Privacy-First Survey Methods

To generate effective survey research results, it’s important to try to get as much data about your sample as possible. The more data you get, the more conclusions you can draw – and possibly the more relationships you can find.

However, from a moral/ethical standpoint, you need to do your best to avoid invading your customer’s privacy. For many businesses there is a gray area about what is considered private and what is considered useful information, and it’s important not to take your data too far over the line. If you do, you may be crossing a moral line with your data, and possibly alienating customers as well.

Microsoft released an article about the seven ways to survey customers without invading their privacy. Their advice is provided below.

Decide What You Need to Know Microsoft recommends that you always decide what you really need to know beforehand – even before you craft your survey. The idea is that you will avoid temptation to ask questions that may be regarded as too personal. Mirror Your Research After Your Customer Service Your customer survey is an extension of your business.

As such, you should ask yourself – if you wouldn’t talk to a customer about these topics during a customer service experience, are they questions you want to ask in a survey? Survey Your Customers for Survey Input Your customers will be able to tell you when questions are too personal in nature, and if they are comfortable asking them. You can always ask your customers to approve of survey questions before putting them out there as a study.

Clarify Information Use You should also make sure that the customer understands what the information is used for. The customer may be more willing to supply information or answer a question when they know you are not going to sell the data or use it to take advantage of them. If you do plan on selling it, make sure they know that and give them the option not to answer the question or take the survey.

Consider Offering Alternative Survey Methods While online surveys are more cost effective, and more likely to generate usable information, providing alternative options to customers that may not be comfortable filling out an online form may be a useful strategy. Similarly, offering online or paper options to you phone survey respondents may also be a worthwhile technique. Make it Worth Their While Ideally, your survey should have incentives for filling it out.

The better these incentives, the more willing a customer will be to provide you with something that may generally be considered more personal information. Keep Data Locked Up or Deleted The safer you keep your data, the better it is for your customer’s privacy. Always make sure as few people can access the data as possible, keeping it in a place that can’t be seen by unauthorized eyes, and if you’re ever done with the data, delete it or find a way to permanently lock it away.

You have an obligation to your customers to avoid invading their privacy, for moral, legal, and even business reasons. Your research may need to learn personal information from your customers, but always make sure to do whatever it takes to keep your customer’s privacy intact. Related blogs Facts-from-bad-surveys. Good and bad survey research.