Poll Software Thurstone scale

Survey Features

An Ultimate Guide To Online Poll

Get your current survey solution evaluated by our experts.

Polls are unquestionably one of the most popular ways to measure public opinion on a certain issue. With each poll, you must include a brief introduction, and description of yourself as well as the goal of the poll.

Here we’ll discuss the types of polls and the uses of poll software to better understand the choices of your customers. Let’s get started.

What is a poll?

Polls are surveys or types of inquiries that are done in a scientific and fair manner to gauge public opinion on a certain subject or set of problems.

A typical technique would involve an interviewer or pollster asking questions to a group of randomly selected people representing a certain community. Participants’ responses are gathered and manually interpreted using various data analysis approaches and statistical algorithms.

Because current polling techniques are significantly simpler and more precise (with a margin of error of roughly 3%), they are generally recognized and employed to conduct surveys.

Example of poll

Poll Software Thurstone scale

Uses of poll software

A poll can be created easily using poll software. Sensing the increasing need for a comprehensive poll creator, numerous online survey tool providers and new businesses have started offering online software to produce a free poll. 

Creating a poll is simple, quick, and efficient using online software. Such tools have several benefits and use. Let us now explore them.

1. Easy and quicker feedback

Online polls are a great tool for getting instant input from your audience. When you do this, you demonstrate that you are aware of their presence and value their thoughts. 

With fast access to poll results, you can better understand the individuals you’re attempting to reach and act on their thoughts, preferences, and suggestions.

2. Incorporate all the viewpoints

There are times when you need to gather as much information as possible in order to make sound business judgments. 

For example, you could wish to conduct market research on new product lines to see how customers will receive them. You can conduct a poll to gather the required data. This way, you can spot trends, comprehend patterns, and forecast future behavior in lesser time.

3. Acquire consent, regardless of the place or issue

You can obtain feedback from your audience no matter where they are or what platform they choose. With poll software, you can obtain an insightful consensus on everything from the latest colorway for a product to community input in local political areas. 

You can embed and deliver polls across the world with robust online survey software and panel management software for optimum audience involvement.

Let’s check out the nine types of online polls.

Voxco helped Sienna College conduct 3Mn phone calls & 96 polls in 2 months.

What are the types of polls?

Before creating a poll, you must know the different types of polls for efficiency and better results. There are basically nine types of polls. Let’s have a look at these types.

  1. Benchmark Poll
  2. Tracking Poll
  3. Brushfire Poll
  4. Tracking Poll
  5. Straw Poll
  6. Entrance Poll
  7. Exit Poll
  8. Opinion Poll
  9. Deliberative Opinion Poll

Now, let us learn about them in specific.

1. Benchmark Poll

A benchmark poll is often the first survey conducted during a political campaign. It is sometimes taken before a nominee declares his or her candidacy for office, although it can also occur shortly after the announcement. This poll is often a quick and straightforward survey of potential voters.

2. Tracking Poll

A tracking poll taken at regular intervals with either the same set of questions or new questions averaged over a trailing time. If a tracking poll is done on a weekly basis, the data from the prior poll is utilized for each new poll after discarding the older data.

3. Brushfire Poll

Brushfire polls are those taken between the benchmark and tracking polls. The frequency of brushfire polls taken by a propaganda campaign is influenced by the competitiveness of the race and the amount of money available to the campaign. These surveys often target likely voters, and the duration of the survey is determined by the number of statements being tested.

4. Tracking Poll

A tracking poll is one that is repeated at regular intervals and averaged across a trailing timeframe. A periodic tracking poll only considers data from the previous week and discards earlier data. You can use poll software to schedule surveys. 

5. Straw Poll

A straw poll, sometimes known as a straw vote, is a poll with vaguely worded results. Straw polls facilitate communication among movements within huge groupings. 

Impromptu straw polls are frequently held in meetings according to rules in order to check if there is enough support for a proposal to devote more scheduled meetings to it and for participants to see who is on either side of a topic.

6. Entrance Poll

An entrance poll is a poll taken before voters cast their ballots. Typically, an entrance survey is conducted to ascertain voter attitudes toward voting and other related electoral problems. Because there is less chance of respondents shifting from their original view, the margin of error in an entrance survey is much lower than in an opinion poll.

7. Exit Poll

An exit poll, as opposed to an entrance poll, is immediately taken after the voter leaves the voting location. These polls are conducted in order to predict the winning candidate before the ballots are tabulated and the results are announced. 

However, exit polls have a higher margin of error since individuals are hesitant to disclose true information, and therefore more people may deceive pollsters by providing incorrect information.

8. Opinion Poll

This refers to the survey of public sentiment based on a specific sample. Opinion polls are often meant to depict the opinions of the public by asking a series of questions and then assuming broad generalizations from ratio or confidence interval responses.

9. Deliberative Opinion Poll

A deliberative opinion poll is a type of poll in which public opinion research is employed in a novel and productive way. The deliberative opinion survey results in an assumption of public opinion if they had the opportunity to collect additional knowledge and information about the problem.

Now that, you have learned the different types of polls. Let us explain why to conduct polls.

Use polls to gather targeted data & save time.

See how Voxco can help you design engaging polls & gather omnichannel feedback.

Why conduct polls?

Following are the reasons to better understand why a poll should be conducted:

1. Polls boost participation

Polls and discussions are excellent tools for increasing participation. They demand no effort from your audience, which increases the chance of a response. Answering a poll with a single click takes less than a second. This makes surveys appealing as well as effective.

2. Brand positioning and recognition

Polls have a special way of making people feel like they are a part of a business. Seeking client feedback not only demonstrates that communication is not a one-way route, but in addition, it demonstrates that you are listening. 

Disclosing poll results also allows the audience to see where they stand in comparison to common opinion. Use poll software to conduct interactive polls anytime across multiple channels. 

3. Polling can help you create leads

Polls allow the development of leads without making audiences apprehensive. A social poll’s engaging experience adds value to you as well as your audience. When you create value, individuals feel more at ease presenting ideas to you. In fact, using a lead form to provide facts or special offers can enhance the naturalness of an engagement.

In the next section, we’ll share some tips to improve your poll engagement.

Tips to improve poll engagement

Polls are more beneficial to you than they are to their intended recipients. Here are some pointers to help you engage your audience in your polls.

1. Consider your target market and their time

Don’t take up more time than required because your audience is taking time out of their day to provide you with essential information. Get to the point quickly and thank them for their time. You may also provide them an incentive for responding to the poll.

2. Request input to better grasp the context

While a score might help you understand your consumers and their intentions, context is equally important. Qualitative data, such as why they awarded you three stars out of five, might assist you in making improvements based on this context to enhance future ratings.

3. The margin of error

A reputable pollster or research organization must examine and report the possibility of inaccuracy in their survey before going public with the interpretation of poll findings. Poll software can help you determine the margin of error. 

4. Poll questions

Avoid asking emotionally charged, prejudiced, or ambiguous questions since they may mislead participants, reducing the accuracy of poll findings. 

Avoid biased poll questions as much as possible, such as “Do you intend to vote for Candidate ‘A’ over Candidate ‘B’?

These questions will not only increase skepticism about the poll, but the results will be erroneous as well.

Voxco powers 100Mn+ surveys annually & help 500 + brands to gather data and uncover insights. See what Voxco can do for you!

Conclusion

Online polls are a great tool for getting instant input from your audience or consumers. This conveys the sense that you are conscious of their presence and appreciate their ideas.

You can use any poll software such as Voxco, to customize your poll.

Related Features

Poll Software Thurstone scale

multiple-choice-question

Survey Features Multiple Choice Question Build high-performing surveys using multiple choice questions! Get a free evaluation Unlock your Sample Survey Get your current survey solution

Read More »
Poll Software Thurstone scale

Survey Sample Reports

Survey Features Survey Sample Reports Get a free evaluation Unlock your Sample Survey Get your current survey solution evaluated by our experts. Gathering data is

Read More »
Voxco is trusted by Top 50 Market Research firms, Global Brands & Universities in 40 countries. Voxco offers full omnichannel capability including CATI, Predictive Dialler, Online surveys, offline CAPI, and Panel Management.

Follow Voxco on