Video Content in Surveys

Many businesses are turning to online video to make their surveys more interactive. Video is engaging, and companies see this as a great way to add potential information, showcase product designs and features, and find additional ways to improve response rate during surveys.

But while introducing video is an interesting addition, and does have some use – especially for those that believe video is the best way to show how a new product works or what a new feature is. But this introduces several potential problems for your survey. These include: Internet Connectivity Issues Videos can take a long time to load, and not all computers have the software to handle both the video and its format.

Even modern computers can run into Internet connectivity problems that cause the video to slow down or freeze, and that all results in an increase in lag time that may prevent your respondents from wanting to fill out their survey, or being able to at all. Lots to Remember Far too many videos require a lot of thought on the part of the survey respondent, taking in all of the information, essentially memorizing it, and then using it to answer subsequent questions. If the video is too long or the person is too distracted, then the likelihood they will remember all of that information is slim.

Even if they do watch the video there is no guarantee they will understand it, and if English is not the user’s first language, it becomes even more difficult to ensure that they are responding to the video correctly. Survey Length Often the video adds an unnecessary amount of length to the survey that makes it far longer than it was initially. A 5 minute video, for example, is going to add at minimum five minutes to the survey, and more if they need to watch the video again in order to answer the questions.

It is possible to embed video into a survey, but before you do you need to make sure that it is the best choice for your company. Short videos are better than long videos, but even short videos can have potential problems with bandwidth and software that affect the respondent’s ability to complete all of the questions. Use video sparingly, and if you do choose to use it, make sure that you are ready for any consequences to your response rate.