Phone Surveys vs. Online Surveys

In the last article, we took a look at the benefits and weaknesses of phone surveys. Today, we’ll compare them to online surveys. As you expect, many of the benefits of phone surveys are weaknesses of online surveys, and vice versa, however the benefits of online surveys tend to outweigh the weaknesses.

Ease of Deployment: Online surveys can be created and deployed in minutes if necessary. That means from birth to implementation, it is possible to run a survey that can help you make decisions in your company in less time than it takes to create a job ad for someone to run a phone survey. Cost: Online surveys cost a lot less.

Monthly subscriptions with SurveyMethods can often be cheaper than 1 or 2 hours of work from an interviewer, and do not place limitations on the number of surveys you can run at any given time. Responses: Not only are online surveys sent out immediately – you can also receive countless responses at once. That means that you can launch a survey and, in theory, have enough data in a short enough time to start making decisions in a matter of hours or days, depending on how big a sample and how excited they are to respond to the survey.

Most surveys are given two to three weeks, since not everyone checks their email immediately, but unlike phone surveys there is nothing stopping people from writing back right away. Customization: Surveys can be customized with your logo, information, etc. Not true of phone surveys, since they rely on voice.

You can also analyze data easier (in some cases live, online, like with SurveyMethods), receive email reminders depending on feedback, provide custom questions, and more.

Response Rate: People ignore emails. That’s why it’s not quite as simple as purchasing a bunch of emails and expecting a good response. It’s easier for people to click “delete” on an email than it is with a phone call, which is why online surveys tend to need a bit of priming, or a larger population from which to sample.

Dropout: It’s easier for respondents to drop out of an online survey compared to a phone survey. Now, online surveys have reminder features, so it’s possible to remind them to complete the survey as well, but the risk is there. Single Errors: Finally, a single error can affect everyone taking the survey, which is less true of phone surveys.

For example, if your interviewer forgets to ask a question to one respondent, they’ll likely remember with all others. But if you forget a question on a survey, no one taking the survey will fill it out.

Phone surveys have their place, especially with a population that doesn’t respond to emails or doesn’t have an email, and when you have an unlimited budget and the survey may be long and confusing. But online surveys are easier, more cost efficient, and generally more effective. They are a better choice for the vast majority of survey research.