To blind or not to blind? That is the question. Fortunately for you, we'll provide the answer in this article. As a market research company in Buffalo, we are asked this question quite a bit from our clients and partners across the country. Several pros and cons exist as you determine whether or not to reveal the sponsor of the survey.
First off.
What is Blinding a Survey?
Blinding a survey is the practice of hiding the true sponsor of the market research. If your local Bank ABC wants to run an image and awareness survey, blinding the survey would not unveil the fact that Bank ABC is paying for or sponsoring the market research. The respondent would be unaware of which bank or credit union was conducting the market research in Buffalo.
Learn more about blinding or revealking the sponsor of your survey here from our market research company in Buffalo NY.
To Blind or Reveal the Survey Sponsor?
The strongest benefit of blinding your survey is the elimination of sponsor bias. If you showcase the sponsor of your survey, respondents will likely have feelings or emotions associated with the brand before they even begin the survey itself. This is what is often called the "Halo Effect".
The Halo Effect takes place when someone has preconceived positive or negative associations with a brand or company. So if the respondent loves the brand they are likely to respond more positively to the survey regardless of the question(s).
For example, let's say the sponsor of a taste test survey is revealed as Coca-Cola. So if the respondent is lifelong loyal Coke drinker they will be more likely to participate in the taste test, they will rate Coke higher regardless of whether they liked the taste of Pepsi, and they will be more likely to state they will purchase Coke. However, if the sponsor was hidden, the results may have been much different.
If you blind the survey it eliminates this bias and will likely give you more accurate and reflective results. Without knowing the sponsor, the respondent will not have any preconceived bias before or while asking the questions.
Blinding the survey is an absolute must-do for any type of customer and non-customer combination survey such as image and awareness, awareness and usage, perception survey, or brand equity survey. If you are conducting a survey to test the awareness of Bank ABC, it would not make sense to advertise Bank ABC as the sponsor of the market research in the advertisement or survey invite.
The largest benefit of revealing the sponsor of the market research survey is participation rate. This is particularly true for any customer survey your organization is conducting. Revealing the sponsor and how you obtained their contact information is crucial (name, email, mailing address, etc.)
The Verdict
This truly depends on the type of study you are conducting and your objectives. If you are testing image and awareness of your company among potential non-customers you should always blind the sponsor to obtain true results. If you are conducting any type of customer survey where you are inviting customers to participate, reveal your organization as the sponsor.
Still unsure about which path to use? Contact our market research company below.
Contact Our Market Research Company in Buffalo
Drive Research is a market research company in Buffalo, NY serving all of Upstate New York. We also work with clients in a variety of industries across the country.
Questions about how to launch a new online survey, phone survey, or intercept survey? Contact us at 315-303-2040 or send us an email at [email protected].