A Warm Summer Breeze

While you were busy tanning your beach body this summer, SoGoSurvey released its v.5.0, fondly called as the Summer ’14 Release.

The survey provider has gone all out in promoting the new and improved version, what with hosting interactive webinars, uploading new training videos, and running extensive email campaigns. They sure managed to make me, as Lewis Carroll would have put it, “curiouser and curiouser”.

The first thing that grabs your attention as you log into your account is the new user interface – all bright and fresh from the new color scheme and the new ‘portlets’ (so very sci-fi) on the homepage. These tiny portlets contain everything you could possibly need, from user guide to video tutorials and details on four of your recently active surveys. What’s more, you can edit these surveys and distribute them right from the Home page. Another thing that stares at you from these cozy little boxes is the bright green ‘Create New Survey’ button. Just log in, hit the button and you are well on your way to creating a survey. It’s that simple on the new SoGoSurvey version.

My verdict: SoGoSurvey v5.0 not only lives up to the hype but also delivers.

The Viral Effect

The concept of viral marketing was created by media critic Doug Rushkoff who made an amusing observation. He explains the phenomenon as a scenario where an advertisement reaches a ‘susceptible’ user who becomes infected, or rather accepts the idea, and shares it with others, thereby ‘infecting them’ as well. It is when almost every member in this chain shares the idea with more than one ‘susceptible’ user—the standard in epidemiology for qualifying something as an epidemic—resulting in an exponential growth of infected users on an exponential curve, one can say that the advertisement had a viral effect.

Viral marketing is obviously the best form of marketing out there, considering that it’s not only cost effective (read free) and requires very little or no effort on the part of the owner of the content. It is, what you’d traditionally call, word-of-mouth publicity. All you have to do is ensure that the content is unique.

Online surveys too reach a larger audience when they go viral. Your work ends when you send a survey or a quiz or even a poll invite to a friend or rather post it on a social networking website. You can now sit back with a tall glass of chilled iced tea and watch your favorite sitcom on television while your friends do the marketing for you. If your survey/quiz is good enough, it will infect your friends and cause an epidemic in no time.

Hello, Hola!

I have always been partial to multimedia surveys; surveys that can be customized; the ones that can don the look of the subject it serves. This aspect of surveys has always been my favorite. In fact, I actually tend to spend more time customizing my survey layouts rather than creating the main questionnaire

And why not? People often fall for the visual appeal. They check the layout and colors before sitting down to actually read it. In fact, a boring survey layout may not attract a person enough to participate, but a colorful survey with attractive images and videos may compel them to be involved. 

Luckily for me, online survey tools have introduced some lovely advanced customization options. You can make maximum use of the space offered by dragging the question boxes around and arranging them in a grid of sorts, thereby making them appear shorter. Throw in some French or Mandarin words for some additional charm, or create a survey in another language altogether! This will help you connect with your audience in their native language and strike a chord on a more personal level. Of course you can add images and videos, a sure way to attract them participants. In fact, some online survey tools even allow you to customize buttons! Use this feature to your advantage and write something compelling enough to make your participant press that button.

Change the colors, make use of the existing themes, change the fonts, add a logo. 'Coz change is the only constant!

Way to Go!

You’ve transferred all the music and photographs from the hard disk into your pen drive, have typed out a long goodbye mail that will guarantee a tear or two and have slowly started packing your belongings when the HR asks you to meet him/her in the cabin. You know it’s time for the Exit Interview. There’s so much to say, so much to vent but you know you will not be doing that. You are afraid of your boss giving a bad review of your work in case you reveal his bad management skills to the HR or the politics played by your colleagues. So you go the cabin and fill out the Exit Survey with good reviews, with lies.

This is not only bad for the organization but also for those who will be joining it in the future. Unless the employees suggest any place for growth or point out the problem areas, the company has no scope for improvement. The best solution for this would be anonymous surveys. The organization can mail the resigning employee an anonymous online survey and tell him that his views shall not be linked to him in any way. It’s only when the employees get the security blanket can you expect any kind of truth out of them.

In Or Out?

Nothing’s more annoying than someone forcing you to do something. I know many people who will not do something just because they were commanded to do it. But give them an option of doing it and they just might make you happy. It is, as if for these very people, the Opt-Out Notification feature was created. An Opt-Out Notification is the option to either allow recipients to refuse future emails about one particular survey, or if he so wishes, all future surveys. 

In fact, the CAN SPAM Act of 2003 states that a visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism is must in all emails. And that a consumer’s opt-out requests should be honored within 10 days.

Which means that incorporating an Opt-Out Notification in your survey invites not only helps you abide the law but also gets more responses. A win-win situation, if you ask me.

Are You Listening?

In the consumer industry, it is important to speak – to speak well; to promote your brand, your product, your service. There are tones of advertisements on televisions, theatres, newspapers, hoardings, online, all shoving their goods down consumers’ throats. Everybody’s speaking. The louder, the bolder, the better! But is anyone listening?

To what the consumer has to say. To what he/she really wants, likes, dislikes. The consumer has a lot to say provided you are ready to listen. To listen and work on it. And how does one listen? 

Now you’re asking the correct question. Through surveys, of course! Through surveys that are ready to listen, not just the ones that give them fixed options to choose from. Always leave an ‘Other’ option, a huge box for them to speak. And you’ll be surprised at the ideas that will flow.

What’s in a name?

What’s in a name? A lot apparently; nationality, religion, caste, class, gender! That’s a lot of fodder for judgment. Strip a person of his name and his work becomes clear of labels. People then see the person’s work of art for what it is, devoid of perspectives.

 I remember how fond I was of poetry, even as a kid. I would often end up reading everything related to the subject before my term would even begin. Soon I started knowing poets by their name, and I noticed that one poet’s poems were listed in my syllabus more than any other. And that was by Anon. I became a big fan of Anon! It was only later that I was told that Anon is not a person but a mere short for Anonymous. Oops, turned out that I didn't even know whom I was such a big fan of!

Why would someone not take credit for his/her soulful words? Either the name must’ve got lost over the years or the poet must have seeked solace in his/her anonymity. But what kind of solace does anonymity provide? Turns out that there are many. It prevents prejudice, takes the pressure off your shoulders, and provides security when it comes to a controversial subject.

In fact, it has been observed that people tell the truth when their identity is hidden. They become bold, brutally honest even, and may give you the best feedback that can turn your business around. To take advantage of this very fact, online survey software offer the option of conducting anonymous surveys. The benefit of these surveys, to the participant, of course, is that their electronic identifying information including email addresses and IP addresses is removed.

So if handing the participants a mask increases the power of your survey, why not start a Venetian parade?