Conversational Surveys are More Engaging over Traditional Surveys

The truth is, formal communication is intimidating, especially in a casual setting like a shopping mall. Larger questionnaires do not encourage people to respond. The simple solution to this is conversational surveys. Traditional surveys take up cognitive space but conversational surveys bring up a high response rate.  

What are Conversational Surveys?

Conversational surveys are surveys that solicit a conversational type of response from people. These surveys are routed via third party mediums of WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, in-app surveys and chatbots. These applications can bring media rich insights in the form of audio, video, images and documents- more than just text. Conversational surveys are more enjoyable and offer an interactive way of responding to customer feedback forms.

Survey distribution channels for conversational surveys

Here are some of the mediums that use chat- based conversations to collect customer feedback. 

• Messenger based app: Messenger apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook messenger have millions of people as its user base. These applications are highly conversational in nature and witness millions of casual interactions on a daily basis. Merren uses messenger based platforms to deploy conversational surveys for respondents.
• Social media channels: Channels such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook are some platforms that garner daily interactions. Organisations can interact with customers of each of these platforms and seek instant feedback.
• Website chatbots: Chatbots are new age tools that collect instant customer feedback. Chatbots can collect complex customer data with ease. Additionally, it works round the clock without human intervention.
• Dynamic email surveys: AMP type email surveys are interactive in nature. Respondents will get these on their email address which can be filled out instantly without being redirected to an external browser.

Conversational Surveys: Advantages for Marketers

Conversational surveys are very engaging and interactive, leading to higher response rates from customers.  Businesses can also receive real-time feedback through conversational surveys, enabling them to respond quickly to customer needs.

Advantages of using conversational surveys

Conversational surveys offer a wide range of benefits to businesses looking to gather customer feedback. 

• Higher response rates: Conversational ways of feedback collection have higher response rates than traditional surveys. The interactive route of seeking feedback is more engaging and feels like a conversation rather than a one-way communication.
• More accurate data: Conversational surveys allow for open-ended questions, which can encourage people to provide candid feedback. This can lead to more accurate data, insights and higher completion rates.
• Improved user experience: Mediums that use conversational surveys have improved user experience. This encourages people to share feedback on the go. This can help reduce survey fatigue and increase engagement.
• Real-time feedback:  With real-time feedback, organizations can quickly identify issues and close the feedback loop.
• Customizable and adaptable: This survey format is compatible across mobile devices. It is also compatible on platforms of android and iOS systems. This means your surveys will have a greater reach without technical hindrance. 
• Cost-effective: Conversational surveys can be very cost-effective. They can be automated, reducing the need for manual interruption.
• Insights into customer sentiment: Conversational surveys can provide insights into customer sentiment with real time feedback. This empowers organizations to clearly understand their customers and improve their products and services at every touchpoint.
• Increased brand loyalty: Casual format of surveys bridge the gap between brands and their customers. Respondents will be willing to share their insights and thus leading to increased brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.

What are Traditional Surveys?

When most people hear the term “survey,” they likely think of traditional surveys conducted through email, phone, or mail. People might also associate the word to long questionnaires.

Typically, these surveys come with a set of pre-written questions sent to a large group of people. Traditional surveys are very topic oriented and are typically closed-ended. This means that respondents are asked to choose from a limited set of responses. While traditional surveys have been in use for years, it may not always encourage people to share their honest thoughts and feedback.

What Are the Types Of Traditional Surveys?

There are several types of traditional surveys, each with its own unique characteristics and methods of administration. Here are some of the most common types:

• Face-to-face surveys: In face-to-face surveys, a trained interviewer visits respondents in person to gather answers for specific questions. Face-to-face interviews are often used in market research, social science research and census data.  This involves detailed and personalized questioning. They are generally more expensive than other survey methods due to the cost of hiring and training interviewers. This method is also immensely time consuming.
• Telephone surveys: Telephone surveys involve calling respondents over the phone and asking them a series of questions. This method is less expensive than face-to-face probing. However, it may be limited since none of the callers can get any visual aid or comprehend the body language. Telephonic surveys would also include computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) type of probing. In this method, the interviewer will call up respondents to seek feedback. They will read a pre-made questionnaire on the computer during the call.
• Mail surveys: Mail surveys are sent by mail to a sample of individuals. They are asked to complete the survey and return it by mail. Mail surveys are often used in academic research or for gathering feedback from respondents. They may have lower response rates than other survey methods. Respondents are less likely to complete and return the survey. This method is equally time consuming.
• Intercept surveys: Intercept surveys involve approaching people in public places, such as malls or events, and asking them to complete a survey. Intercept surveys are often used in market research. This medium uses a more diverse sample than other survey methods. However, respondents may be more reluctant to participate in an intercept survey, as they are often viewed as an interruption.
• Browser based online survey: this is a web-based platform which administers survey questions via a link. These are redirected into an external browser where customers have to offer survey responses. 

Traditional Surveys: advantages and drawbacks

Traditional surveys have their advantages and drawbacks. They are an established method to collect customer feedback, often consisting of pre-written questions sent to a large group of people through channels such as email, phone, or mail. Standardized questions and responses make data analysis easier, but they can be time-consuming and become expensive in nature. 

Advantages of using traditional surveys

Traditional surveys offer numerous benefits in collecting valuable customer feedback..

Having a structured approach: The primary advantage is a structured approach, which makes it easier to standardize questions and responses. Responses can then be easily quantified and analyzed to understand a customer’s behavior and preferences.

A valuable approach for unreachable markets: There are demographics that may not resort to using the internet. These populations prefer to live cut off from civilization to a large degree. Traditional surveys can help researchers collect sensitive and crucial information from these demographics. They also provide respondents with anonymity, encouraging honest and candid feedback.

Capture important human oriented metrics: This involves gathering important data metrics such as emotions, body language and personal details. This can only happen in a face to face setting or during intercept surveys.

Traditional surveys remain a time-tested method for gathering valuable insights from the target audience in very specific circumstances.

Drawbacks of using traditional surveys

While traditional surveys have long been a staple in the world of market research, they are not without their drawbacks.

Lengthy and time consuming: One of the most significant disadvantages is that traditional surveys can be lengthy and tiresome, leading to low response rates and incomplete data. Customers may find themselves losing interest or becoming bored with the length of the survey. This can mostly happen during longitudinal study that spans over months or decades. 

Respondents can get intimidated by a mechanical approach: Since the questions are very predefined and lengthy in nature, respondents may not be encouraged to respond.

Low response rates: Most time consuming survey methods do not bring a reasonable response rate. While sending email surveys, consumers may not be motivated to reply with their feedback. The intimidating format of questions is also to blame. Low response rates can hamper your business. 

Does not reach too many people: Opting for traditional surveys can get expensive. Hence organisations may leave out a lot of target respondents off the record. This can create a biased result and incomplete data.

Why choose conversational surveys over traditional customer feedback?

Your customers are busy. You need to capture their feedback from mediums they use the most. Here is why you choose conversational format of survey over traditional surveys:

• 1. Get high response rates for serious marketing insights: Conversations drive people to interact. Conversational methods of feedback tend to have higher response rates than traditional surveys because they are more engaging and interactive.
• 2. Mobile and platform friendly across demographics: Conversational surveys can be accessed via mobile or tablet devices. The devices are compatible with various platforms. This makes them easily accessible to a wide range of demographics. Marketers can launch device compatible surveys instantly
• 3. Enable real-time insights to help close feedback loop: With conversational survey data, you get real-time insights into customer sentiment and satisfaction. Close feedback loop and respond quickly to any concerns raised by customers and improve customer experience in real-time. Asking the right questions can save time.
• 4. Cost effective across various touchpoints: Customers and potential buyers are interacting with brands on various social media platforms. Deploying interactive and conversational surveys across touchpoints over time will become cost effective. Meanwhile, brands can allocate other resources wisely. Traditional methods are often expensive over time.
• 5. Automate your way to success: Devoid of manual handling, there is no room for error with automated conversational feedback forms. With multiple integration tools available, reach out to every customer and seek feedback actively. All of this without manual interference. Traditional methods of seeking feedback cannot be completely automated.
• 6. Closing feedback loop will ensure brand loyalty: Everything is a domino effect when it comes to being interactive across touchpoints. Your customers seek human interaction. This can only be done via a conversational route.
• 7. Choose precise yet interactive template while curating surveys: Merren is a survey tool that facilitates zeroing on the right sample size, using an apt layout that is superior over generic online forms. Mediums of Whatsapp, Meta messenger, AMP emails can empower both brands and a broad audience.

Conclusion

Choosing the type of survey can define how you create a relationship with your audience. Data collection now needs to keep up with the times. Using current methods of feedback collection can bring you more than just insights.  However, when deploying a survey, keep in mind that people access virtual surveys on their desktop or a mobile device. Keeping them platform compatible will determine the success rate. Marketers need to make an immediate switch from the traditional browser based route to a new way of collecting survey results. This is a great way to let your customers know that organisations are serious about making the communication chain seamless. 

To know more about how Merren can supercharge your business, try out our 14 day free trial here.