Editor’s note: Brian Van Houten is director, client services, at Answers Research, Solana Beach, Calif.

In the effort to keep a finger on the pulse of an evolving technology marketplace, manufacturers and providers of advanced technology products and services conduct thousands of surveys annually with the same target in mind: IT professionals. These individuals comprise a critical research target, with purchasing authority and servicing responsibility for computer hardware and software, servers, wireless communications, handhelds, and other technologies utilized in businesses of all sizes. Because the surveys they are asked to complete gather data that heavily influences next-generation designs for the technologies under their jurisdiction, IT professionals have a vested interest in participating. However, because they are a relatively small and oft-contacted group, it is important for marketers to consider factors that will encourage survey participation when designing a research program.

Reaching IT professionals

Important considerations to ensure respondent participation include a clearly written and presented survey, a short interview, completion flexibility, and a generous incentive. Offering an online surveying methodology to this group can help provide these critical elements. The method allows the respondent to read and digest all questions quickly, and perhaps most importantly, gives this important respondent set the flexibility to complete the survey according to their own schedule, not the interviewer’s. Use of this method will in turn offer the project sponsor a decrease in research cost and timing, and an increase in survey response rates.

Getting a representative sample

There is no question that telephone interviewing is beneficial when it is critical to ensure a representative sample among a general consumer or business group. When surveying a highly “plugged-in” group of advanced technology decision-makers, however, these restrictions are virtually eliminated. With over 192 million Internet users in the U.S. and Canada, 87 million in Europe and 68 million in Asia, true market representation may be expanding beyond random-digit dialing and in-person methodologies to include their more efficient online counterpart. Moreover, because it is location-neutral, an online methodology eliminates the geographical biases inherent in telephone and in-person interviewing.

Online method offers flexibility

A study recently conducted by my firm uncovered that more than 98 percent of IT managers have been asked to participate in a market research survey in the past 12 months. Additionally, the majority of respondents were asked to participate on more than five occasions. On average, respondents were invited to participate in surveys eight times in the past year. With stats like these, it’s clear that if researchers wish to gain participation from this heavily surveyed group, offering increased flexibility is key. Using an online method, IT respondents can complete a survey as their busy schedules permit. Frequent monitoring of our survey completion logbooks shows that respondents completing online surveys work on the survey at all hours of the day and night.

Creating an online panel

One of the most efficient methods of garnering ongoing survey participation from the IT professional is through online panel creation. A panel offers benefits to the researcher and panel member, since it offers survey control and consistency for both groups. Panel membership offers the participant the opportunity to contribute to a set number of studies per set time frame, usually a year. Respondents have the convenience of completing studies on their own time and typically receive an incentive upon joining the panel and again for each completed survey. The main benefit of a panel to researchers is that a large group of respondents matching your IT manager criteria is both in one current database and generally available when you have important and timely data to gather.

Incentives

As marketers and research professionals, we must be aware of the ongoing requests to participate in studies among the IT manager sample set. To show appreciation for participation in market research surveys, and to ensure a willingness to participate in future studies, it is imperative that an incentive be delivered immediately following survey completion. The good news is that an incentive for participation must match the inconvenience placed on respondents to complete a survey. In cases where a respondent must travel to a central recruit facility or set aside a block of time for a scheduled or impromptu telephone interview, a larger incentive is usually paid. A clearly-presented online survey that can be completed at the respondent’s leisure requires a lower incentive.

Adding a qualitative element

With the online medium, respondents often provide more qualitative detail than they would with alternative research methods, perhaps because they feel a sense of anonymity along with a greater sense of control of their time. Gathering this qualitative input increases the value of a quantitative survey and allows the respondent to deliver a complete and uninhibited opinion about the concept in question. Additionally, as a counterpart to a live telephone interviewer probing for response clarification, online surveys may include a direct link to interviewers ready to clarify any open-ended questions.

Designing complex studies

Before online surveying became a viable methodology, central recruit research using computer-assisted or pen-and-paper data capture was the predominant completion method for choice-modeling studies. Using telephone or mail studies is rare with this methodology, as multiple steps are required by the researcher to ensure survey completion. If a telephone methodology is used, respondents are usually mailed or faxed any product descriptions or complex survey portions prior to the phone interview. Conversely, an online methodology can accommodate complex choice-modeling designs with up to 15 attributes each having nine levels. Dynamic online surveys may also include photographs of a product and video demonstrations, eliminating the need to centrally recruit participants to view the product concept.

Future outlook: overcoming geographic challenges

Despite the many advantages of using an online approach, geographic usage limitations do exist. Currently, online interviewing offers an excellent approach to reaching IT decision-makers in North America, Europe and several regions in Asia. But in cases where infrastructure does not yet support full online deployment, mixed methodologies that include the Internet, telephone and in-person interviewing may be more effective. However, these limitations will decrease proportionally to an increase in global Internet penetration.

Make it convenient

As manufacturers and marketers strive to design products that match client needs, input from today’s advanced technology decision-makers is critical. To reach this heavily surveyed population, researchers must make the interviewing process convenient for the IT professional participant. By using Internet surveys among this group, marketers serve both the respondent and the research sponsor. Beyond increasing critical response rates, an online approach delivers much more for the researcher: timely data collection, lower overall project cost, and increased data viability. With this kind of win-win scenario, marketers are wise to take advantage of an online approach.