How to decide if a do-it-yourself survey is right for you

Many online services offer do-it-yourself web-based surveys. While the low cost of do-it-yourself surveys may be appealing, this approach entails several risks and drawbacks compared to using a full-service survey provider. The pitfalls of do-it-yourself surveys include:

Professionalism
While a well-designed survey improves respondents’ perceptions of the sponsoring company, a survey that is poorly designed, does not function properly, or is hosted on a site with a strange name (e.g., surveymonkey.com) can backfire and produce a profoundly negative effect on customers’ perceptions of your company’s professionalism and capabilities.

Functionality
Most of the do-it-yourself internet survey services do not have the functionality to create a survey with the skipping, branching, and piping capabilities required to design a professional survey.

Data Quality
As important as the survey itself is the back-end application that accurately captures customer input and allows for meaningful analysis. Without extensive experience in designing and managing marketing research databases, you run the risk of losing vital customer input or gathering data that cannot be analyzed.

Cost
There are several software packages you can purchase to design and deploy sophisticated marketing research surveys on your website. However, the price of the software alone (typically $3,000 to $10,00) is often higher than the entire package of services from a full-service research firm.

Speed
A professional research firm can usually program a surveys in 24 - 48 hours. Compare this to the time and aggravation of learning how to use do-it-yourself software.

The bottom line: Compared to using a company with proven expertise in the design and deployment of web-based surveys, the risk and expense (both in dollars and time) of trying to do-it-yourself are often too high.