INSIGHT on INSIGHT: Utilizing Internet Surveys
Internet surveys are one of the most powerful tools available to capture shopper insight.
15 years ago it was still fairly common to send out legal size reams of paper or try to get people to complete tedious phone interviews. Both were expensive and time consuming.
Trust me. I had a part-time job during college conducting telephone interviews.
Early internet surveys came with heightened concerns about bias due to under-representation of lower income or older people (groups less likely to have at-home internet access or to have limited computer ownership).
Those concerns have long since disappeared.
Various software options to design and host internet surveys now exist.
Numerous panels of pre-recruited respondents are available to make it far faster, far easier and far cheaper to study large samples of screened and qualified individuals.
THE POWER OF THE INTERNET WORKING FOR YOU
Internet surveys are powerful because they are highly customizable.
Surveys can be broad & shallow, asking a lot of questions across a lot of topics. They can be narrow & deep, diving into specific topics. They can combine any number of questions, or question types, based on whatever best accomplishes the learning objectives. And they can test the potential of new ideas or concepts that don’t exist beyond a rendering and a description.
Internet surveys are powerful because they allow for the capture of large amounts of information.
This data isn’t valuable just because it is large. It is valuable because a single set of data allows for almost unlimited manipulation and tabulation and comparison. It is this ability to find unexpected connections between data points that is so important.
Internet surveys are powerful because they allow for representative or targeted sample.
Asking the right questions is only useful if the right people are providing answers. Online panels can provide sample balanced for key demographics like age, income, ethnicity or geographic region. They can just as easily screen for particular groups like category or brand buyers or shoppers of certain retailers. This allows companies to avoid making decisions based on averages and look at what actually matters to their top prospects or most valuable shoppers.
If your company has never done an internet survey to learn more about your category, you’ve probably got a big insight void.
There has never been a better time to figure out what questions could provide the answers you need to increase your sales growth. And to go get them answered.