If you need to research the market, one of your first important decisions will be which research methodology to use. You can choose between an online or personal survey, but traditional telephone surveys are still very useful. When deciding on your methodology, consider all the pros and cons of telephone surveys.
A computer-assisted telephone survey (CATI) may be the right solution for data collection. With the right online survey software, you’ll have all the tools and support you need to collect effective and comprehensive research. Telephone surveys may be used to conduct customer satisfaction surveys, market research, political surveys, social research, and other types of research. Choose a survey software that offers you a lot of licensing flexibility and more than just features, as you definitely don't want to lose money and of course, time.
Pros
• Because a qualified interviewer conducts a telephone survey and addresses individual respondents in person, it’s far easier to ensure the participation of the respondents. People easily reject flyers or emails, but it's more difficult ignoring a person requesting your attention over the phone. • The data collected by telephone surveys are frequently more perceptive, as moderators can identify, clarify and disseminate respondent responses and reveal valuable details that are not evident from popular but boring efforts such as email surveys or online surveys. Writing down on paper or undergoing web surveys, where shortlisted answers often restrict responses, offer slight flexibility for fluid questions that telephone surveys can support. • Telephone inquiries can be carried out and analyzed with relative ease, due to telephone conversations via computer (CATI). By talking to respondents and entering data straight into the computer, it means results can be collected and analyzed almost instantly. There are not many waiting periods for the return of surveys or the registration and study of their information. • Using the phone to reach the consumer is often an inexpensive option for companies who want to have the confidence of a private conversation without the bother and cost of arranging physical meets. Other market survey methods, such as comprehensive interviews and target groups, may require the logistical planning of travel, meals, and accommodation. Costs quickly accumulate. In contrast, telephone surveys require none of this.
Cons
• While mobile phones are omnipresent in modern cultures, landline phones are fast becoming obsolete. Many older generations of people still own landlines, though, so phone survey data is often less varied than other data origins. • Like many other survey tool methods, telephone surveys in space are limited. The fact that you do not address the interviewee means that the interviewer cannot notice (and maybe conclude) important body signs during the interview. Sometimes these little signs are the ones that tell a lot about a person's feelings about a topic. • Telephone surveys are limited in time. People naturally dislike being disturbed during meetings or leisure or even when doing homework. Companies must take this into account; we generally agree that a telephone survey should not take longer than fifteen minutes.
• Telephone surveys are cheaper than personal meetings, but still, they are considered far expensive than online surveys and direct surveys. They need trained interviewers and a system to make calls, and together these cost money.
Before conducting research, researchers should weigh the pros and cons of the research. They should also ask themselves whether they will achieve their goals through cell phone surveys. The cell phone survey is suitable for researchers surveying a target group of people living in cities. However, if the target audience is around a particularly prominent place for poor mobile coverage, another research method should be chosen.
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