Recently I had the opportunity to conduct an offline survey during the BolderBOULDER 10k, one of the world’s biggest foot races (50,000+ participants). This experience made me appreciate the offline capability for more than just being able to survey without an internet connection. The personal interview style allowed me to engage with respondents and observe the reaction of participants who just completed the 10K race.
I am not new to offline surveys. I have used them at tradeshows and conferences when Wi-Fi is slow or spotty and to avoid paying the hefty direct internet fees that convention centers charge. Typically, I use offline to collect leads at these events. So fielding an event survey in “the moment” was an entirely different experience.
It got me wondering why aren’t marketing researchers conducting more offline surveys? As marketers we understand how important it is to know who your customers are. What better way to get familiar than interacting directly with them?
This article outlines some of the less obvious but important benefits of offline surveys. But first, let me tell you a little bit about the BolderBOULDER, in case you aren’t familiar with it.
The BolderBOULDER
The BolderBOULDER is a 10K citizens race held every Memorial Day since 1979. It has grown from 2,200 to 52,000 participants who often dress in costume and are entertained with bands, belly dancers, slip-n-slides, sprinklers and the likes as they run through town to finish at CU’s Folsom stadium where they are cheered on by thousands.
“Since 1979 BolderBOULDER has grown from a small community event to one of the largest and most innovative running races in the world.”
The event ends with a tribute to veterans. Needless to say, it is a super-charged, fun event.
But lets get back to offline surveys.
Benefits of an Offline Survey
Besides the obvious benefit of not needing internet access, other advantages of offline surveys include:
- Superior results
- Wider reach
- Higher response rate
- Deeper exploration
- Better observation of behavior
Superior Results
With over 52,000 BolderBOULDER participants, it was not hard to find someone who was willing to take a few minutes to answer my questions. It also helped that they were excited about completing the run and wanted to share their experience.
With my iPad in hand, I had them answering questions before they even realized that they were responding to a questionnaire. They were more than willing to talk about their favorite brand of running shoes, where they got them, what sponsors they recalled seeing along the racecourse, and what could be done to make the event even better.
Because the event was so fresh in their mind, it was easy for respondents to answer. This leads to more accurate data.
Wider Reach
Even though the BolderBOULDER sent a post-event email to participants with a link to the survey, the offline survey allowed us to reach more people.
If you don’t have an extensive contact list or you don’t want to fatigue your customer base with yet another survey, or want to get the public’s opinion, an offline survey may be the way to go.
Retailers are certainly taking advantage of the offline survey functionality. You have probably seen surveyors at the mall, outlet, or on the street with tablet devices conducting personal interviews. These questionnaires, known as consumer intercept surveys, allow stores to ask consumers about their shopping experience to understand consumer’s preferences, perceptions, and behavior.
Political campaigners are also conducting offline polls to gauge the general public’s opinion.
Higher Response Rate
Because offline surveys are typically in the form of a personal interview, people are more likely to respond. Of course the surveyor must have good interviewing skills know how to engage people. Field researchers and consumer interviewers are trained and role-play before being sent out to the field.
Deeper Exploration
The real beauty of the personal interview style that offline affords, is that you can explore responses further to gather deeper information. No wonder why field researchers prefer this survey method.
Use a qualitative question after a quantitative question to probe the question further. This allows you to capture why the respondent answered the way they did.
Better Observation
Offline surveys are perfect for market researchers who are testing a live product. Capturing data in the “moment” allows you to observe the attitude and behavior of consumers as they use the product.
Seeing respondent’s reaction as they hear, feel or taste the product gives you much better data and can validate how they responded to your Likert scale question on how they would rate the product or experience.
Include a follow-up question after your Likert scale so that you can capture this data. It doesn’t have to be in an open-text format. You could use radio button answer options that correlate with the emotional response to save you from having to type the answer and speed up the process.
Disadvantages of Offline Surveys
Of course there are some downsides to offline survey. They are more time consuming. You will have to train your staff on how to best conduct them. Still, this can be cheaper than printing, postage, and data entry costs associated with paper surveys.
Offline Survey Tips
Creating an offline survey is not much different than creating an online survey. Like any survey, you need to be clear about your goal and objectives so you have actionable data in the end. You don’t want to fatigue respondents with questions that aren’t relevant to your goal.
But there are a few things you need to be aware of when creating an offline survey.
Offline Dos and Don’ts
Do:
- Keep it short – Don’t ask too many questions or your respondents will lose interest. If you are conducting a consumer intercept survey, you should keep it under 5 minutes.
- Keep it simple –use easy-to-answer question types that are quantifiable such as radio buttons and checkboxes. Use open-ended questions sparingly to probe deeper into answers that need follow-up but understand that too many will be time consuming.
Don’t:
- Avoid using a lot of images and tables – If you use these, make sure that they are formatted correctly for your offline device. Also realize that a survey that is image heavy can be slow to load. While you can use a table of radio buttons or checkboxes, realize that fat fingers can be problematic.
- Avoid advanced logic features – You can use show/hide logic but avoid page logic and custom scripting that requires internet access.
Use Offline as Another Means of Distribution
Survey email invitations remain the most popular form of distribution for a reason. They are cost effective and easy to administer. An offline survey shouldn’t replace your email invite but they are a good way to supplement it and learn more about your customers in the process.
Resources
The Daily Camera – BolderBoulder 2014
SurveyGizmo Offline Mode