Online Surveys
An Internet based survey or online survey is an easy, cost effective way of conducting a market research study. An important benefit of this type of research is that participants are able to complete the survey online at a time that is convenient to them. Additionally, respondents can generally spend as much time as they like to complete the online survey.

One way to invite people to complete an online survey is to set up a link to the survey on your organization's Web site. This link allows anyone who visits your site to complete the questionnaire.

Another option is to directly target your customers using your internal database of customer email addresses. If you desire, you can target a select group of respondents (e.g., women between the ages of 31-35 who have shopped at your site within the past month). Then, you we send this targeted group an email invitation to participate in the online survey.

An additional way to obtain participants for your online survey is to use an online research panel. In this situation, a panel company draws qualifying participants from people who have opted in. Panels are generally quite large, and there are many companies offering this service. Using a panel can be helpful when having trouble generating enough potential respondents on your own.

When creating an online survey, it is important to consider whether or not you want to remain "blind" to your participants (meaning that they will not know who is sponsoring the survey). If you would like your participants to know you are conducting the survey, you may wish to create a survey that has a layout and style that is similar to your organization's website. You may also wish to have respondents directed to your Internet site after they have completed the survey.

Other Related Topics:
Strengths and weaknesses of online surveys