The answer is simple; creating online surveys is an effective and engaging way of gathering the feedback necessary to improve your business. And thanks to their very nature, time and distance are no barrier to distribution.

Whether you’re carrying out market research, gathering customer feedback, or investigating employee engagement, conducting surveys online is guaranteed to enhance your feedback processes whilst saving you time and money.

Reach more people— faster with online surveys

Online surveys allow you to reach large numbers of people as easily as you might reach one. With multiple distribution options available, you could potentially send thousands of surveys at once via email, SMS or web link. Email and SMS are great for when you know exactly who you are going to contact and have the necessary contact details to do so. Distribution via a link, on the other hand, is the perfect solution for sharing surveys more widel.  And gaining access to a larger pool of respondents than you may otherwise have been able to reach. On social media channels or your website, for example.

The speed at which surveys can be conducted online is also a huge bonus. In theory, you could create a survey, distribute it and begin analysing the results within a single working day. Don’t get us wrong; it’s wise to spend a good amount of time planning and preparing your surveys if you want them to be successful. But being able to reach hundreds of people in seconds and read incoming responses instantly? That’s pretty exciting.

Timely and accurate feedback

Thanks to the ubiquity of mobile devices, online surveys make it possible to reach the people you need to when you need to. Businesses often want to gather feedback at specific touchpoints in the customer journey. It’s always best to do this as close to the relevant transaction as possible. For example, you may be keen to know what customers think of your website. With an online survey platform, you can easily arrange for a survey to be sent immediately following a purchase. You could also embed a survey question or link directly into your site. Making it even easier for customers to leave feedback.

This ability to solicit feedback so quickly, and at such targeted moments, is significant when it comes to gathering accurate feedback. The quicker respondents are able to share their thoughts, the more accurate and reliable the data will be. Furthermore, the perceived or actual anonymity provided by online surveys also lends itself nicely to feedback that’s more honest and, consequently, more valuable.

Intelligent online survey design

Designing intelligent questionnaires is easier when you use a comprehensive online survey platform. Jump logic, for example, is an advanced survey feature that allows respondents to skip questions if previous answers indicate their lack of relevance. This is the perfect way to avoid the frustration and skewed results. Which can arise when a surveyee is faced with a question that is irrelevant and unskippable.

Notify logic is another smart feature that is unique to online survey creation. Would you want to be alerted if a customer-rated their experience with you poorly? Or if a subscriber checked ‘no’ when asked if they planned on renewing their membership? With notify logic, you can get instant email feedback in these scenarios. Allowing you to take swift and proper action should a situation demand it.

Advanced (and quicker) analysis and reporting

Creating and managing surveys online also means that you can harness the power of technology to help you analyse and present your results. In just a few clicks, you can access the actionable insights that are present in your raw data. Coupled with easily changing what information is on display and how. Depending on your survey solution provider, you can break down your data using multiple filters and quickly alter its appearance with various graph types, tables and word clouds.

Another key benefit of conducting surveys online is the ability to quickly compare and analyse data across different periods of time. If you have interest in comparing employee or customer feedback from one year to the next, for example, that’s easy to do with the right online survey solution.

Reporting and sharing your results and data is also easy, with paid platforms letting you export them in many different formats to suit your needs. Some survey solutions, like Netigate, will also have a multi-export feature. Allowing you to quickly create and distribute multiple different versions of a report in moments. All in all, analysis and reporting has never been easier. And the time you save here you can use to start putting your newfound insights to good use.

Save time and reduce costs

The epitome of efficiency, creating and managing your surveys online makes the process of gathering feedback quicker and cheaper. Gone are the costs for paper, postage or phone calls that people associate with other methods. And hours of administrative time are saved on contacting individual respondents, manually inputting data, analysing results and creating reports.
Our customer stories here at Netigate are a testament to the resource-saving power of online surveys. Travis Perkins saved an average of 40 hours per survey on administrative time, whilst PriceRunner reduced their qualitative research time by 200%. Meanwhile, in the music streaming industry, Spotify saw an impressive 75% reduction in administrative time and reduced the cost of conducting surveys by a staggering £150,000!

Choosing the right online survey platform

It’s easy to start creating surveys online, and the first step is to choose the right survey solution for your needs. For the individual carrying out light research with just a handful of participants, a free survey platform will probably be enough. For businesses or more complex research with extensive participants, it would be worth considering a more comprehensive, paid solution. These typically offer you advanced survey features like survey logic and customisation, alongside more varied analysis and reporting capabilities.

Of course, we think Netigate is an excellent business solution. In addition, the 3,500+ companies that already work with us would agree. To find out more about why you should choose Netigate, click here or if you would like to contact us. Whether or not we are the solution for you. We wish you the best of luck in your online survey journey!