How Can You Choose the Best Survey Software?

Surveys play the most essential role in improving customers’ overall experience. As a part of a marketing venture, businesses dedicate surveys as an essential “toolkit” as it provides direct access to understand what customers feel.

Online surveys maintain a low barrier to include various responses. Some of the key reasons why companies prefer choosing a top survey platform for conducting digital surveys are;

Compared to paper surveys or any other form of surveys, online surveys are best in every aspect. First, no manpower is involved, at least in the initial stage of survey conduct. Surveys are sent out and collected automatically using software or tools. That is all from the businesses’ end, but customers or the targeted audience also benefited from that. Engagement rate in online surveys is much higher than in the usual offline ones.

Responding to an online survey only takes a few clicks from the targeted audience. It’s simple and can be done without any hard manual efforts. That’s a major reason why online surveys are effective when it comes to getting customer responses.

Most importantly, the cost of conducting online surveys is low, i.e., cost-effective. No money is involved here for printing, postage, or extra staff to collect survey responses, unlike offline surveys. Although you have to pay for the subscription using the survey software. However, some software doesn’t need payments to use. You can get your survey done freely if you understand the usage well.

Reaching a high number of audience via online surveys is absolutely possible. Where offline surveys or any other similar surveys may not have the capacity like online surveys to reach this much. For example, you can explore a new market to check the response; it does not matter where you are from if you use any online survey tool.

Further, the capacity to receive a large quantity of data as survey responses is high. Usually, these survey tools are associated with cloud technology. Therefore, all the responses get easily stored with backup. You can pool a vast range of data once you start exploring these tools.

Before even processing your survey responses, you can get a glimpse of the outcome when you choose a software or tool. Basically, the online survey tools process survey responses automatically through their built-in algorithms. Plus, the accuracy rate is not being compromised at all.

Real-time survey response analysis is one of the key features that has made survey software popular. Not only the insights, but these tools also allow you to segment your survey responses based on your provided filters. For example, you can break down your survey responses further into different factors like age, location, and other demographic behaviors. This level of survey data segregation makes further processing of surveys easy.

Visual attractiveness is the most compatible reason among the other reasons to choose survey software. You can include multimedia files in your survey using the survey software. Plus, you can easily send these surveys to your target groups using web media.

Suppose you made a video AD and now you want your audience to deliver you feedback. So, you can include that video in your survey and send it directly to your audience. Professional survey software can help you with that. And maybe much more than that, sometimes. Adding multimedia, like videos, for instance, makes the explanations easy for the concepts. Plus, it keeps the concept exploration engaging rather than the boring textual explanations.

Keeping the survey participants engaged with the questions till the survey is completed is a critical task. And that’s where rich media helps. Visually attractive survey formats usually retain respondents till the surveys are completed.

After exploring the reasons why online tools for surveys are so popular, it’s now time to apply them to your business. Trying out online survey tools can benefit your business from various angles.

First of all, the world is shifting towards digital interaction, where offline contacts are getting minimized. Brands across the globe, irrespective of their industries, have a wide presence on the internet. Unfortunately, tracking the digital insights and customer experience has become more difficult to capture. At this time, online best survey software has become the savior. It helps brands to collect insights from the market and the audience digitally to take the right action.

For businesses, online survey tools are a mechanism to capture audience insights. Unlike traditional pen and paper surveys, these tools automate most of the repetitive tasks where no logic is required. For example, it can distribute your surveys based on your set criteria. Further, it can provide real-time surface insights once the survey process is over.

Let’s talk more about the benefits your businesses can get if you try online survey platforms or tools.

In the world of marketing, time is everything. You need to push the right message at the right time to make an impact. Otherwise, you may lose the opportunity at that time. To get your marketing insights on time, you have to reduce the time in collecting survey responses.

Any medium other than the online survey tools can incur higher costs for collecting marketing insights. Only online surveys conducted via survey tools can get you market insights faster without any heavy costs. Using the best online tools and apps can drastically reduce the costs of conducting research. Plus, it delivers critical insights faster without much manual effort.

Therefore, you can quickly conduct surveys and process the responses without spending much. Online survey platforms automate most of the tasks and help you get insights faster.

Digital surveys are quick and advanced in quality. You can conduct your surveys at any point in time without any expensive help. As a result, you can collect feedback from your audience at scale. Survey software empowers businesses to reach the right people at the right time. You can quickly get feedback from your target audience in hours rather than weeks or months. Top marketing companies that collect massive feedback from the audience use survey tools and applications.

Online survey applications provide multimedia support. From rich images to videos, you can include anything in your survey forms. Keeping media inside the survey makes it more interesting and engaging for the participants. You can observe more participation from your audience when you consider this factor.

Getting responses from your targeted audience is a tough deal. People are not willing to spend time responding to your survey at first. To make their time worthwhile, you need to make the survey seamless and engaging throughout. Visuals can help there to make the survey stunning. Adding graphical elements to your surveys does not cost you heavily because you don’t have to print them off. You can easily share your survey links among your target people and wait for their responses.

When it comes to conducting surveys online, the target reach is obviously big. A vast geographical area can easily be covered when you prefer online surveys. Imagine you are covering a vast section of the audience, and you have paper surveys on your side. Stressful, right?

No worries, choosing the best survey tool can help you carry out heavy surveys with ease. Most of these survey tools come with drag-and-drop features that make surveys easy to organize. Anyone from your team can prepare the surveys using these easy features. Also, you can follow the best practices of survey data management while framing the surveys initially. It will help you later on when you start getting all the responses from your surveys.

Top survey software comes with cloud integration features that allow it to collect and store huge volumes of data securely. You can cover a large section of the audience without spending much.

Act consciously when it comes to selecting a single platform for conducting online surveys. Rather than involving various tools to create, distribute, and analyze your surveys, a single platform can manage everything better. Most interestingly, you can maintain a consistent flow of data when you choose a single platform throughout the process.

Always prefer choosing enterprise-grade survey software because they are the most compatible. In another sense, these are capable of connecting with the connection that you’re already using. You don’t need to change your infrastructure to develop a new data repository to store your survey responses and insights.

Survey tools help centralize your survey findings. They are built on cloud technology and provide remote access to you for better control. However, to analyze the customer experience matters, you need to believe in data processing insights for a detailed analysis. You can easily store all these insights in your central data repository for better management. Survey software usually provides every kind of support you need.

Okay then, you’ve reached here. Now you’re going to explore some of the top survey software that millions of businesses use to conduct online surveys. We are going to talk about online survey tools (paid and free) in the coming section.

In the world of online surveys, SurveyMonkey takes up the first position due to its amazing and powerful features. The platform is beginner-friendly and perfectly compatible for survey professionals. This software is absolutely perfect for small businesses and for businesses that want to turn into an enterprise in the future.

Now, let’s talk about some of the interesting things about SurveyMonkey

• You can create unlimited surveys (10 questions per survey and 40 responses per month)
• A/B testing is there as a separate option to make sure your surveys are responsive and error-free.
• No complex outlook. It’s simple to create surveys, and you can easily integrate them with any other platform.
• Customizing the survey is possible. You can send the same survey to different demographics after changing the design.
• On the downside, you cannot export the survey data outside the platform. Whatever analysis you need to make, you have to have it inside the platform.

Pricing: Plan starts at $39/ p.m. for the individual, and the premium plan is $75/ p.m.

If you’re looking for a survey tool that can customize your surveys, then Typeform is your thing. It’s quite easy to send survey results to anyone. Because it does not require a separate account to view the results. This is useful when you share the survey results with the stakeholders.

Interesting features that Typeform offers

• The platform is simple and inclusive, suitable for everyone
• VideoAsk – a special offering from Jotform, where you can put your videos to ask for feedback.
• You can create 10 surveys freely.

Pricing: Limited free trial available. Base plan starts at $25 per month. Custom price is available for enterprises.

When you need to create some online creative surveys, you must choose Jotforms. The platform is quite intuitive and easy to use. It comes with powerful features that make the overall online survey an insightful experience.

The best parts of Jotforms are;

• You can be exposed to an extensive survey template library to choose your survey design.
• Survey data can be exported into any format, including spreadsheets and CRM apps.
• Managing the survey responses directly on the Jotform platform is possible, and it’s very easy to do.
• Sharing survey data with non-account users can cause errors. That’s the only downside this platform has.

Pricing: Jotforms offers three plans, namely Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The basic plan starts with $34 p.m.

No doubt! Google Forms is the best and free online survey tool ever. It is also the easiest platform from which you can conduct your surveys. You can easily assemble surveys quickly and easily using the drag-and-drop feature. Plus, you can get real-time responses in terms of information and charts when you use Google Forms.

Best features of Google Forms

• You can send out surveys and collect data until your free 15 GB storage gets filled.
• Survey responses easily get integrated into G-Suite features like Google Sheets, which makes the survey data processing easy.
• The platform is easy when it comes to creating and distributing surveys among your target audience.
• Google Forms provides a basic layout design for your survey, which you cannot change. To bring a more aesthetic look, you need to change the platform.

Pricing: Most of the functions are freely available. If you want more, you need to try the business plan that starts with $12 per month.

If you’re a user of Microsoft Suite, MS Forms will definitely help you conduct great surveys. This service is only available to Microsoft 365 users, not to others. The platform offers similar types of things that Google Forms offers, like survey templates and other things.

Highlighted features of Microsoft Forms

• A total of 400 forms can be created with 200 responses per form using this MS platform. You’ll have to frame 8 questions per survey.
• Excel integration is one of the top features of this platform. Excels come with password protection. Therefore, only authorized persons can access your survey forms.
• MS forms are versatile. You can create quizzes, conduct polls, etc, apart from general surveys.
• On the downside, you need to purchase the MS Suite to access the MS Forms. Plus, sharing the surveys via email, QR, or any other social shares is limited here.

Pricing: MS Forms starts with £4.9 per month for one user.

Looking for some easy-to-use online survey software? Zoho Forms is the only platform that you need here. The platform is high in user-friendliness. If you’re using any other Zoho Suite products, you can try Zoho Forms for a smooth integration.

Positives and negatives of Zoho Forms

• You can create 3 forms/surveys using Zoho Forms and collect 500 submissions per month. Plus, you’ll get a free 200MB file storage to save your survey data.
• Creation of survey forms and sharing their links with your target audience is easy here. The platform is very easy to use compared to other survey tools.
• On the negative side, the templates the platform offers are not responsive enough. Complex design can undermine mobile responsiveness. So, choosing simple-looking templates is advisable.

Price: The standard plan, which allows 25,000 submissions per month, starts at $10 per month.

After exploring numerous options, you need to select a software that is compatible with your specific survey needs. At this point, you must figure out the areas where you have to look before saying yes to any survey tool or software.

The more you customise your surveys, the better you get responses. Remember, your audience is not bound to go through your surveys and respond promptly. You need to convince them to do so. Hence, your surveys should appear interesting and functional. Having customization options can make that happen. So, you need to choose whether your chosen platform offers customization or not. Some platforms support different formats and provide additional elements too.

Experts bring experience, tools, and tested methods. They make sure your data moves safely and lands in the right place. This keeps your new ERP system running smoothly from day one. In short, calling in experts is not just about saving time. It’s about protecting your business from costly mistakes. Or, the best, you can hire ERP data entry experts to make the data conversion smooth and effective.

Nowadays, companies prefer real-time analytics for their survey responses. If you’re looking for the same, you need to choose a survey platform that comes with built-in analytics support. Getting real-time insights from the survey platforms themselves saves your time processing the survey responses further.

Some platforms offer custom templates to design your surveys. These templates are created after rigorous research and user considerations. Therefore, your audience easily accepts these survey designs. Plus, survey templates are a pre-built feature that comes with responsive designs. Choosing survey designs from a template provides you with an edge over other designs that you made from scratch on the same platform.

Performing the survey tasks separately on different platforms can sometimes overwhelm you. Therefore, integrating everything under one platform can make the process seamless and fast. You can continue with your current infrastructure if the survey tools integrate with your existing system. So, platform integration is a must, and you consider addressing this matter desperately when choosing software for surveys.

Most of the top-rated survey platforms have enabled AI automation to conduct your surveys. They enabled various elements of AI, like sentiment analysis, language processing, etc., to assess your survey responses. When AI automation gets mixed with data entry operators to handle critical survey operations, it brings efficiency in the process.

Lastly, choose your survey tool or software wisely to get your surveys processed on time as per your direction.