Over the past decade or so marketing surveys have greatly expanded their reach by tapping online consumers. Now, though, the ever-growing number of these requests has caused a backlash. Simply put: people are getting tired of being queried by every service provider, not to mention unfamiliar companies, as they navigate online. "Instead of one request, people are getting 20 to 30 requests to fill out surveys," says Pamela Kennett-Hensel, a marketing professor at the University of New Orleans Kennett-Hensel said. "Obviously, that has negatively impacted the response rate to online surveys. People kind of pick and choose." (via New Orleans City Business).
To get the data, she said, "you do have to find creative and new ways to find respondents." Some suggestions based on new research and best practices by other firms include:
Keep it somewhat seedy looking.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say the appearance of website has a big impact on how honestly - or if at all - people answer personal questions. What is surprising is that the researchers found that people are more inclined to answer questions on less-than-reputable looking sites. (via Technology Review). The researchers, who are publishing their results in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, asked volunteers an identical personal questions on three different-looking websites: one with an official-looking logo and staid colors; the second was neutral; the third used lurid colors and a cartoon-like devil icon.
The questions were personal including "Have you ever cheated while in a relationship?" and "Have you ever driven when you were pretty sure you were over the legal blood alcohol level?" The researchers found that people were nearly twice as likely to admit to having engaged in "illicit" or "socially questionable" activities on the least reputable-looking site, Technnology Review said. Perhaps more interesting, about a third of all participants gave up their e-mail addresses, about half of which were easy to trace back to the person's real identity. The researchers concluded that the volunteers may have thought the least official-looking website would also be least likely to store or use their answers.
Phrase it delicately.
The Carnegie Mellon researchers also looked at the phrasing of questions and how that impacted the information people divulge. Most, for instance, did not answer a question that asked point blank if they had ever gone on a date just to make someone jealous. However when the same question was rephrased: "If you have ever gone on a date just to make someone jealous, how unethical do you think it was?" more answered.
Reward participants accordingly.
New Orleans-based market research firm, Jackson Square, reaches consumers by posting links to such virtual games as FarmVille. Players are directed to take a survey in exchange for the virtual currency used in the game, New Orleans City Business, also reports. They answer a few questions about ethnicity and ZIP code and then are redirected to a survey targeted to their demographic.
Get respondents to talk about themselves.
As Kennett-Hensel noted, consumers are getting bombarded with requests for their opinion on products or services online. One subject most consumers rarely tire of discussing, though, is themselves. A consumer might not want to bother answering a questionnaire about what type of coverage she would like to see in her local paper. But she would take a quick "personality quiz" that would accomplish the same goal for the newspaper. The Los Angeles Times features such quizzes for readers on its Web site, according to the New York Times. These ask such questions as "What does success mean to you?" with the answer being a selection of 12 photo from which to choose. A few options include a wedding, a sports car or a man embracing a peasant child. At the end, readers are assigned a personality type. They then receive a customized news feed based on the test.
