Pop-up surveys

By on January 17, 2012

While visiting many websites during the course of a day spent on internet, many of us notice old and annoying pop-ups opening in new window every time we enter the site. These pop ups are so annoying that modern day browsers contain a nice pop blocker.

However, the trend nowadays is changing, pop ups are not only used to promote or sell products but are used to conduct surveys on the customers for a brand or a product. A pop up survey appears as a new browser window when a visitor enters any site to ask the visitors about their needs, interests, demographic profiles and what they perceive about a product or brand. These results help to create effective marketing strategies for the product/brand range.

Typically, a dialog asking for permission to continue with the survey pop ups within seconds of entering the website but due to unawareness most of the users close the dialog box. Ideally, on should give some time to the user to explore the website and then ask for the permission. If the user is willing to answer the questionnaire right away we can proceed to the survey window else the survey window should be minimized upon the user saying “yes” and open only when the user leaves the domain. Thus, we can have both entrance as well as exit surveys.

Here are few tips to understand where and how pop up surveys should be executed:

  1. The first and foremost step is to identify the target audience, as their demographic profiles, purchasing patterns, interests and geographic location will help in planning effective marketing strategies. For example, for a sports gear brand other than using the brand website for the survey the company can also use social networking websites.
  2. The next step is to create a clear and concise pop up survey, highlighting the brands logo and organization’s name prominently. The questions could be multiple choice questions relating to brands image, perceived quality and how can the products be improved to match customer satisfaction. One can also ask questions about from where they got information about the brand and fine tune the marketing plan by promoting it through other mediums like newspaper, television, radio, etc.
  3. The pop ups should be short and designed in a smart way. Most of the users generally avoid spending too much of their time on surveys so one should respect their time. It is very essential to configure the pop up so that the survey window opens randomly and visitors only see the survey on their first visit. Pop ups should appear where the site contains most information.
  4. Launching of the pop survey is crucial, thus one should test it to make sure how the pop up would appear and how it works before going live on a website.
  5. Finally, when the pop up survey is launched the data is collected till a desired sample size has answered the survey questions. After the implementation of the suggestions from the user one can check the effectiveness and compare the pre and post campaign response from the customers.

Pop surveys can be done every now and then with proper planning to check the changes in the perception of the customers and thus can be useful tool for any organization.

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