A few years ago, would you have possibly imagined a waiter handing you a tablet instead of a paper menu? Or being able to pull up a plane ticket right on your phone? All around us, paper products are disappearing and being replaced with digital platforms that perform the same functions—and more—quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. In a world where everything is jetting into the future, why should you keep your business practices stuck in the past?

Besides saving on the costs of paper, ink, and postage, there are several advantages to using online surveys to collect data for your business, including:

  • Speed. No matter how you deliver a paper survey, it will take significantly longer for your customers to fill it out and return it than an online survey. If you mail out surveys, you have to account for the time it takes to mail them back. You could get around this issue by only administering surveys in person—but that limits your flexibility. You may also have to scan or manually enter your survey results into your database, which, in this day and age, is simply a waste of time.
  • Flexibility. Online surveys simply give you more options, both on when to send surveys and on the questions themselves. Paper surveys are inefficient in customization options—if you want to send different questions to certain customers, or you think of a new survey question, you have to modify and re-print all your surveys individually.
  • Accuracy. The flexibility and efficiency of online surveys also makes them more likely to accurately reflect customer opinions. While filling out and mailing a paper survey might seem like a hassle to your busy customers, an online survey can be submitted at any convenient time, including after closing time for the post office, generating higher response rates. In addition, online surveys allow you to easily randomize the order of answer choices—reducing first-option bias.

Here's an example of the Survey tool in use!

Interested in online surveys but not sure how to start making the transition? Not a problem, Spectrum provides a convenient, intuitive survey tool included your website administration ecosystem. Here, you can send surveys, track your customer interaction history, and analyze aggregate data—all in one window. We hope you’ll find it as useful as we do!