Best Survey Software

Surveys are essential across all businesses to tell the story of how a brand is viewed by employees, customers, and clients. Conducting surveys not only helps in gathering qualitative feedback, responses, and opinions but also helps improve business operations, simplify the onboarding process, reduce costs, discover product development opportunities, and increase sales.

One of the best ways to conduct survey research is through Survey Software. But what are those? How can you benefit from an online survey software system? What features should you look for? Do you want to conduct offline surveys or online surveys?

We will help you understand everything you should know about survey management software before investing in it.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

What is Survey Software?

Survey Software is an application that allows businesses to create online quizzes, surveys, polls, and other web forms to collect feedback from a targeted audience. It helps in getting actionable insights that can be used by a business to become more customer-centric and successful.

Moreover, survey solution can also help calculate customer effort score so you can measure their interaction with the brand.  

With every new survey you share, your business gets closer to understanding the problems users might face and become a feedback-driven brand.

While surveying customers all around the world manually can be a tedious task, using these survey software systems the survey process becomes a lot easier, more accurate, and quicker.

Surveys can be conducted for different purposes including but not limited to employee satisfaction, market research, exit interviews, job satisfaction, customer satisfaction, training evaluation, brand awareness, lead generation, or event evaluation. You can then analyze surveys to make informed decisions.

How is Survey Software Beneficial for a Company’s Growth?

But is there any future for survey software? Should you invest in survey software? We will let the market stats of survey software tell you!

• According to Verified Market Research, the online survey market size is expected to reach $7,761.57 million at a CAGR of 10.50% by 2028.

• Another research by Technavio shows that the online survey software market is about to reach 3.72 billion dollars at a CAGR of 11.31% by 2026.

• Research by Precision Reports predicts that the online survey software market will grow at a CAGR of 15.0% and reach $3645.4 million from 2021-2027.

• Similarly, in another report by Data Intelo, the online survey software market is about to grow at a CAGR of 9.8% and reach $4.06 Billion by 2030 from the $2.02 million mark in 2017.

What are the Benefits of Using Online Survey Software?

With a better understanding of what survey software is, let’s take a look at the benefits that come with using survey software for a business.

1. Extensiveness

   With survey software, you can easily describe the behavior and characteristics of a large population in comparison to other methods. It ensures a more accurate observation for informed decision-making. Also, the number of respondents can be in the thousands.

2. Flexibility

   Survey software gives you the flexibility to conduct surveys through different methods like email surveys, online surveys, mobile surveys, social media surveys, etc.

3. Cost-Effectiveness

   Online and mobile surveys have a very minimal cost per participant that compare to phone or paper surveys.

4. Qualitative Feedback

   One of the best ways to gather qualitative feedback from the respondents is through questionnaire surveys with open-ended questions. It will not only give you a deeper understanding of the customer's thoughts about your business but also help you improve what you might be missing.

5. Accurate Result

   As all the data is collected into the system database by participants, it is less likely to have errors, making it a reliable and secure source for getting accurate results

6. Advanced Analysis

   Data analysis is the most essential part of any survey process. And with online survey tools, you get multiple automated features and tools to examine data accurately. It also allows you to filter and break down details into small chunks for better results

7. Versatile Appearance

   Survey software allows you to personalize and customize every aspect of the survey according to your needs. To achieve that, the software offers multiple colors, themes, and layouts as well as the option to upload images and logos for designing the survey.

What are the Features of Survey Software?

Although you know the benefits Survey Software holds for a business, do you have any idea what you should look for while developing a customized survey software or buying an off-the-shelf one?

To help you out, here are some features that you should look for before purchasing or developing survey software.

1. Survey Builders

   This feature offers a drag-and-drop interface with layouts and design tools, versioning and preview option, and question morphing. Using the survey builder feature, one can easily create the front-end look and function of the survey.

2. Conversational Survey

   This helps in creating surveys that are conversational and engage the respondents, increasing the response rate by 40%.

3. White-Label Surveys

   Want your survey to speak the language of your brand? White-label surveys help you in achieving just that. Using this feature you can add a logo, and choose the font style and color pallet to brand the survey accordingly.

4. Dashboards and Reports

   Survey software with a powerful reporting module is what you need for making sense of all the data that you have collected so far. Having a dedicated dashboard helps in keeping track of all the surveys while the reporting feature analyzes the data according to responses. Dashboard and report features allow you to filter data based on respondent details, question-answers, method of sharing, and time to get crisper reports.

5. Smart Surveys

   One of the common issues when it comes to responding to surveys is abandoning them when they become irrelevant to the participants. Having a personalization feature in the online survey software can help you build smart surveys using conditional branches to shift the flow of the survey according to the respondent.

6. Multimedia Support:

   It allows you to add multimedia files to the survey such as videos, images, and other graphic content that helps in making the survey more engaging for the participants

7. Advanced-Data Analysis

   While standard data analysis only shows basic insights from the data, advanced data analytics can perform cross-tabulation, filtering, and other statistical analysis to offer better insights.

8. Multilingual

   Going global to conduct a survey requires a spell and grammar checker for every language along with an auto-translate feature that can set the survey according to the local language of the respondent.

9. Automated Pulse Surveys

   While sending periodic surveys can be tedious and time-consuming, having survey software where you can schedule and share surveys at regular intervals automatically is what you need.

Considerations When Purchasing Survey Software

Although buying market research and survey software is somewhat similar to buying any other software, you need some specific features to help you collect, analyze, and report survey data precisely.

1. Create a Must-Have List

   To find the best online survey software for your business, it is important to create a list of must-have features. Make the list as long as you like when you are starting to visualize your ideal software. This list can include everything from features to cost and more. Once the list is complete, you can prune it down to the things your business needs the most.

2. Check Online Reviews

   Another essential consideration while opting for online survey software is to check the online reviews left by previous users. Some of the honest reviews can be found on platforms like Software Suggest, G2, etc.

3. Take Free Trials

   Many software vendors offer either a proof of concept or a free trial of their products. In the case of buying complex software like survey management, proof of concept will be a more reasonable option. And as a buyer, you should not only look at the proof of concept but also take free trials when available to understand the working of the software.

4. Check the Support the Software Provider Offers

   When you are using software for the first time, you might require some support in the form of tutorials, documentation, videos, etc. And if the survey software you are about to buy is on a regular update cycle, the support material must be updated regularly as well. Thus, ensure that the online survey software you are about to buy offers the right material to make your journey easier.

5. Check the Customization Option

   Survey software must provide a customization option, allowing you to personalize the features according to your unique business requirements.

6. Buy Your Top Choice

   Once you have taken trials of the top choices and you will get a favorite. All you gotta do is create a contract, collaborate and negotiate the contract, get internal approval, sign the contract, and manage it periodically.

5 Best Online Survey Software for Every Business

Now that we know almost everything about survey software, let’s take a look at our top 5 best picks.

1. SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow allows you to create conversational surveys for any purpose, type, and language to improve the engagement rate with the audience.

Some of the top features of SurveySparrow are as follows:

• Allows you to create free online surveys

• Helps you to white label online surveys by adding your brand colors and logo.

• Offers survey themes to create customized and engaging surveys.

• Provide a vibrant dashboard to collect data and analyze it for in-depth reports.

• Can be integrated with multiple third-party applications

• Enables you to send employee satisfaction surveys and customer feedback surveys to look for areas of improvement.

Pros of SurveySparrow:

• Allows you to create beautiful surveys

• Offer quick responses to queries

• Mobile-first responsive surveys

• Affordable services

• Customized questions

• Multiple options for answering the survey

• Brand Customization

• Data Privacy

Cons of SurveySparrow:

• Don’t support multiple-line surveys

• Comparatively new and involving

• No Custom CSS

• Need more customization option

Pricing

From free to Elite, SurveySparrow has different plans that users can get billed monthly/annually. The pricing goes per month if billed annually as follows:

• Free

• Basic: $19

• Premium: $29

• Business: $99

• CX Basic: $99

• CX Premium: $299

• Enterprise: $499

• Elite: Customized Pricing 

2. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a flexible survey platform that allows you to create professional-looking surveys and reach your targeted audience to conduct any type of survey. It requires only a little practice to work with SurveyMonkey.

Some of the features of SurveyMonkey are:

• Comes with a question bank with hundreds of questions you can choose to create the survey a lot faster.

• It helps in personalizing the survey experience for the respondents based on their answers.

• Offers third-party integrations, performance metrics, activity dashboards, and collaboration tools.

• Provide real-time data and analytics with reporting and statistics.

• Helps in customizing the survey to match your brand identity.

• Have features like skip logic and answer piping.

Pros of SurveyMonkey:

• Flexible and work for any survey type

• Little-to-no training needed to work with it

• Offers hundreds of Integrations

• Easy to use interface

• Robust design features

• Collects quick responses 

• Accurate result analysis

• Flexible pricing model

Cons of SurveyMonkey:

• Ability to customize survey is only available for paid subscriptions

• Need more customization options

• No email automation 

• Branding tools need to be improved

• Clustered dashboard

• Too costly

Pricing

SurveyMonkey comes with different plans for teams, individuals, and enterprises. The pricing of SurveyMonkey is as follows:

• Standard: $899

• Advantage: $1999

• Premier: $4999

• Team Advantage: $1550/user

• Team Premier: $3800/user

• Enterprise: Customized

3. Zoho Survey

With Zoho Survey, you can create surveys in a matter of minutes with its incredible 250 multilingual templates and over 25 question types.

Some popular features of Zoho Survey include:

• Customizable themes

• Branding

• Third-party integrations

• Up to 75 language translations

• Allows survey distribution over different platforms

• Collect response data to be analyzed

• Use sentiment analysis for better-reporting

Pros of Zoho Survey:

• Good data representation

• Easy to use

• Simple UI

• Multiple question types

• Comes with piping and logic

• Can be integrated with other Zoho apps

• Easy sharing

• Mobile optimized

• Easy survey creation and management

Cons of Zoho Survey:

• Complicated individual responses extraction

• Monotonous interface

• Limited branding option

• Needs more modern UI

Pricing

Ranging from Free to Enterprise, Zoho Survey has the following pricing to match your needs:

• Free: $0

• Plus: $600

• Pro: $1700

• Enterprise: $3900

4. Typeform

Typeform allows you to design a creative survey to keep your audience engaged with their innovative layouts, dynamic themes, and animations.

Some of the top features offered by Typeform include:

• Shares one question at a time to get thoughtful responses

• Allows you to add video and photos from its built-in library 

• Have custom themes and layouts to show a brand at its best

• Has conditional logic to ask the right questions

• Allows surveys to be shared on any platform easily

Pros of Typeform:

• Ease of use

• Better Customer Service

• Value for money

• Logic Mapping

• Offers quizzes, surveys, and integrations

Cons of Typeform:

• Need better user analytics

• Require more design flexibility

• Need more language customization

Pricing

Typeform has different pricing plans ranging from basic to business that you can choose based on your requirements. 

• Basic: $25

• Plus: $50

• Business: $83

5. Google Forms

It is a free, web-based survey software that allows you to create forms and surveys and share them with the target audience to get real-time analyzed responses. If you're looking for a free online survey software, then this is the right choice.

Some of the features of Google Forms are:

• 100% free to use

• Easy drag-and-drop option to reorder or customize questions

• Allows customization of images, colors, and fonts of the survey

• Updates responses in real-time for deeper analysis

• Enables you to create, edit, or respond to the surveys from any device.

• Uses built-in intelligence that allows it to set rules for response data validation.

Pros of Google Forms:

• Convenience to access

• Super easy to use

• Unlimited forms creation

• File Upload feature

• Multiple ways to distribute complex surveys

• Can be integrated with different Google applications

Cons of Google Forms:

• Few customization options

• Doesn’t have features like paid tools

• Lack of third-part integration

• Basic reporting and analysis

Pricing: 

• Google Forms is completely free for personal usage and charges $12/user for a business standard plan where other Google apps are also included.

Common Challenges of Survey Software

Some of the problems that one might encounter while using survey software are

• Easy to Miss: In the era where the number of notifications and emails, while the attention span of most individuals is limited, missing your invitation to an online survey, is normal. Thus, most likely your online survey ends up being completely missed by a large number of prospective participants.

• Response Bias: Sometimes participants don’t engage with the topic provided or don’t want to share honest information either due to response fatigue or for the fear of being judged.

• Survey Fraud: This might be one of the biggest challenges in getting responses on surveys created through survey software is survey fraud. If the survey is confusing or long there is a high probability for participants to write fake answers to finish the survey.

• Cooperation Issues: As people hate being poked by others because of the feedback they have shared through the survey, they might end up deleting their responses.

Relevant Survey Software Trends to Consider

Some trends that are affecting the survey software market are:

1. Multichannel Options

   Different respondents are comfortable with different digital channels to answer surveys. The increase in smartphone usage around the globe has driven increased demand for companies to reach respondents at different touchpoints. While many respondents are more likely to answer a survey through the application from multiple channels, others are still at ease with phone interviews. Therefore, survey software must adhere to multichannel adoption to cover all available approaches to the surveys.

2. Customer Experience Ecosystem

   Another essential consideration while opting for online survey software is to check the online reviews left by previous users. Some of the honest reviews can be found on platforms like Software Suggest, G2, etc.

3. Survey Democratization

   While some low-cost online survey apps in the market help freelancers and small businesses to conduct their surveys, with the increase in the number of survey projects, the quality might suffer. Put simply, these low-cost survey apps that have made it possible to conduct surveys will make it tougher to get accurate survey feedback. Hence, the need to invest in a quality product instead of quantity is getting more necessary than ever.

4. Real User Feedback

   Potential consumers want to check the feedback provided by real users to verify the quality of the product they are about to invest in. Therefore, having survey software that automatically collect customer feedback with transparency allows companies to increase trust among their customers.

5. Artificial Intelligence

   Similar to other industries, AI has also affected the survey industry. With AI, surveyors can now create a new and relevant set of questions for feedback data analysis. Thus, the number of AI-based survey software will continue to increase in the upcoming years.

6. Pulse Survey

   To measure consumer satisfaction with a product or service, an extremely short survey, called a Pulse survey, often with one question is used. Besides, users are more likely to answer these short surveys more truthfully, hence the need to integrate more of these surveys is required in the future.

7. Personalized Question

   With survey creation options like skipping questions and then changing the path of the survey based on the respondent’s answer are gaining more popularity than ever. And these personalized surveys help companies to get valuable data, making it important to add personalization to the survey software.

Conclusion

So that was all about Survey Software, its benefits, features, challenges, and benefits. While each of these has its own set of pros and cons, you can select the right one for your business based on your requirements.