Many websites request visitors to take part in an online survey. These invitations generally fall into one of three formats: static text, banners, or pop-ups. Here are the pros and cons of using these types of invitations to find survey respondents.
These types of requests are inexpensive to administer but include two inherent drawbacks:
- They tend to produce very low response rates
- Because the sample of respondents is entirely self-selecting, the results are not representative of a larger audience (e.g., all customers)
Thus, although these invitations can provide useful feedback, they are not a good substitute for more traditional methods of locating survey respondents. Think of the information gleaned from this type of survey as qualitative/directional rather than quantitative/conclusive.
For more information about finding respondents, see these posts.
