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When gathering insights with market research, it can be a challenge to decide which survey method is the best. For example, affordability is a major factor many businesses must consider when deciding whether to use web surveys or telephone surveys.
However, money should not be your only driving factor when it comes to making that choice. For instance, your audience and the sensitivity and nature of the topic should also guide your decision.
Strengths of Telephone Surveys
Without a doubt, telephone surveys have good participation and response rates. The ability to simply pick up the phone and talk to your customers is priceless. You have the ability to connect with every one of your customers, get feedback, and identify which customers are not satisfied so you can find solutions.
Strengths of Web Surveys
Web surveys offer distinct advantages. Some of the strengths of web surveys include:
- Online surveys designed with online survey software are more cost effective to implement.
- Respondents are able to fill out online surveys when they choose to, which makes them convenient and flexible.
- Online surveys can offer visual stimuli, graphics and personalization, which grabs the customers attention and creates reaction.
- You can get more details from web surveys, particularly anonymous web surveys.
- Online surveys increase precision since respondents can take their time answering questions.
Faster project completion.
You can really narrow down your questions with web-based surveys to get specific details, and you can tailor them so that you get the most value out of your customer feedback. You can compare and analyze the data you get from the online option, sift through this data with a fine-toothed comb, and get real intelligence from them that helps influence future business decisions.
This is not to say that phone surveys don't give you quality feedback. Telephone surveys allow you to really clarify the answers your respondents give you so you can dig deeper in the feedback they provide.
Telephone surveys have their place and make a great survey tool to gain general opinions and so forth. However, there are some disadvantages to this approach, including a higher cost per respondent, interviewer bias, time pressure on respondents, and geographical limitations. Phone surveys can also be labor intensive.
With online surveys, you get higher speed, lower cost, flexibility, visual appeal, and they are simply more interactive. You don't have to be present or conduct the interview over the phone which in some instances can really annoy busy people who will likely ignore taking part in your phone survey to begin with. If you put a web survey up on their computer screen, however, they will be more inclined to answer your questions.
And if you ask for contact information, you can always follow up with your respondents via phone or email for more detailed feedback after they have completed an online survey.
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