Spice Up Engagement and Response Rates

Survey Timer has been a feature on Survey Analytics for a while but it’s now moved over to those of us who use and love QuestionPro.

I have to admit that when I heard about it, I didn’t quite get it.  I didn’t understand the potential benefits that having a timed survey would offer.

So to get a little more information and clarity on the subject, I talked to Aditya Bhat, our director of sales.  Here’s a peek at our conversation.

What is Countdown Timer?

Countdown timer is a feature that actually sets a time limit on a survey.  Respondents literally have to complete the survey within a certain period of time.  When the timer runs out — the survey closes and the responses are marked as incomplete.   The minimum time limit is 1 minute and the maximum is 60 minutes.

Why would you ever want your survey to time out?  

Believe it or not, answering a survey under a given time frame actually increases the quality of responses in terms of capturing the first thing that comes to the respondents mind. A classic use case would be a quiz survey.

A Quiz Survey?  

Of course, surveys aren’t just for finding out what people think, they can be an ideal tool to find out what people know.  And using a timer increases their concentration on the material.  Too often, respondents are disengaged from surveys – they simply click on the extreme ratings; lowest, highest or right down the middle.  Often these responses can’t be used. Adding a timing feature increases their engagement and full participation.

What’s the benefit of this?

The biggest advantage of this feature is to reduce drop out rates. The respondents have to complete the survey as soon as they start it as there is a timer. They can not leave it and walk away from their desk etc.

Who do you see using this feature the most? 

Market Researchers and people running Employe satisfaction surveys.  When you have the employee answer the survey in a give time frame will get you more precise data as they dont have much time to think and alter their answer.

Countdown timer follows the gaming trend

If you’ve been reading our articles, you know that we’re big fans of making surveys more engaging and more fun — the industry calls it Gamification.  Big brands are using games to get their customers and fans more involved and online and mobile surveys have jumped into the fray as well.

If you haven’t tried the countdown timer feature in your surveys — be sure to give it a try.  Follow the help link to set it up: http://questionpro.com/help/610.html

Virtual Market Research Event Starts This Week

The following is a re-print of an announcement from our new editor of Research Access

By the time the Festival of NewMR reaches its tenth anniversary, the novelty of online-only conferences may have worn off.  But it hasn’t yet.

Such online-only events are increasingly becoming part of the market research thought leadership scene, with entries in the past year from the American Marketing Association (AMA) and Market Research Global Alliance (MRGA).

While online-only conferences lack the appeal of traditional face-to-face interaction, they offer the advantage of allowing researchers who cannot travel to attend conferences the opportunity to participate, both as presenters and participants.  Online conferences open up the conversation beyond the “usual suspects” who attend multiple research conferences each year.

In year two of the Festival, last year’s organizer, Ray Poynter, who recently accepted the position of Managing Director UK with Vision Critical, has been elevated to Festival Chair, while last year’s deputy, Sue York, serves as this year’s Festival Organizer.

This year’s event is more even more ambitious than last year’s inaugural event.  The conference has activities all week from October 31st through November 4th.

The meat of the Festival is the so-called “Main Stage,” a twenty-three-hour marathon on Thursday, November 3rd.  Other activities include a Young Researcher Competition, a Training Day, and anInsight Innovation Competition.

This year’s Main Stage is comprised of seven consecutive sessions, spaced at three-and-one-half hour intervals.   A single registration is required for attendance at as many Main Stage sessions as desired.  The presentations chosen for the Main Stage were selected by online vote.

See below for the full November 3rd Main Stage program.

Poynter will be speaking to kick off Session 3 of the Main Stage at 7:30 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Thursday, November 3rd.  His topic is “NewMR, a View of the Next Two Years.”

NewMR previously used Ning as its website technology of choice, but this year they have switched to WordPress, which does not require users to register for membership.  The Main Stage program is being delivered via GoToMeeting technology.   

Principal sponsors of the Festival of NewMR include Survey Analytics (Silver), GreenBook Blog(Media), ESOMAR (Bronze), ASMRS (Bronze) and Q Analysis Software (Bronze).  If you are a “member, supporter, customer, or fan” of a Festival sponsor, you can attend the Main Stage at half price.  Sponsors also are contributing to an innovative e-Exhibition page on the NewMR site.

We hope to see you at the Festival of NewMR!

FESTIVAL OF NEWMR
Main Stage Schedule
Thursday, November 3, 2011

Session 1 – 00:00-02:00 (GMT)

Jeffrey Henning, Affinnova
Crowd-Shaped Surveys: Adapting the Experience Based on Prior Respondents

Annie Pettit, Research Now
On Social Media Research

Alastair Gordon, Gordon & McCallum
Surveys Without Scales – NewMR and Facial Imaging

Victoria Gamble, WorkINProgress Qualitative Research
Taking Qualitative Online: What I wished I’d known before I started

Session 2 – 03:30-05:30 (GMT)

Mike Sherman and Neil Gains, SingTel and Tapestry Works
Less is More: Getting Value (Not Just Reams of Data) From Your Research

Sue Bell, Susan Bell Research
How to use discourse analysis in market research

Christine Walker, Alliance Strategic Research
2011 What a Disaster!

Jess Whittaker and Steve Nuttall, Buzz Numbers and Colmar Brunton
Are social media and research meant to be together?

Session 3 – 07:30-09:00 (GMT)

Ray Poynter    
NewMR, a view of the next two years        Vision Critical

John Griffiths, Spring Research
It takes two baby!

David Penn, Conquest Research
Neuromania and why we need to re-humanise research

Session 4 – 10:30-12:30 (GMT)

Mark Earls, Author of HERD
Less is more: how pattern spotting can save us from ourselves

John Kearon, BrainJuicer
Let’s Get Emotional About Advertising; Evidence from the frontiers of behavioural economics about how ads really work

Rosie Campbell, Campbell Keegan
Case of the Dead Cat:  Curiosity not to Blame

Ian Ralph, Marketing Sciences
The Rise of the Digital Shopper: New ways to shop require new ways to research

Session 5 – 14:00-16:00 (GMT)

Robert Kozinets, Author of Netnography
Anthropology Goes Online: Why Cultural Insights Still Matter

Diane Hessan, Communispace       
Online Communities: Mistakes, Misuses and Challenges

Paul Child, Join the Dots         
Life outside the ivory tower

Felix Koch, Promise Communities
What next? 5 predictions about the future of online co-creation

Session 6 – 17:30-19:30 (GMT)

Finn Raben, ESOMAR
Update on Privacy and Ethics

Bernie Malinoff, element54
The Road to Survey Extinction

Jon Puleston, GMI
The ideas that are transforming market research

Ross McLean, Egg Strategy
Digital Ethnography – Revealing Human Truths through Smartphones

Session 7 – 21:00-23:00 (GMT)

Reg Baker, Market Strategies
Survey Gamification: Old Wine in New Bottles?

Steve Rappaport, ARF
Listening as Foresight: Detecting Emergent Consumer Trends

Leslie Townsend, Kinesis Survey Technologies
2016: A Market Research Odyssey

Leigh Caldwell, Inon
Behavioural economics – new new or new old?

About  - Dana is the Editor-in-Chief of Research Access.