Our industry is faced with a common problem, how to keep people interested in completing online surveys? Decreasing response rates are affecting everybody and the key seems to be finding a way to engage people with something other than e-mail.

I have always argued that the problem with online research is that with the exception of the incentive and an interesting survey (which is really a rare exception) panellists have no real reason to be hanging around, especially when the websites from where we recruit panellists are useless. Most of them are simply a sign up form with some amazingly innovative features, like a… uh… poll.

Now before you start throwing things at me, yes, the Livra Surveys website is not too different from what I am describing but let’s not forget we also have our comparison shopping websites. These provide a free, useful service to our members. Nobody really knows what is the best way of engaging people into completing online surveys, we are definitely trying a bunch of new stuff in the upcoming version of Livra (codenamed Cereza), one of which is being talked about quite a lot lately… social polling.

That’s letting people create their own simple surveys (usually two or three questions). Although there is no evidence that this will make people complete the boring annoying surveys we sometimes send to them, if the site is good then this could be a very interesting way of attracting people. Some people are trying it.
This New York Times journalist finds the service very useful both for work and wasting time. He obviously doesn’t have the online research angle, but how great would it be to make online survey sites “destinations” where people actually waste time and enjoy it

But I don’t think this is enough.
I think the keys to making a website for online research that actually engages people are the following:

• The website has to be fun and useful in itself.
• It has to be social. But not in a “I want to be like Facebook” kind of way.
• It has to have user generated content and a community that self regulates.
• Its features have to be innovative but easy and useful to use, I know that sounds a bit redundant.

And I still think that clients have to make an effort in changing the way they design surveys. People are not the same as they were 40 years ago: Short attention spans, a huge array of distractions very available, infinite entertainment options, video games, reality shows and so on.

Have you noticed how a movie or show from the 70s seems incredibly slow nowadays? And have you noticed how most surveys seem like a movie from the 70s?
Movies, TV and other media are adapting to this new reality. Online research should too. Surveys must be shorter and more fun. Please do something about it.
A combination of good recruitment sites and good surveys should be the key. Who’s up for it?