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What do Modern CATI Surveys offer in the Digital Era?

7 Benefits of CATI Surveys

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Research is becoming increasingly digital & new survey methodologies keep emerging to meet the demands of today’s always-connected culture.

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing or CATI Surveys, however, have been around for a while now and offer a unique blend of modern tech with the old-school personal touch. CATI can help you get unique insights into customer experience as well. 

Modern survey platforms offering CATI Survey Software take advantage of today’s enhanced connectivity solutions and allow researchers to reach a much wider demographic, which can include those

  • Who are in remote locations with poor Internet connectivity 
  • Who have not switched to laptops/smartphones 
  • Prefer phones 

In this blog, we’ll look into several CATI survey benefits and what do modern CATI survey platforms offer. 

What is the CATI survey?

A CATI survey refers to the method where you use a telephone with the assistance of computer technology to conduct surveys. Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview is a research method that has modernized the traditional telephone survey method. 

This is a type of quantitative survey method used in market research or polling where an interviewer reads a set of questions from the computer and records the respondent’s answer into the system. Choosing the right market research tools can greatly influence the efficiency and effectiveness of this method.

In platforms like Voxco, you can integrate CATI with IVR and dialers to enhance research productivity and efficiency by streamlining and automating dialing and data collection. 

How does CATI survey work?

The work of conducting a telephone survey using CATI survey software is simple, all your interviewer need is the platform and an internet connection. You can design your questionnaire along with survey logic to ensure a well-structured data collection. Then upload the contact information in the interface so the platform dials the numbers one after the other. 

All you have to do now is follow the script and record the answers on the system. The logic will help you use the responses and tailor the questions appropriately so you can eliminate irrelevant questions. 

A robust platform will help you manage the data with no coding needed and streamline the data collection. 

What does the CATI survey solution offer?

CATI surveys allow researchers to include a wide audience, as their target demographic simply needs to have access to a phone, be it mobile or landline.

Survey platforms offering CATI Surveys have evolved to take full advantage of today’s tech advancements, which include

1. The Cloud

Your personal photos, saved passwords, app purchase history – all of it can and is stored in the cloud, always accessible at a moment’s notice. Today’s survey software offers cloud-based dialers.

 

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That opens a whole new range of possibilities for researchers, with improvements in:

2. Flexibility

With a cloud-based dialer, Researchers can easily sync their data – making it simple to collaborate with teammates and work more efficiently.

Not to mention, your survey data going to the cloud makes it that much easier to analyze and derive insights from. CATI Survey platforms which are linked to the cloud definitely ease the data collection process, with the best ones even allowing researchers to track live results from the field.

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3. Security

Hosting data on your own premises can be exhausting and expensive and puts all your survey data at risk in the event of a disaster. Cloud-based CATI surveys eliminate this issue entirely with your data being stored in a co-located data center.

4. Value

Not having to host all your data by yourself is a sure shot way to cut down on operating costs over time.

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5. Scalability

One of the major benefits offered by cloud services is the ability to scale, and cloud-based CATI surveys are no different, allowing researchers to scale the scope of their surveys on the fly.

Why leverage CATI surveys?

CATI surveys are alternatives to pen-and-paper surveys and dated phone surveys in this digital age. The interviewer doesn’t have to worry about strenuous data entry and management which makes it easy for you to engage with respondents. 

Personal Surveys can get better data.

CATI surveys, at their core, are personal/human in nature, which can be an advantage. Every company is keen to focus on their customer experience, and CATI allows researchers to deliver the best Survey Experience to their respondents.

A personal touch can get better data as well as lead to building your brand, should the interviewer be skilled enough. 

Target a more varied audience

As the respondent simply needs to be able to operate a telephone, CATI allows researchers to target older demographics as well as those in remote locations without stable internet connectivity and syncs their data effectively over the cloud – enabling you to see the bigger picture, especially when managed using Multichannel survey software.

This also goes a long way in building your brand, as customers will no doubt appreciate your intent to get their opinion despite certain challenges. It also goes to show just how important fieldwork still is for generating robust survey data.

What are some CATI survey benefits?

Now that we have explored what telephony surveys are, how it works, and the software’s components, let’s dive into CATI survey benefits. 

1. Cost-effectiveness: 

When compared to face-to-face surveys or other traditional methods, CATI surveys are more cost-effective. You can conduct a phone survey remotely, thus saving travel expenses. 

Moreover, you can complete a survey in a matter of minutes, which means you can gather a huge amount of data. Lastly, it enables you to continuously call until you fulfill your target, which is unproductive and costly in online or face-to-face surveys. 

2. Data accuracy and quality assurance:

A CATI survey software includes check-ins and validation functionality. This alerts interviewers of errors in data entry and thus reduces illogical data and ensures higher accuracy. 

Additionally, the interview is recorded, and a supervisor can monitor it in real time, allowing you to observe any bias on the interviewer’s part or on the respondent’s part. 

3. Faster data collection:

You can contact a large number of respondents for quick data collection in a relatively short time. This means you can gather data proactively without needing to wait for the respondent to open their email and respond to you. 

4. Reach and accessibility:

During high crisis times, when you can’t reach the target audience on the field or when the internet connection is unstable, phone surveys are the most reliable option. 

5. Standard questionnaire and consistency:

CATI survey enables you to ensure that each of your interviewers is following a consistent set of questions. This minimizes bias and makes data collection more reliable. 

6. Privacy:

Talking over the phone often gives people a sense of privacy. This makes respondents more comfortable in sharing their personal opinion. The level of anonymity and privacy contributes to CATI survey benefits. 

7. Mixed modes: 

Modern CATI platforms, like Voxco, allows you to combine telephone survey capability with online surveys. This enables you to leverage the advantages of both research methods and thus enabling mixed-mode data collection. 

What are the limitations of the CATI survey?

With so many CATI survey benefits, there are also some limitations you must be aware of. 

1. Time constrained: 

While you can gather higher response rates, a telephone survey exceeding 10 minutes can negatively impact your research. A lengthy survey can lead the respondent to drop off in the middle of it. 

2. May intrude on customers:

A call made randomly may distract a respondent and interrupt their time. As a result, they may ignore the call or put it down before you are finished with the interview. 

3. Limited research topics:

For market research, you can use CATI surveys as a mode to run concept or ad testing or product review. It will take a long time for you to explain the concept, which will bore the respondent. While not everyone may be using your product. 

Conclusion

Choosing the right survey platform isn’t easy, and choosing how to survey your respondents is harder still. Comprehensive survey platforms allow for mixed-mode surveys, but this makes it important to pair survey methodologies that can fill each other’s blind spots – CATI surveys are especially good at this bit, filling a gap in data collection that would otherwise negatively affect the quality of your data.

Voxco is trusted by Global brands across 40+ countries for their customer experience programs. Our CATI survey solutions can empower you to meet your research goals.

FAQ

  1. What does CATI enable you to do?

CATI empowers you to conduct surveys and collect data via phone calls. It uses computer software integrated with a phone to run surveys and for data entry and management. 

  1. What are the advantages of using computer-assisted telephone interviews?

Here are the advantages of using computer-assisted telephone interviews: 

  • Computerized scripts for standardized surveys and consistent data collection. 
  • Improved accuracy and reduced data entry errors. 
  • Automated skip patterns for tailored questions. 
  • Real-time monitoring of interviewers’ performance. 
  1. What is the difference between CATI and CAPI?

CATI is conducted using telephones assisted with computer programs. CAPI or Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing, refers to the face-to-face survey using mobile devices. 

  1. What are the disadvantages of CATI?

Here are some potential cons of CATI: 

  • Data collection is limited to respondents with telephone access. 
  • Lack of visual aid for surveys like concept or ad testing. 
  • Intervening respondent’s personal life.Â