why your survey sucks. and how to fix it

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Why your survey sucks. And How to fix it. Traditional market research methods lead to paralysis or irrelevant business decisions. Long surveys, brainstorming focus groups, social media conversations … all these methods are costly, slow and often disappointing when it comes to interpret data properly. There is a quantitative data overload. Plus, little clarity on what customers really want can be made. Unsplash.com Remember what happened to your last survey? OMG, yes ! Survey results of the market research you bought from that supposedly famous consulting firm were (multiple choice possible): a) self-validating what you already knew.

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Page 1: Why your survey sucks. And How to fix it

Why your survey sucks. And How to fix it.

Traditional market research methods lead to paralysis or

irrelevant business decisions.

Long surveys, brainstorming focus groups, social media conversations … all these

methods are costly, slow and often disappointing when it comes to interpret data

properly.

There is a quantitative data overload. Plus, little clarity on what customers really want

can be made.

Unsplash.com

Remember what happened to your last survey?

OMG, yes ! Survey results of the market research you bought from that supposedly famous

consulting firm were (multiple choice possible):

a) self-validating what you already knew.

Page 2: Why your survey sucks. And How to fix it

b) leading to suboptimal business decisions.

c) pushing away the “truth questions”, dissolved by diplomatics.

d) not mentioning any first-hand crisp users verbatim.

You plan to launch a survey? Think twice on how you will do it.

Boring. Too many. Too long. Inaccurate.

Surveys are an established method of collecting quantitative data. Customers are prompted to

express their opinions through multiple-choice questionnaires and scripted interviews.

But the ease of creating and distributing online surveys with tools such as SurveyMonkey,

Vizir, Google Form have a few downsides.

We get too many surveys in our mailbox. They are too time-consuming for the respondent.

And increasingly ignored or viewed as spam. How many people take anyway the time to

notice your email ? To open it, to read it? And to, give authentic answers, till the end?

In the absence of human interaction, there is no assurance that your respondents are

answering sensibly and truthfully.

You would like a quick fix for your survey ?

Rewards for completing the survey may provide the wrong incentive and attract the wrong

profiles. How can you guarantee that the answers are sincere enough?

Scoring a shopping experience or policy action on a 1-to-10 ladder scale offers no insight

about your customer’s context, wishes and behaviors.

Even when conducted by telephone or in person, the accuracy of opinion polls has recently

been cast in doubt. Yes, it happened in 2016. Massive failure. By incorrectly forecasting the

outcome of votes such as the Brexit referendum and the US elections results.

So, how to collect better qualitative and quantitative insights ?

Asking questions is just not enough anymore.

Your organisation must notably engage their most valuable audience or customers in a

genuine two-way conversation. Your organisation must value their feedback. And offer them

a high quality experience.

Symantra helps companies, NGOs and public organisations collect and synthesize better

insights. From user stories, voices, experiences, pain points. Meaning better qualitative and

quantitative data for better decision-making.

Citizens and customers are considered as trusted partners. Throughout the product or service

life-cycle. Not just at the beginning or end of it.

Want to know more about our socialnext technology and methodology ?

Page 3: Why your survey sucks. And How to fix it

Want to know how we recently reached a completion rate above 50% from busy

entrepreneurs and creative people in Belgium, for one of our loyal clients? (surveys

have usually a 10% max. completion rate).

Drop me an email.

Anne Magnus is the Director at Symantra. And the Business Development Director of

Socialnext for online insights communities for better market research.