Customers are tough cookies. They’re extremely media aware and increasingly cynical - it’s a clever marketeer who can get under their skin. Online surveys reinvent the traditional format and offer a unique way of interaction - all the benefits of the internet without the programming.

Here are ten reasons why they may be the silver bullet marketeers’ need, complete with examples supplied by Martin Day, managing director of Survey Galaxy - one of a new breed of websites making online surveys quicker and cheaper

1. It’s cheap as buttons

Select the right survey website and creating surveys can be free of any charge and the cost to publish is minimal. Useful information harvested from surveys can be reused and repackaged in other marketing and PR for use in press outlets making it a very efficient form of information gathering.

2. It’s easy peasy

Anyone can develop an online survey. Survey sites allow people who are interested in the benefits of surveys, rather than technicalities, to side-step the required programming skills and create relevant up-to-the-minute surveys, instantly - surveys that are even easier to complete than they are to make.

3. Anyone can play

Once the survey is online it’s a simple step to promote it, either through email (with a link enclosed), via a link from a website or referenced by other forms of advertising. Anyone who has the link can be connected instantly to the survey, at a time that’s convenient to them, 24×7.

4. We’ve all got an opinion - and we like to give it

Customers like surveys - they’re not seen as spam, but as an empowering opportunity to make their voice heard and a chance to have an impact on a brand. They can be particularly good for broaching sensitive subjects with concerned employees; a survey asking a workforce on their opinion of change allows the key issues to be raised in a positive way and encourages employee participation. Online surveys allow the message to reach each individual and invite feedback in a manageable form.

5. Get inside their heads

You can lead a customer to an advertisement but you can’t make them think. Surveys actively engage the respondents, who think about the question before giving their response.

6. Beautiful relationships start here

It needn’t all end at the end of the survey - while you have their attention and are in the mood you can ask if they want to sign up for more information or a regular newsletter - making the most of the window when you have their interest.

7. If you like this, you’ll love…

Perhaps one of the strongest elements in a survey is the ability to make inspired or useful connections instantly to other areas. By including links within the survey to websites that offer detailed information you are able to reinforce the marketing message.

8. Subtly does it

Surveys can be used to associate a product with positive attributes. By listing the many features of a product and asking the respondent how important they are, regardless of their response, the product will be associated with the features; if they are rated as important the positive impact is endorsed by the customer.

9. It’s not just about selling

A survey is an effective, quick and easy method to promote and gain acceptance for a difficult proposal; maybe a public body trying to gain acceptance and support for a particular scheme. Take the example of a city trying to gain support from the general public for their bid to host a future Olympic Games. A survey can explain each benefit putting the respondent in a much better position to appreciate what the real advantages are that might just combat any negative headlines. As well as promoting the cause, useful feedback is gained that can be used to fine tune the overall marketing strategy.

10. Fresh topics engage interest

Thinking laterally a lively and imaginative approach to surveys can provide the ‘hook’ to engage respondents. The survey subject can be focused towards a particular group on a subject close to theirs hearts. The survey’s marketing message can take the form of a simple brand awareness message by stating that ‘this survey was sponsored by brand name’, or by finding a link from the subject matter to the product - something that is surprisingly easy and highly effective. Discover the benefits of including in your website a Public Survey section as many people who enjoy completing crosswords and doing word puzzles enjoy completing surveys. Having a public survey notice board as part of a website is a low cost and automated method that helps to increase traffic and establish a loyal and returning following. Unlike discussion boards there is no opportunity for people to disrupt the site by inappropriate remarks as the survey results are displayed in summary form enabling them to dispense with moderators free and maintenance.

Many of the techniques and a few more to boot are contained in the following sample survey:-

http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=956

For an example of a Public Survey area please click on the following link:-

http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublic.asp

The twentieth century saw a great deal of innovation and invention in the field of marketing but the most recent and significant spike on the radar has been the emergence of the internet. Now almost thirty years old in terms of casual consumer use, the internet has reached out and touched people all over the globe, and when it comes to marketing, the process of gathering data to find out what people are interested in buying and why, will never be the same.The internet added a new element of immediacy to market research. Suddenly, companies no longer had to send out review cards and wait with bated breath until the return of perhaps a quarter of the cards they sent out, if they were lucky. With the presence of the internet, feedback was amazingly quick and moreover, more honest than it had ever been given the anonymity of the medium. Suddenly, they could go to sites like Amazon and check consumer reviews and they could Google their own product names in order to get an idea about what was being said.

This veritable rush of information was addictive and at its first emergence, there was some contention among researchers as to whether or not to take it seriously. The people using the Internet, no matter how numerous, still represented a fairly small group of people. With the fact that even almost thirty years after the inception of this tool that more and more people are signing on every year, this demographic is one that everyone realized could not be ignored.

Early adapters started sending out surveys online and collecting information in this way. At this point, there was an issue with the immediacy of the medium; many of the responses that the researchers were trash, but more importantly, there was a great deal in terms of volume. A firm that might receive no more than twenty responses from a batch of 100 cards sent out could expect to receive hundreds of responses to a survey posted in the right place. In this way, market research took a whole new turn as the industry re-oriented itself to account for the internet.

The use of the internet also made responses highly personalized, both in terms of sending and receiving. People writing surveys could do a great deal to make them more personalized and given the ability to target specific demographics on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, this became quite an important tool indeed. Furthermore, the use of the internet dramatically reduced the operating costs of running marketing surveys and studies. Instead of paying for postage or the space to conduct focus group work, the researchers can now fire off a survey that costs a fraction of what was spent previously, if it cost anything at all.

Marketing research is and will always be an important factor in any business decision that is made and that will affect the customers, so make sure when doing your market research take every venue into account.