For businesses looking for a DIY approach to collecting more qualitative and quantitative data from current and prospective customers, there are lots of survey software options out there to help you ask questions directly of your audience.
Good survey software should be user-friendly both for researcher and the target audience. It should also provide analytics tools that enable you to review and present your data in a clear and understandable way.
Let’s take a look at the best survey software currently improving the market & consumer research of businesses across the world.
Google Forms
Simple, free and basic; Google Forms is a free tool from Google that allows users to create forms and quizzes to send to their database. It comes with preloaded templates such as event feedback forms, order forms and applications.
Its layout is fairly easy to use, with the option to add qualitative questions, tickboxes, drop downs and radio buttons, as well as file uploads, date/time and linear scale questions.
Answers and data can be viewed on the platform and even exported to Google Sheets for further analysis and presentation.
For advanced users, Google Forms allows third party add-ons for further customisation and features not included in the basic version. Once you have created a form, it can be shared as a link however you choose.
You can brand the forms as you wish, but options are limited compared to other survey software out there. Forms tend to require users to have a Google Account to access the full functionality, meaning you could lose valuable responses from users without an account or not willing to sign up.
What is the price of Google Forms?
Google Forms is free, highly intuitive and does everything survey software should. Just be prepared to distribute your surveys to your database manually, unless you use a tool like Zapier to automate it for you.
Snap Surveys
Snap Surveys is professional survey software offering direct support and a multitude of features for businesses looking to collect data from their consumers and clients. Surveys can be fully customised and branded, and integrate directly to your internal systems via API connections.
Impressively, surveys can be completed on mobile devices, online and on paper, with a paper scanning feature to automatically record answers and prevent manual inputs; potentially saving your team hundreds of hours.
Businesses can install Snap Survey on their own devices such as a tablet or smartphone, and collect surveys offline, whether on-site at an event, or on the high street.
With Snap Surveys’ Smart Reports, your team can quickly view data summaries visually, and customise the reports for internal stakeholders, making for impressive presentations and data visualisation.
Some training may be required to fully understand Snap Surveys system, but pre-built reports and dedicated support ensures users can start collecting data quickly.
What is the price of Snap Surveys?
Keep an eye on the price, subscription starts from £38 per user, per month, but this can quickly rise for larger teams and corporations.
SurveyMonkey
SurveyMonkey is one of the most trusted and recognised brands in DIY survey software. Its free subscription allows businesses to create surveys with a limit of 10 questions and 25 responses, meaning it’s easy to trial in order to understand if SurveyMonkey is right for you.
For those serious about market research, SurveyMonkey comes with a collection of survey templates that are invaluable to businesses of any size, including customer feedback, Net Promoter Score and customer satisfaction.
For larger enterprises, there are even internal survey templates such as employee feedback and satisfaction.
SurveyMonkey is equipped with templates for new product research and brand awareness surveys, for businesses looking to measure their place in the market or gain valuable insights into new products and markets.
Recently they have implemented AI tools to help guide your survey creation and data collection by spotting errors and making suggestions. As with everything AI, take it with a pinch of salt, and ensure you error check any suggestions it makes!
What is the price of SurveyMonkey?
Pricing can start from £20 per user, per month, but this quickly rises for large teams and organisations. Be aware that SurveyMonkey’s Audience feature, which allows your survey to be sent to SurveyMonkey’s own database aimed at your key demographics, is sold separately.
MailChimp
Despite being more known for its CRM and email marketing software, MailChimp has basic survey functionality to help collect data and responses from your database.
As with MailChimp’s email platform, the software is easy to use and understand, with drag and drop functionality, as well as common survey features such as dropdown questions, radio buttons, multi-choice and qualitative responses.
You can fully brand your surveys, but as they are digital-only, you’ll need to find your own platforms and data to send it out to.
For businesses with a large email list or social media following, this is a great option. But smaller or newer businesses may struggle with getting responses from the get-go.
You can add your MailChimp survey to your current email automations to help speed up and streamline your data collection process, just be sure not to spam your customers!
What is the price of MailChimp?
MailChimp’s pricing depends on the amount of contacts in your database, starting from £9.75/mo for 500 contacts. This cost can soon spiral for large databases, so ensure you are getting the most out of MailChimp when you sign up.
SmartSurvey
A modern survey software that boasts a range of high profile clients, from non-profits and NGOs to large enterprises, SmartSurvey is increasingly a go to system for businesses wanting research data.
Their software features image-rich features, to allow visual questions, as well as considerations towards accessibility, mobile-first surveys and personalisation.
You can buy survey responses at an additional cost on top of your subscription, but ideally you will have your own data to send surveys out to in order to minimise this cost and get trustworthy responses.
SmartSurvey integrates with a range of CRM systems via API and features internal sharing functionality for sending data across teams and stakeholders. Its features can seem a bit overwhelming, with real-time analysis and data management tools; but a well-trained research team can get the most out of its functions.
What is the price of SmartSurvey?
SmartSurvey pricing starts at £30 per month, per user. Large teams and businesses can expect this to go up. Don’t forget that paid responses are an additional cost too.
Typeform
Typeform’s focus is on eye-catching surveys that are pleasing to experience and encourage users to fill in every question. The software integrates with top CRM systems, payment systems and other digital infrastructure to allow automation across various user journeys, sending out forms, quizzes and surveys that provide you data.
Their AI data analysis tool is said to give accurate summaries and insights into the data that is collected; it even helps you build your forms with suggestions and tips.
One new tool is Clarity AI, which will form new questions for users to drill down into qualitative answers for more accurate insights.
Typeform can be used to capture leads, conduct market research, gauge employee sentiment and collect marketing data. Its AI tools are a boon for those looking for digital transformation, but keep in mind that AI is only a tool, so don’t over rely on it.
How much does Typeform cost?
Typeforms pricing starts from £21 per month, with higher tiers offering more features and support.
Software Survey Alternatives
For businesses without the time, resource or capability to create in-house surveys, conduct and manage the fieldwork and then analyse the data effectively, using an expert Market Research Agency will definitely save you both time and money, whilst also ensuring that you get the best possible ROI.
Agencies such as Brandspeak specialise in conducting surveys to support marketers who are looking to maximise the profitable performance of their brands.
Whether you are looking to segment your customer base so you can identify and target your most valuable customers, determine levels of customer satisfaction with your brand using Net Promoter Score, track the performance of your brand or evaluate the potential or a new product or service concept, a market research agency will not undertake the survey for you and deliver a comprehensive report on the findings, it will also provide detailed conclusions and recommendations based on its analysis, so you know exactly what to do next in order to move your brand forwards.