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Online Survey Tools: Features, Advantages, and Best Practices

What is the best way to get honest feedback from your target audience?

The answer to this question is an online survey. An online survey is a systematic questionnaire that your target audience fills out via the internet, often by filling out a form. 

There are many online survey tools that help us create surveys in a very easy and effective manner. In this blog, we will learn about what are the key features of survey tools, the steps to use an online survey platform, and the best practices for surveys.

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Table of Contents

What is the best way to get honest feedback from your target audience?

The answer to this question is an online survey. An online survey is a systematic questionnaire that your target audience fills out via the internet, often by filling out a form. 

There are many online survey tools that help us create surveys in a very easy and effective manner. In this blog, we will learn about what are the key features of survey tools, the steps to use an online survey platform, and the best practices for surveys.

Empower Your Research Efforts with Online Survey Tools.

What are Online Survey Tools?

Online survey tools refer to the different digital software that facilitates the creation, distribution, and analysis of surveys using digital channels. Most survey tools even act as survey analysis software and can therefore execute different data analysis functions. 

Survey tools are used by individuals and organizations for a range of different purposes such as customer feedback, market research, employee satisfaction, post-event analysis, academic program assessment, and more. 

Online survey solutions offer a range of features that help expedite the survey creation process. Such software also comes equipped with premade survey templates and questions that are created by professional researchers. 

Modern surveys majorly consist of these three main components:

  1. Questionnaire design
  2. Distribution
  3. Reporting

Examples of online surveys

An essential tool for gathering data from customers or workers can be an online survey.

  1. Take this online customer satisfaction survey as an example:

Customer satisfaction management is essential for a company offering door-to-door food transportation services. A door-to-door online survey software is the most efficient way to gather customer satisfaction feedback, which is something they must always do.

The company can either include a rating scale survey on its website or mobile application after every delivery executive distributes food.

Customers can give feedback about their experiences in real-time, allowing the company to constantly improve the quality of both their food and their delivery service.

  1. An employee engagement survey is another example of an online survey:

Employees play a critical role in an organization’s prosperity. The management must work hard to maintain staff engagement. The HR team will be able to assess the level of employee involvement by conducting online surveys regularly.

  • A company can guarantee that employee satisfaction rates improve over time by analyzing the feedback received and focusing on the areas that employees believe can be improved.
  • It can be crucial for researchers to select an appropriate sample, one that can accurately reflect the target population, for online surveys used to analyze customer satisfaction or engagement.

Various probability sampling methods such as cluster sampling, simple random sampling, stratified sampling, and systematic sampling as also non-probability sampling methods such as snowball sampling, judgmental sampling, convenience sampling, consecutive sampling, and quota sampling are to be implemented for impactful results.

Typical online survey types

Here are the 4 common types of online surveys;

1. Cart abandonment surveys

For e-commerce companies that want to understand why their customers leave the checkout process without completing the order, cart abandonment surveys are essential. One of the most significant negative KPIs of the e-commerce business model, the cart abandonment rate, can be reduced by learning why users leave the checkout. 

2. Product feedback surveys

Companies frequently use product feedback questionnaires to evaluate their product/market fit. To determine whether the product’s direction aligns with customers’ expectations, it is optimal to run them after developing a prototype or MVP (minimum viable product). However, feedback surveys can also be used for finished products, particularly by resellers to see if they are providing their customers with the best options. 

3. Market research surveys 

These are valuable instruments for marketing departments because they can have an impact on the company’s medium- and long-term strategies. They help determine what upcoming features or products the business should create to best meet the requirements of its customers. 

4. Customer service feedback 

These surveys are used to assess the efficacy of a company’s customer service team. Customer service teams must maintain a high level of professionalism at all times because they play an important role in the engagement with users. After all, they are the company’s very reputation, and any mishandling can have long-term negative consequences.

Key Features of Survey Tools

The following is a list of a few key features of Online Survey Tools:

  1. Survey Display Options
  2. Branching/Skip Logic
  3. Data Analysis
  4. Survey Templates
  5. User Segmentation
  6. Multiple Answer Types
  7. Multimedia Integration
  8. Multilingual Support

Let’s learn about them in detail.

1. Survey Display Options

 This feature allows the users of online survey solutions to choose where they want to show their survey. Some users may want to display their survey within an email while others may want to on a website; the best survey tools will facilitate all these choices.

2. Branching/Skip Logic

Branching logic refers to a feature that allows you to set up different questions based on the initial responses chosen by the user. This means that the follow-up questions will change according to the respondent’s previous answer.

3. Data Analysis

Survey tools have a range of features that facilitate data analysis, allowing organizations to extract useful actionable insights in almost no time.

4. Survey Templates

Most online survey tools will have a library of pre-made survey templates. These are usually templates of commonly used surveys such as customer satisfaction, brand perception, and employee satisfaction surveys.

5. User Segmentation

User segmentation is a feature that allows you to send specific surveys to specific parts of your audience. For example, you can send different surveys to new visitors and returning visitors. This feature lets you collect user-specific data that is relevant and insightful.

6. Multiple Answer Types

Another feature of online survey solutions is that they offer various answer types that allow you to extract information in the right way in regard to each question. These answer types include multiple-choice, drop-down matrix, and text boxes.

7. Multimedia Integration

Online survey solutions allow you to integrate multimedia into your survey to make it more interactive and engaging. This typically includes media in the form of audio clips, video clips, and images.

8. Multilingual Support

The best survey tools provide the option of creating surveys for a more global audience and therefore provide features that support multiple languages. This could include spell-checkers for different languages and an auto-detect tool that automatically sets the survey to the default language of the respondent.

Start collecting insights right away with free survey templates.

150+ FREE survey templates to select from.

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Why use online survey software?

There are a so many reasons of using online surveys, but here we are talking a few of them;

1. Quickly administer questionnaires

Your online survey can swiftly reach your respondents’ hands with just a few easy mouse clicks.  You can upload surveys, manage data collection, administer panel files, examine real-time analysis findings, and send reports.    

2. Keep track of respondents and remind those who haven’t finished the survey to do so

You can simply track who has completed your online survey with the help of online surveys software. View findings in real-time to see how many respondents have finished your survey right away. Online surveys provide you with immediate findings, in contrast to other survey research methods (such as paper surveys, phone surveys, and mail surveys). Utilizing email invitations, email reminders, and response quotas and boosting response rates.

3. Produce outcomes that can be put into practice

Use web-based surveys to get the outcomes you need. Avoid the bias of polls that involve in-person interviews. With the help of sophisticated routing and skip logic, you can manage how your queries are presented using online survey software. 

Online surveys give participants the freedom to complete them whenever it is most convenient for them, and they offer a setting where they are not under any pressure to respond to questions that would otherwise make them feel uneasy in a face-to-face discussion. Online surveys offer a forum for truthful and precise input.

4. With password protection and secure connections, you can guarantee the highest level of security and privacy for the findings of your survey

You have power over your answers and the overall results of online survey data collection and management. Online surveys replace the need for paper surveys, which are frequently lost or incomplete because of respondents’ reluctance or forgetfulness. Online surveys with password protection are simple to set up, as are links that are anonymous and hosted on safe sites.

Advantages of Online Survey Tools?

Let’s take a look at some notable advantages of online survey tools:

  1. Reduced Costs
  2. Centralized Data
  3. Increased Accuracy
  4. Customizable
  5. Centralized Survey Authoring
  6. Fast Data Collection

Let’s have a look at these advantages in specific.

Reduced Costs

One of the most significant online survey tools benefits of online survey tools is that it significantly lowers the cost of conducting surveys. This is especially due to the elimination of labour costs and material costs as the survey channels are digital. Surveys that are conducted on large scales and have a very large sample group will benefit most from this as surveys conducted through online survey platforms will require a small team to handle and will also have very low costs.

Online Surveys

Centralised Data

Online survey solutions often have a centralised survey platform where all the data is gathered. Therefore, regardless of which channel the data is collected through, it is all stored on the same integrated platform. This makes the feedback collection process more systematic, and also makes the data easier to analyse and interpret.

Increased Accuracy

Online survey solutions help obtain more accurate data as the feedback collected comes directly from the respondent to the online database. This minimizes the risk of human error and can produce more accurate data.

Customizable

Survey tools provide a lot of flexibility in online survey design, allowing businesses to tailor surveys to their needs. Additionally, the best survey tools will even allow you to further personalise your surveys by branding them.

Centralised Survey Authoring

The best online survey tools offer an omnichannel interface. This means that the survey solution allows you to connect with respondents over multiple digital channels without having to reprogramme your survey for every channel individually.

Fast Data Collection

One of the most apparent advantages of using an online survey solution is streamlined data collection and real-time results. Respondent feedback can be amalgamated with other responses and analyzed the moment the survey is completed. This allows your business to extract actionable insights from data much faster. 

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How to use an Online Survey Software?

The following steps show you how to utilize an online survey platform to create and deploy a survey effectively:

Step 1 – Set an Objective for your Survey

Step 2 – Create the Survey

Step 3 – Deploy the Survey

Step 4 – Analyze the Results

Let’s see how to conduct surveys using an online survey platform.

(Step 1) Set an Objective for your Survey

Before you start creating a survey, you must first clearly outline your objective(s). Setting clear objectives will help ensure that your focus is maintained on your goals while you create questions for your survey.

(Step 2) Create the Survey

Once you’ve clearly outlined your objectives, you can begin creating your survey. If the online survey tool you are using has a template for the survey you want to create, you may want to select it. Editing an existing template will be much quicker than creating your survey from scratch. Additionally, make sure to use answer choices that are appropriate for each question. 

Utilise the different features offered by your online survey tool to get the best results from your survey.

(Step 3) Deploy the Survey

When your survey is ready, you can deploy it to your respondents across all the channels that you want to utilize. It is important to connect with your respondents on the channels that they are on as this will help maximise your survey response rate.

Explore all the survey question types possible on Voxco

Try a Sample Survey

Explore all the survey question types possible on Voxco

Try a Sample Survey

(Step 4) Analyse the Results

As your survey is being conducted using online channels, survey responses will come in as and when respondents answer the survey. Your online survey tool will create visual representations of the data using live charts, graphs, and tables. These will help you extract insights from the data collected.

If you want to conduct additional operations using the acquired feedback, you can export your survey results onto a different interface that will allow you to conduct these operations.

Which online survey tool is the best?

We’d suggest starting with Google Forms or Jotform even though the best survey software online for you will eventually rely on your business needs and budget. Both offer a ton of worth without charge.

Try Typeform if you want a contemporary, minimalist, seamless user experience for both you and the respondents to the poll.

Do you intend to conduct frequent or sizable polls in the near or distant future? No matter what stage you’re at right now or where you want to be in the future, SoGoSurvey’s free and paid plans make online surveys simple.

Of course, you can also test out the other survey tools on this list to see which one fits your needs the best. Prioritize the features you require, and think about how your requirements might change before you proceed. By doing so, you can begin with the appropriate tool and ideally avoid having to switch later.

Conclusion

Because not all survey tools give the same features or customer support, picking the best online survey tool is crucial. The dedicated and helpful customer service staff at Voxco is ready to help you seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.

Wide-ranging advantages of survey software online can make creating your next questionnaire quicker and easier than ever. The platform to use for all your research survey requirements is Voxco.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

1. How do online survey tools work? 

Survey software online can be used to electronically gather answers to questions from a target population. They include many different question categories, such as ranking, open-ended, multiple-choice, and many others.

2. Can one trust online survey tools?

Because so many different businesses use paid online surveys to perform market research, the industry is legitimate. However, other survey sites are truly sites made by scammers or cybercriminals among the many legitimate online paid surveys.

3. What value do online survey tools hold for you as a student?

Faster. Online surveys take, on average, two-thirds less time to finish than traditional research methods. You don’t have to wait for paper questionnaires to be returned because the information is being collected automatically; rather, responses are given almost instantly.

4. What function do modern online survey tools serve?

Time reduction. Online surveys save a significant amount of time and effort because they make it much simpler than using conventional methods to create, manage, gather, and analyze feedback through an integrated web system.

Explore Voxco Survey Software

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+ Omnichannel Survey Software 

+ Online Survey Software 

+ CATI Survey Software 

+ IVR Survey Software 

+ Market Research Tool

+ Customer Experience Tool 

+ Product Experience Software 

+ Enterprise Survey Software 

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