Using An Online Survey to Penetrate Markets
By Tom Lueker

Books24x7, a provider of Web-based digital libraries for corporate enterprises, discovered the market was not immediately receptive to its new product, although the need for it was obvious. In fact, when it introduced its ITPro Referenceware collection in 1999, many prospects mistook the company's offering for another online bookstore, not a new content genre.

Corporate buyers also were reluctant to spend budgeted money on products or services that could not be tied directly to the company's survival and success. Books24x7 would have to demonstrate to the market how access to thousands of digital books could improve business and increase productivity and performance.

Books24x7 launched a pilot program that put ITPro into the hands of corporate users for a trial period. The company collected aggregated statistics across the corporate audience to see usage patterns – such as the frequency of use, the amount of time spent, number of pages accessed and dates and times of access. 

Analysis of this data revealed that employees were indeed relying on the service throughout the workday. While this information was highly valuable, the company also wanted to find out how employees were using ITPro and specifically how it helped them in their jobs. Books24x7 needed an efficient tool to create, deploy and manage surveys within the hundreds of companies and thousands of users involved in the pilot programs. 

Books24X7 had two options – it could design online survey software in-house or select one from the market at large.

“We're in the business of delivering digital content solutions to enterprises, not in the business of developing survey software,” says Elizabeth Morley, director of product management for Books24x7. The company adopted an online survey solution form WebSurveyor that gave it an opportunity to collect data from prospective clients' employees that spoke to the organization's bottom line and could convince decision-makers of the value delivered by ITPro.

Businesses are using online survey solutions offered by companies like Inquisite, Perseus, WebSurveyor and other vendors for a variety of marketing programs. Once a market beachhead is established, organizations can use the software to build recognition and expand client base. DigitalMailer, Inc., a leading provider of digital communications services for credit unions, started using online surveys for credit unions that had already installed its eStatement offering.

“The idea was to collect feedback from credit union members who were using eStatements and to raise the awareness of those who weren't,” says Greg Crandell, vice president of DigitalMailer. “While customers were filling out the online survey, they were directed to an information page where they could enroll in the program.”

In one case, the online survey software was used within a California credit union that was contemplating new services offered by DigitalMailer. “The credit union received 800 responses to the survey, showing that half of their members were not using e-statements,” says Crandell. “The online survey raised their awareness, resulting in about 20 percent of those not using the service enrolling.”

Guideposts, a leading publisher of inspirational books and magazines with a total circulation of more than 8 million, used an online survey to form a panel of readers. “We are getting a pretty high return rate,” says Jennifer Chenail, Senior Research Coordinator with Guideposts. The company is now building more online survey panels to market different publications.

From reader panels, the company moved to online contests that have become highly popular. For example, in a joint project with a major automotive advertiser, readers were asked to judge short stories submitted by other readers.

“We picked the top ten stories, posted them on our Web site and asked readers to vote for their favorite story using WebSurveyor,” says Chenail. “We got around 315,000 votes in two 10-day periods. Advertisers were blown away by that.”

Experience shows that online surveys are becoming an integral part of any successful customer interaction and marketing program. Here are the key elements of making them effective:

Decide which customer segment to study and why. Bombarding both existing customers and prospects with the same questions can create confusion and stunt the campaign. Also, such indiscriminate polling will make the analysis complicated and time-consuming.

Identify the target audience and solicit their participation. Quite often, an organization would capture customer data at points of sale or through other means. The information already collected can be used to pre-populate the online survey database. If not available, names and email addresses of potential respondents can be obtained through reputable third-party list vendors, such as Survey Sampling International.

Develop questions. A surveys goal is to obtain knowledge that is of interest both to the organization providing a business solution and its potential clientele. Online survey software, like WebSurveyor, make both the design and creation of online surveys a relatively easy task and relieve organizations of the onus of actually hosting the survey and creating databases to capture results. An effective survey should be concise – not more than 20 questions written in plain language. Each question should provide answers to what you need to know, not what would be nice to know.

Conduct a survey. Respondents receive a brief e-mail message with a link to the online survey Web site. Usually, a simple invitation to participate is incentive enough – respondents are often excited to be asked. However, there are other options to boost participation.

DigitalMailer encourages its clients to use a variety of channels and incentives to deliver online surveys and make them more efficient. “Survey invites can be delivered through web-page links and emails triggered by online transactions,” says Crandell. “Customers who provide their contact information are offered gift cards or opportunities to participate in drawings.”

E-mail is not the only way. Web site intercepts are becoming increasingly popular. A web surfer can be guided to a survey that pops up when certain pages are accessed or events occur.

The proliferation of wireless technologies and light portable computers creates other interesting options. While swiping a card at a kiosk, a customer can be asked to complete a brief online survey on a tablet PC. A whole family can answer questions on a small wireless device while studying a menu. Discounts could be offered on the spot or coupons printed. A receipt, a movie ticket, a plastic gift card – all can have an invitation to complete a survey and offer various incentives.

Analyze results. Responses can be analyzed as soon as they arrive. The marketing team can rapidly study respondents by age, gender, profession, point of residence, interests, needs and a variety of other factors that motivate their decisions. The final report not only provides management with actionable intelligence, it also becomes a powerful marketing tool.

For example, the reports generated by the Books24x7 online survey showed prospective clients that their employees indeed valued and needed the company's offerings. “We continue to get very tangible results through using WebSurveyor,” Morley noted.

Tom Lueker is chief marketing officer at WebSurveyor Corp., tlueker@websurveyor.com.