We often get the question: “Which survey software do you recommend?” and after a number of years and programming with every conceivable survey software package since the dawn of online survey research, my response now has slowly evolved into: “Whatever software you can afford and works for you.”
Should you have software that performs Advanced Choice Based Conjoint Analysis, Maximum Difference Scaling and also offers little smiley faces that reflect respondent’s grumpiness towards your fish sticks packaging options? Well sure, if you do enough research with your company that you need that sort of thing and can afford it. The reality is most organizations need more informed and capable marketing and insights people rather than expensive software.
Collecting targeted, quantifiable results is the new expectation of skill sets for those trying to help inform an organization of where they are at and where they should go. We talk to a great deal of people using free tools to collect information but when you ask them how many financial decisions are made based on their research, the answer 95% of the time is NONE.
So, you have the software, you have some questions or maybe some objectives, and you also have a boss asking you about your brand reputation yet, they allow little to no budget for research because they think you have all the tools you need. It’s time to take the plunge and learn about how many responses you need to have predictive results that you can be confident enough in to invest your company’s money into. Maybe you can turn that boss’s digital frowny face upside-down when it’s time for your next performance review.
You are either confident enough in your survey results to make real business decisions, or you’re just playing with software. At the very worst, presenting those results only adds to the misinformed opinion that market research and statistics are a sham. When you look beyond the software and start focusing on the process and your knowledge of it you make yourself more valuable to your organization and the modern marketing industry.
Hopefully, we can get you at least part of the way there with the information on our blogs, but pick up the phone and give us a call. We’re actually pretty friendly and can help with some direction or suggestions based on any stage you are at with your research.
-Nate Laban
