Online surveys have become a cornerstone of market research, offering businesses valuable insights and data-driven decisions with unprecedented ease.
Yet, despite their widespread use, many organizations still grapple with questions about how to effectively implement and leverage online surveys.
As a leading online survey company, we frequently receive questions about the process, implementation, and utilization of this type of market research.
To assist those in the same boat, Drive Research addresses the most frequently asked questions about online surveys below.
Methodology and Approach
1. How do you design surveys to ensure they are comprehensive and unbiased?
It’s part art and part science. We ensure all primary and secondary objectives are covered through both your unique needs and our recommendations. The art of the survey flow and making it engaging is important to us for the respondent experience. Then, it’s worded in a way that generates the insights we need objectively – no double-barreled questions, no leading questions, etc. Here’s more on the science of writing a survey.
2. What is your process for selecting a representative sample of respondents?
First, we pull the profile of the target audience through our panels. For example, this could include U.S. business owners, CEOs, CFOs, risk managers (C-suite level) in construction, manufacturing, auto dealers, distributors, transportation (i.e., trucking), and retail/wholesale. Respondent outreach is completed randomly, and panel samples create a strong mix. We set up and monitor quotas throughout the study to ensure we have a mix of industries, organization sizes, and other core criteria. Here’s more on research panels.
3. How do you develop and test the questionnaire for clarity and effectiveness?
We do this in multiple ways. We allow your team to review it and sign off. In addition to this, we have a team of internal testers, many with 10+ years in the market research industry, reviewing and testing the survey for comprehension and accuracy. Finally, we run a soft launch to 5 to 10% of the sample and review those cases carefully before opening the sample more broadly.
Project Scope and Management
4. What is your proposed timeline for the survey from start to finish?
A comprehensive market research process takes 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the sample size (i.e., n200, n400, n1000). We are flexible if your team needs more time to review documents and deliverables.
5. What are the key milestones and deliverables throughout the project?
The critical phases of the process are kickoff, survey design, programming and soft launch, full launch, portal delivery, and a final report with debrief/Q&A. Your team's heaviest lift/time will be bookended (i.e., kickoff, survey review, and report review). Here’s more on the market research process.
6. How do you manage projects to ensure they stay on track and within budget?
We develop a workplan within 24 hours of the kickoff that outlines critical tasks, due dates, and responsible parties. This is updated and communicated (with any changes) throughout. Pending changes in scope (i.e., survey length is extended, the audience becomes more niche than proposed) budgets stay on track. Potential scope changes will be identified promptly for the team to discuss. Here’s more on workplans.
Data Quality and Integrity
7. What methods do you use to collect data (e.g., online surveys, phone interviews)?
We utilize all methodologies across our nearly 200 projects completed annually – email/online, phone, mail, intercepts, etc.) This study will use a mixed mode of online surveys using our panels and phone outreach to help balance the sample as needed.
8. What measures do you have in place to ensure data accuracy and reliability?
We have a zero-tolerance policy for poor responses and replace all of them at no cost. We hold panels accountable, which is a critical layer our clients benefit from. Our data quality process is considered industry-leading. Every response we collect will pass all these checks, ensuring high confidence in the data we report. Here’s more on quality control and fraud prevention.
Our marketing team has engaged with writers from the NY Times to learn what they prioritize when incorporating data into their articles. Unsurprisingly, data quality emerged as a crucial factor. Utilizing a third party to conduct the study and being able to cite this independent source significantly enhances the chances of your data being featured as it enhances the credibility, perceived impartiality, and overall acceptance of the findings.
9. How do you screen respondents to ensure they fit the target criteria?
We consider multiple layers when addressing screener questions. For example, we wouldn’t ask, “Do you work as an Owner/C-level?” Instead of this approach, we would use a list to hide qualifying intentions, confirm profiling information to ensure no job changes, add terminology checks to ensure responsibility and knowledge matches, etc. All those that do not pass are disqualified.
10. What proactive measures do you take to address and prevent fraudulent responses?
These include the pre-survey screeners above, in-survey checks like red herrings, review of open-ends including AI response checks, and post-survey checks like IP addresses, time to complete, etc. Here’s more on quality control and fraud prevention.
11. How do you ensure the security and confidentiality of the data collected?
All data is stored in our SOC 2 platform with MFA, and PII is not collected in the outreach to further limit the impact. All communication and docs are shared through encrypted email. Online reports/data portals are passcode-protected. Deliverables are shared securely with your team. Data is removed after 90 days unless otherwise directed.
Analytical Capabilities
12. What tools and techniques do you use for data analysis?
We write objective-based insights and findings. For content reports, we design questions and conclusions with headlines in mind. The analysis includes a full question-by-question review and an outline of critical themes and headlines in an executive summary. We also review all crosstabulations of results by key segments to understand significant differences and potential sub-headlines that pop through segments (which helps hedge our collective bets with the investment to find headlines regardless of how the data shakes out). Depending on the study and the objectives, we review all metrics and analytical approaches from NPS, CES, correlation, regression, MaxDiff, etc.
13. How do you transform raw data into actionable insights?
Our research team uses the what, so what, now what approach for every data point. The what may be 68% of businesses feel the top financial risk in 2024 is geopolitical tensions. The so what would explore how that differs by industry, organization size, revenue, role/title, etc., and what can we learn from that through context and our interpretations? Lastly, the now what is how can we take that insight and frame a digestible headline and clear takeaway that can be leveraged in the report to inform the reader and promote the client as a thought leader.
14. What kind of reports and visualizations do you provide?
Please review these types of reports (influencers report, coffee report, grocery shopping report) for how we help visualize the data. This level of report is available for +$7,500 in our proposal which can be used directly for gated content. The standard report deliverable included in your base package is a PowerPoint presentation-style report (here is an example). Our team always stays ahead of trends and displays infographic-like visualizations in a presentation-style PowerPoint report. We also include online portals as part of the deliverable package with word clouds for open-ended questions, and sentiment analysis for coding. Our proposal highlights add-ons such as infographics, video infographics, and more.
Communication and Collaboration
15. Who will be working on our project, and what are their roles and qualifications?
Your project lead will be Chris Coville, Director of Research at Drive Research (our highest-ranking and top researcher managing his team). Chris has 15 years of experience working on custom-market research projects and has completed over 30 financial services and insurance projects. He is a research and tech guru. In addition to Chris as the lead, Emily Rodgers (our Sr. Marketing Manager) will co-lead the study for the marketing/content angle with her team. Emily manages our marketing division and is the driving force behind our content. Emily and her team’s work has pushed our domain rating to 72 in 8 years since our 2016 launch, and we now generate over 2,700 contacts per year through direct requests for projects and content downloads. They will be supported by various team members behind the scenes at Drive Research for different parts of the process, many with a decade+ in the field.
16. How will you communicate progress and findings throughout the project?
One common word among our clients in our post-project satisfaction surveys is responsiveness. It is also 1 of our 4 core values (i.e., responsiveness, drive, perception, and growth). Our team answers questions before you ask, and the workplan guides the project's progress. You will hear from our team often in the kickoff and design phase, receive weekly updates during fieldwork, and have live access to portals to check status and receive updates as reporting progresses, followed by the debrief. Our team is also available post-project for any questions or data runs in the future. All team members are available by email, phone, and text for immediate needs.
17. How do you plan to work with our team to ensure alignment and collaboration?
We ask that a primary stakeholder/project manager be assigned to your team to corral the right attendees at the kickoff, debrief, and review the survey document for sign-off. Typically, the project teams we work with are 1-4 people. If more people need visibility, it often works best for them to review the survey draft and report offline and funnel their comments or questions through the client point person. This ensures everyone has a channel to offer input without slowing down the project timeline or creating mixed feedback across too many client team members.
Deliverables
18. What are the specific research deliverables (e.g., reports, data sets, presentations)?
Included deliverables include a complete CSV/SPSS data set with all responses, online portals (see example) of aggregate results, and all critical segments (see example). These are passcode-protected and live 24/7. Your final deliverable will be a PowerPoint presentation with data visualizations, themes/headlines, and critical findings answering your objectives (see example). Other optional deliverables include an infographic (see example), video infographic (see example), banner file (see example), etc., which can be added at a modest cost as well as the polished graphical design report at +$7,500 (see example).
Next Steps and Recommendations
19. What are your recommendations for implementing the survey findings?
Repurposing is critical. As with any marketing, success cannot be guaranteed from any specific channel. However, repurposing the results across many channels creates a more significant impact and brand attention to position Sentry as a thought leader. It is like the cliché that people must see/hear something 6-7 times before remembering. The more places you share, the better the return. There are ways to right-size the results for many channels and platforms, including reports for downloads, leads, SEO, webinars, blogs, sales copy, website copy, social shares, conferences, etc. We can offer guidance here and even join a webinar or co-present with you at a conference as an example.
20. What kind of follow-up support do you offer after the survey is completed?
In addition to the press release, social snippets, and limited marketing services, your dedicated research team can be used as a resource to bounce ideas off of, confirm statistics, make suggestions, and offer guidance after completing our 6 to 8 week research timeline. We aim to knock this pilot study out of the park with you and complete a Year 2 study, which can add a layer of benchmarking for comparison to level up the results and compelling findings even more.
21. Are there opportunities for future collaboration, and what might those look like?
As mentioned above, our team is available after project completion for any questions, suggestions, advice, etc. We can manage any requests related to the insights and data found in our report in interest of a long-term partnership. Heavier lifts that require a significant amount of time (a day+ of hours) like co-pitching the results at a webinar, attending and presenting the insights at a conference, would be negotiated as a separate SOW.
Contact Our Market Research Company
Creating an online survey is easily done when you’re partners with the proper team. Our researchers will work with you to create a unique survey based on your needs, yielding actionable data and insights.
Interested in learning more about our market research services? Reach out through any of the four ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
George Kuhn
George is the Owner & President of Drive Research. He has consulted for hundreds of regional, national, and global organizations over the past 15 years. He is a CX-certified VoC professional with a focus on innovation and new product management.
Learn more about George, here.
