Nowadays, online surveys are the most common method for studying the target audience and gathering customer feedback. However, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of online surveys is essential if you want to learn how to create a survey in an efficient manner via the Internet.
Benefits and additional characteristics
Visual designers are used to create electronic questionnaires, so you don’t need to be familiar with programming languages. A logo and other elements from the brand book can be added to the questionnaire, which can be designed in the brand’s corporate style. Numerous advantages are offered to researchers by using a survey maker tool:
- distribution and production facilitation;
- low research costs;
- coverage of a large audience;
- automated data evaluation.
The researcher can distribute questionnaires through a variety of methods. The link to the questionnaire can be distributed via social media, e-mail, instant messaging, or SMS. The questionnaire can be displayed in a pop-up window or a push notification, and it can be easily embedded on a page of a website or mobile application. You can use the QR code you created for the questionnaire in printed materials.
Disadvantages of conducting a survey online
Naturally, it is impossible to confirm with certainty who exactly answers the questionnaire via the Internet. Nevertheless, it is possible to include a number of questions in the questionnaire that will assist in controlling the respondent’s identity indirectly. The following are the main drawbacks of online surveys:
- the inability to confirm the respondent’s identity;
- absence of communication with the interviewer during the questionnaire completion;
- absence of participation in the survey.
The respondent cannot ask the interviewer to clarify unclear language when filling out the online questionnaire. As a result, the language used in the questions should be straightforward and easy to comprehend. They should be formulated as clearly as possible.
