A great post today by the Wall Street Journal’s Number’s Guy. The question….do we trust online polls? More or less than telephone polls?

 Harris tabulated responses to four of its online surveys, covering more than 9,000 U.S. adults — and found that one in seven, including nearly one in three aged 18 to 29, use only cellphones but not landline phones. Harris also noted that its findings on cellphone substitution for landlines were mostly in line with those of a rigorous, government-conducted, in-person survey on the same topic.

“The survey research and marketing industries need to recognize that the Internet and cellphones, not landlines, are likely to be the wave of the future for contacting” 18- to 29-year-olds, the Rochester, N.Y., public-opinion company said in a news release. Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, cited the results in an email to me as “further evidence of the reliabilty of our online data — validated by an impeccable source.” He added, “Quite soon landline penetration will surely be lower than Internet penetration.” And people without landlines can still potentially be reached online. I often get the question……phone versus email for client or employee survey? 

The answer in a professional service environment obviously depends on what types of questions you are looking to answer, but for most general client loyalty and satisfaction surveys, in my opinion, it is online. There are certainly those who would prefer to give their feedback but Inavero’s experience is that number is dropping every year.  When doing a mixed mode survey, our phone calls are twice as likely to yield requests for another email than a completed survey. 

Clients want to respond when it is convenient for them; not when it is convenient for us. I am sometimes amazed at the market research industry. In marketing overall, the consumer has clearly begun to dictate the when, who and how of marketing communication – why would research be any different? While marketers scramble to find ways to better engage their target audience, market researchers resort to paying more for less reliable data than ever. Now, more than ever, you must engage your audience with concise, focused surveys about topics and relationships they care about. Remember, if your clients and employees don’t think anything will happen based on their feedback, they won’t take the time. Would you?