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10 Things to consider when deciding on a Survey Tool

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Online surveys are well established as a highly successful and flexible form of data collection. Customer and employee surveys via email, online links or QR codes are increasing in the level of importance with the growing prolife-ration of online media and are now part of the everyday business activities of many companies and organisations. Numerous software solu-tions for surveying have become available that differ significantly in their use, their analysis capabilities, their functionality and their price. It is there-fore important for users to be aware of their own needs before making a purchasing decision and to know exactly where and how they want to use the software and what the results should offer.

The following questions should help you to better identify your needs and to make an informed choice about which survey tool best meets them.

1. Installed software or web-based tool?

First you should decide whether you want to host a software inhouse, or rely on a web-based tool.

With web-based survey solutions, editing can be performed from any lo-cation via a browser, and several people can work on a survey at the same time. Other advantages associated with this option are that software instal-lation is not necessary and updates can be carried out automatically by the manufacturer. This means you will not have any additional costs for deve-loping and maintaining a powerful hardware infrastructure or for updating the software as required.

With an inhouse software installation, the survey can be created offline and stored on a stationary workstation. The drawbacks are that software up-dates must be carried out independently and there is the cost of the hard-ware and updates. Furthermore there must be a reliable infrastructure for data transport 24/7. When using an inhouse-solution it is necessary to per-form regular backups of data.

2. In which field and to which extent would you like to use the survey software?

Online surveys can be used for various purposes, so you will need to de-cide what the purposes are and how youwould use the software. Are you looking to carry out market-wide surveys, or do you need a professional so-lution that offers extensive functionality in terms of how the questionnaire is developed as well as detailed analysis capabilities and user interface?

Edit from any location via a browser.“

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Will you be using the software in specific areas, such as individual compa-ny departments, or do you need a comprehensive corporate solution that allows company-wide implementation and integration? The issue of rights management is of importance here; for example, is it possible to create multiple accounts for different sectors, departments or groups within an organisation, to conduct and manage survey completely separated?

3. How soon would you like to get started?

It is important to decide how soon you want to be able to carry out your first survey and how many surveys you plan to conduct altogether, as this also help determine the right tool. For example, if you want to start a survey immediately, you should choose a tool that is easy to use and requires only a short familiarisation period. For your ongoing use of the software, ease of use and flexibility are important if you cannot afford long lead times and need to start working with your surveys right away.

4. Is the design of the questionnaires and reports important?

If you have special requirements regarding the layout of your question-naires, you should ensure that the solution you choose provides flexibility in terms of questionnaire design and the layout of result reports. By using powerful, advanced tools you’ll be able to customise your questionnaires and reports to match the corporate design of your company and to integ-rate images and movie clips within your questionnaires.

5. What types of questions should the software enable?

What types of questions do you want to ask in your surveys? Professio-nal solutions generally offer all the common types of questions such as open or closed questions, multiple choice, links, lists, rankings and arrays of answers as well as free text responses, etc.

What else is important to you? For example, would you like to be able to include multimedia elements in your questionnaires? Or do you want to include jumps and branches into your questionnaires? This might increase the usability and lead to a higher response rate, especially when you are creating extensive surveys.

Choose a tool that is easy to use, if you want to start quickly.

“

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6. What analysis and export capabilities are needed?

Once all the survey results are available, what do you want to be able to do with that information, and how wide-ranging an analysis do you require? Do you want to be able to link questions to answers, perform cross-tabula-tions or filter the results according to time intervals, target groups or other criteria? And do you want to benchmark your results?

It is also important to decide how you want to evaluate the data and what export formats you require (e.g. PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, Word or SPSS).

You must also consider how you want to communicate your findings within your entire organisation. For example, are user access rights provided, or do you want to send out individual emails quickly and easily? Or do you want to be able to visualise real-timeresults, for example the management or branch offices. This makes it possible for the right people to act directly on incoming feedback.

7. API integration, multiple languages, Power Point tem-plates – what features and innovations are you looking for?

It is important to determine the special functions you require. For example, if you want to carry out international surveys, you should choose a vendor that offers multi-language surveys.

Do you want to automate your surveys? Then you should choose a solution that can be connected to your CRM or ERP system. This makes it possible to send out surveys triggered by specific actions, for example in your CRM system, like the sending out of a customer service survey after a customer has made contact with customer support. You should also consider whe-ther you need to reach your target group by mobile devices.

It is always important to check whether the software is completely up to date with the latest functions, or if new features are made available to exis-ting accounts.

8. Which channels are best way to reach your target groups?

How would you like to reach your target audience? Is there a particular group of participants to whom you wish to send an invitation to take part in your survey via email, or do you intend to use publicly available links to your surveys on your website? If you wish to perform market research it would be an advantage to provide direct panel access.

How do you want to communicate your findings?“

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If you plan on reaching your target group via mobile devices, you should opt for a provider that offers surveys via SMS or QR Code. Check whether the solution provides responsive designs that offer optimal user-friendli-ness even when answering the survey via a smartphone or tablet.

9. Is data protection guaranteed?

In any kind of survey or process involving the collection of information, your data protection policy is very important. Secure SSL connections should be used to ensure total anonymity for the participants.

Consider where the data will be processed. Are you certain that all data collected will be stored and processed according to the laws applicable to the location in question? Are the servers located in a country that guaran-tees such data protection regulations?

10. What is your available budget?

Lastly, your budget always plays an important role when deciding on a specific software solution. It is therefore important to identify your specific needs in order to be able to compare the cost-to-benefit ratios of various providers.

Conclusion

In view of the large number of providers and the wide range of solutions on offer, it is extremely important to decide on the scope of any survey pro-ject in advance; it is only when you have identified what you want from a software solution that you will be able to avoid potentially costly mistakes.

The fundamental issue is whether to choose a web-based solution or locally installed software, but it is also important to consider the nature and scope of the survey, the integration of the solution within your company and the analysis and export features the software provides. Are you looking for a solution for single survey projects or do you want surveys and feedback management to become an integral part of your organisation? It may also be important how you want to reach your target groups, how you want to share the results within your organisation (dashboards, user rights,etc)and how highly you value innovation, as well as the special features you would like to have included in your solution, e.g. multilingual answers, mo-bile surveys, free text analysis, etc. It is also very important to ensure that the software tool you choose is able to meet the relevant data protection regulations.

Consider where the data will be processed.“

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