Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Your Surveys

There are several things you need to run a survey. The first, of course, is software. Without some type of program to run your online survey there's no way to collect data.

You also need a sample and survey questions. All of these are necessary parts of building a survey. You also need someone to run your survey.

Most companies have someone run the survey in-house, but some companies prefer to out source their survey work to a company with experience in managing surveys. In this article, we discuss the pros and cons of outsourcing your survey to a trained company.

Professional Management – Obviously the clearest benefit is that you have a professional company to manage your survey. Assuming you choose the right company, your survey will be run by those that understand survey best practices, collecting and managing data, and so on. Time Management – Surveys also need a great deal of attention, no matter how easy they are to create in our survey software .

Outsourcing your survey saves a lot of time, so you don't have to dedicate an employee to the project. Multiple Employees – It's also not always a great idea to have only one employee dedicated to survey research. Outsourcing ensures that multiple employees are involved.

Keeping Data In-house – When you outsource, you're not in control of the project. While you can trust many companies to collect data correctly, you can't control any problems or adjust for them. Cost – Survey outsourcing can be much more costly than completing the survey on your own.

Now, when you account for the investment you make in a dedicated employee the cost is much less, but there is still a cost. Changing Companies – If you are a big fan of your survey company it may not be important, but if you decide to work with a different company, it can be difficult to move the surveys over, ensure the same expertise is being given to your project, etc. Overall, the value in survey outsourcing is primarily based on your budget and your ability to have a full time staff member trained and dedicated to your work.

If you're concerned that you don't have anyone that can handle the research, outsourcing is probably best. If you have an employee you can train to manage the research, outsourcing may not be as important.