Brevity is the soul of wit; Shakespeare may have meant it in a different context, but the minimal benefits extend into surveys. The long 75-100 question surveys which people found tedious to fill up are passé. Instead, more and more researchers and marketing agencies are coming up with micro surveys or short surveys, which are less time-consuming for the recipient.
So, what is a micro survey? In a nutshell, it’s a short survey that takes an average of three minutes to finish. Micro surveys ask a limited number of questions and use multiple choice questions or a Likert scale, making it easier to answer. Such surveys are popular as they respect a recipient’s time.
Advantages Of Micro Surveys
There are several advantages to micro surveys. From increased willingness by the respondents to cost reduction, short surveys are a win-win option for both the researcher and the respondent.
1. Increased Response Rate
Respondents often abandon surveys that are time-consuming to complete. Though lengthy surveys will get some responses, most often, respondents tend to delay answering it as it takes more time to complete. In many cases, they postpone taking the survey and pause it and may altogether forget it, too, hampering the prospect of a potential respondent’s insights to the surveyor. In such cases, surveyors are forced to send multiple reminders to complete it and send them back.
2. Reduced Drop Off Rates
In a long survey, a respondent may feel distracted or tired in the course, increasing the chances of dropout rates resulting in skewed results. But with micro surveys, the time utilized by a respondent is less, and hence chances of dropping out are scarce.
3. Correct Responses
When there are several survey questions, the participants will browse through the questions and spend lesser time on each question. But a micro survey will feature only the most essential questions, and respondents are most likely to pay the required attention before moving on to the next question.
4. Less Expensive
Financial incentives motivate respondents to answer surveys. But if the questionnaire is lengthy and you have to send across several such surveys, the cost involved will be high. On the other hand, since micro surveys are short, respondents are often not bothered about rewards as the time spent is lesser.
5. Encourages Mobile Respondents
Smartphones have taken over our lives, and many people access their emails on their smartphones. But lengthy surveys with open-ended questions are challenging to complete on phones, so many respondents reject them. But using responsive design, a micro survey can be conducted on a mobile telephone, facilitating respondents to attempt it on the go while they are commuting, during a break, and so on.
6. Easy To Analyze
A micro survey simplifies the analysis part as the numbers of questions are lesser. Since there are nil or fewer qualitative questions, the analysis uses minimum tools and takes reduced time to finish.
7. Surveys and Brand Awareness
An online consumer survey is a great way to understand whether customers are familiar with your brand or not. A survey not only prompts you to take up brand-building activities but also makes customers acquainted with your brand’s name.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, scores of people are stuck at home, and they’ll be more than willing to respond to online surveys, which makes surveys an ideal tool for marketing, especially during pandemic times.
Xcel-Online Surveys is one of the preferred sites to conduct online surveys. Several reputed brands have been associated with them, and thousands of researchers have been using the platform for surveys.
Screening questions are essential for a survey. You can eliminate unqualified candidates and save respondents time if you start your study with screening questions. However, while it is necessary to include enough questions at the screening level to improve the quality of responses, you should be careful not to irritate respondents by asking them to be extremely specific.
Conclusion
Though micro surveys can quickly give your results, they are not without drawbacks. In micro surveys, the number of questions is limited, and open-ended questions cannot be included. This restricts the responses, especially when looking for feedback like how and why something is not taking place.
However, micro surveys can give you fast and accurate data, making them a definite boon for researchers and respondents.