Biases in B2B Online Surveys

Researching your target audience is an integral part of any B2B marketing plan, and online surveys can be an efficient way of gathering data. However, a recent blog post from Tom Webster (@BrandSavant) brought up some great points regarding the possible biases in online surveys.

For starters, there may be a certain type of person who would answer an online survey, regardless of who’’s sending it. So you can’’t just send out a mass email and assume the responses you get back represent a random sample of your target audience; they may just represent a group of people who are more likely to respond to online surveys.

Another thing to note is how you’’re gathering your emails. In the case of B2C, perhaps it’’s only when your customers make an online purchase. If that’’s the case, what about the customers who buy in-store? The type of people who purchase online versus in-store may be two different groups of people with two different perspectives. You have to think about your list, who these people are, and segment them accordingly.

Though I reference two possible biases, there are myriad possibilities; thus, you simply have to know your data. Once you understand what you’’re looking at, and who these people are, segment it according to trends and similarities. And if you’’re going to incentivize people to respond, consider utilizing a differential incentive tier based on these groupings.

The act of research is a technical and scientific process that requires close scrutiny and constant monitoring. There are so many inherent biases in it that have to be considered. Looking at your data and understanding it can be a great first start to segmenting it accordingly and receiving the most applicable responses.