Results

In recent years, businesses have looked to the internet for market research outlets. Online polling has become a regular way for businesses to get to know their customers. It offers more advantages for companies than using the telephone to research their consumer base. It is easy and not expensive to have people answer a lot of questions. Plus, there are other benefits for both the market research firm and people who are polled.

Research firms who conduct online polling actually reward volunteer participants with gifts, certificates, or cash. This is less expensive for the company asking its survey to be filled out because it doesn’t need to hire people to take the survey. There are some benefits for the person who is polled as well. People have the freedom to choose when to take the survey and how much time to spend on it. They are also more likely to give more thoughtful answers because the questions are not coming from another person who wants an answer as quickly as possible. It also gives the illusion of anonymity, which encourages participants to give honest answers. Web sites can also ask people what they think of other things, such as a new campaign ad.

A couple of popular research agencies are Harris Interactive and YouGov. According to their website web site, Harris Interactive believes that ” market research helps our clients understand the drivers of decision making and can strengthen enterprise equity.” Harris Interactive uses online polling to understand why customers make the decisions they do and how businesses can influence those decisions. With the data they collect from consumer polling, they can provide clients with a strategy to improve their performance with customers.

One of the main criticisms of online polling is that the results rarely represent the larger population. Any website attracts a microcosm, not a fully diverse segment of the population. For example, a poll appearing on Techcrunch would provide data about a tech-savvy, gadget crazed crowd while one on People.com would more likely measure the opinions of those interested in fashion and celebrity culture.

Sometimes though, the results are not only misrepresentative but also inaccurate according to a recent Business Week article. However, market researchers say that representing the larger population doesn’t always need to happen because a company can just look for a target audience instead. “We rarely need to do totally representative surveys,” BBH’s Benjamin Malbon told BusinessWeek. “We always have a target audience in mind, like 19 to 25 year-old boys, or housewives, or people who like tennis.”

According to PollingReport.com, three major disadvantages of online polling are that traditional telephone polls are scientific and theoretical, the online publication does not represent everyone in the online poll, and online surveys that are based on non-probability samples haven’t made themselves a reliable source yet. Reliability is very much a liability when it comes to online polling. Firms say that they use random sampling in hopes of correcting the fact that they interview people from a certain demographic that don’t necessarily speak for all people in that particular group. They select a subset they believe best matches the overall population they wish to assess in a given survey, or they weight the results by counting the opinions of underrepresented groups multiple times, says Business Week.

Even with the pros and cons, use and availability of online surveys will become more standard and become more reliable with the passage of time.  Clients demand it and people like the idea of being represented and getting monetary benefits from volunteering to give their opinions.

Monday, June 23rd, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Chris White