Subscribe Via RSSThe Google Consumer Surveys Research Tool
Google Consumer Surveys, is a low-cost business tool by Google that enables you to gain unbiased, customised market research on any business related topic from a random sample of respondents (mainly US).
Every time a user responds to a survey, the publishers earn a few cents. The results of the survey are sold to Google’s business customers such as market research firms and small businesses.
Paul McDonald, co-creator of Google Consumer Surveys, said that the product was created to help newspaper publishers regain circulation revenue, but warned that Google Consumer Surveys was not a magic bullet.
At the time of writing the surveys only work with Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer browsers (not Safari browsers).
How Google Consumer Surveys Work
The consumer surveys work as a “paywall” for websites such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the LA Times who offer premium content. If visitors respond to a survey they gain access to the sites content for free.
- A visitor gets about a paragraph of legible content, the remainder of the page being greyed out.
- A survey appears between the legible paragraph and the blocked content asking a simple question that has been submitted.
- The surveys consist of one or two questions in one of 12 different formats, from a star rating or multiple choice to selecting one of two images or fill-in-the blank open-ended questions.
The reader donates a few seconds of their time along with their answers to unblocked the content. Readers who encounter a survey for the first time also get a message informing them about the survey and anonymity.
Publishers can also create an alternate action which will grant access, such as requesting to readers join their email list, “share” content on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to gain access. The alternative is to pay for the content. According to the team at Google, the alternate action is rarely taken.
Who Could Use the Surveys?
Tracking of a brand over time. This asks the same question over an extended time period so you can see how responses change with time. A lot of smaller companies are using this to understand brand awareness as they gain more market-share.
Product testing. Companies testing products want to understanding what features consumers want to see in their products, particularly the colours and logos used. There are a lot of app developers testing characters for their games.
Advertising effectiveness. Measuring the effectiveness of advertising through Google survey is popular. An advertisement is show to a user and a response obtained. This enables the effectiveness of a campaign to be measured where normally it would be much harder to do so.
Socioeconomic research. Economists can run surveys to understand how people feel about different types of questions and socioeconomic status.
- Notable uses of Google consumer surveys include voter information tools and behaviour surveys of holiday travellers.
Google consumer surveys published voter opinion polls leading up to the 2012 US presidential elections. According to New York Times statistician Nate Silver, the Google consumer surveys election polls were ranked second in terms of reliability and lack of bias in predicting election results.
What are the different question types available?
Google surveys offer over 10 different question types, from standard formats like multiple-choice and star-rating, to image selection and open-ended formats.
What are the available targeting options?
After selecting your target country, you can choose to target using demographic parameters or using a screening question. Demographics include age, gender, and geography, down to state. Screening questions are used to narrow your audience even farther.
