Google offers a wide range of different services, including email, website hosting, drive space, website analytics, and even consumer surveys. While Google may seem like the all-encompassing mastermind of web services, there are benefits and drawbacks to using their consumer survey service for your business or products.
Benefits of Using Google.
Google has millions of users daily. Throughout the world, it’s the most used search engine and email service provider. Their consumer survey service offers many advanced features, including:
- Screening to target specific demographics
- Worldwide reach
- A high response rate
- Large samples to work with
To ensure your survey covers your target demographic, Google uses screening questions before the individual is ever asked to do the survey itself, to ensure you’re getting the most accurate results and targeting only those that will use or currently use your products or services.
Google also has the advantage of advertising on a wide variety of platforms, offering nationwide, and worldwide reach.
Most Google surveys are able to be completed on a wide scale within several days, due to large samples and a high response rate. The benefit here speaks for itself: you can have your results sooner and based off of a larger volume of customers.
Drawbacks of Using Google.
Using Google Consumer Surveys also has its drawbacks. Like any widespread platform, there is room for error and inaccuracies when dealing with large volumes of people.
Google offers a limited number of options when it comes to question types, including multiple choice and short answer. The lack of diversity in this field means that the questions start to look the same after you’ve done so many surveys, taking away from the unique identity of your product or service.
Google Consumer Surveys does not have a direct customer support line, leaving you in the dark should you have any questions on the specifics of your survey or how the analytics were generated. You can still use the Google general helpline, but may have trouble finding a representative with specific knowledge of the consumer survey service.
The data from your survey is automatically sent to a google spreadsheet, allowing limited filtering and access to the details of your survey. You get basic results in a basic template.
Google Vs. Pollfish.
While Google offers a wide base of consumers and several advertising platforms, Pollfish is an excellent Google consumer surveys alternative. Pollfish offers an extensive filtering process so you can find the best demographic for your survey.
You can choose almost every detail related to your demographic, including age, sex, location, survey language, cost comparison, household income and education, and more. These extended options offer an extremely efficient and specific survey experience, ensuring you’re getting the most out of your money.
Pollfish also offers screening questions to exclude those customers that wouldn’t be interested in your products or services, and their questionnaires are designed to be engaging and attractive. They offer several question types, including traditional multiple choice and short answer. The questionnaire design makes it easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye.
When you receive your results from Pollfish, you can filter them in many ways if you’re looking for specific information. Country, age, time, and gender are just a few options offered to users. You can view your results in a pie chart, bar graph, or list format, per question. That’s right, you can view your results in any of these formats and apply your filters directly to any single question, giving you the ability to edit and focus on only those questions which you feel are most important.
Pollfish, being its own entity, has its own dedicated customer support system in place as well, for when you don’t understand the results or how the process works. As soon as you navigate to the web page, a Pollfish representative is already on standby to offer prompt customer service for any questions or concerns that you might have.
What Does It Cost?
Both Google and Pollfish charge based on a per survey basis unless you choose one of the Pollfish monthly plans. While both Pollfish and Google cost $1 per completed survey, there are some differences in the pricing:
- Google charges an extra $3 per completed survey for their screening questions, whereas Pollfish only charges $0.05
- Google charges an extra $0.05 per completed surveys for location targeting whereas Pollfish offers this at no additional cost.
- Pollfish offers quotas at no additional charge, a service Google does not offer.
So, Should I Use Google?
While Google offers wide reach and excellence in the basics, Pollfish surpasses Google consumer surveys in several ways, including price. Many of Google’s surveys “force” participation by making the survey mandatory to access a service (such as a Youtube video). Pollfish never requires a survey to access any content, making the answers more honest and less forced to get to the originally promised service.
Google provides limited options for its pricing model regarding demographics and filters. Generally, any specifics such as age and location will cost more on a completed survey. Pollfish only charges small amounts for these and offers additional filtering options for no extra cost.
Overall, if you’re looking for accuracy, reach, and price, Pollfish is your best option.
Not only do you get excellent customer service. You also get the ability to view your results how and when you want to, in many different formats. This means that you can spend less time sifting through heaps of data and more time focusing on what you wanted to know in the first place.
