Thought Piece
Ask any average person what they think of traditional surveys and they will probably roll their eyes and start in on how much they hate them. Long, boring, and time-consuming are just a few of the adjectives used. And it’s true that old-school surveys are definitely so hard to get through that their completion rates hover around 25% on the high side. With respondent interest so low, it’s difficult to get the adequate data you need.
So how can researchers, particularly market data insight teams, get the information they need within an audience that detests surveys?
The answer lies in using vivid visual imagery in the form of .gifs and video in order to enhance the user experience. In a world where we are surrounded on all sides by pictures, from our smartphones to the billboards we pass as we commute to work, our mental processes are fine tuned to process images faster and more effectively. Images are more fun and convey more meaning in a smaller size than words can. Visuals make each survey easier to process, increase completion rates, and allow you to test your design concepts quickly and with minimal additional effort.
Easy To Process
Humans are able to understand concepts 98% faster when they are presented with images instead of text. “Visuals summarize content into smaller, and easier to process chunks, and when you select the right visuals, they offer more comprehensibility than text-based explanations.” In fact, the human brain can process images that the eye sees for as little as 13 milliseconds illustrating that the brain can make sense of images in shorter time periods. In contrast, studies show that the brain takes 600 milliseconds to process words. As the photographer Ansel Adams once said, “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.”
Using images is the highest effective way to engage respondents. Swydget’s use of rich, descriptive visuals and photos that allow respondents to process the questions faster means the survey is about asking someone to take less time responding to something because they don’t have to take a lot of time.
And Swytchback designed a highly visual, mobile-first platform so that more respondents are able to take a survey faster. In fact, visuals make surveys engaging and interactive (add link to millennial blog post) both of which keep respondents answering questions until the end. Swytchback surveys, Swydgets, provide some valuable insight into what visual assets within data surveys can provide.
Higher Completion Rates
When companies replace long questions with a visual device, either a picture or .gif, surveys can collect more data with more questions and still maintain the short time frame for survey responses.
Survey respondents can respond more rapidly and more directly to images. And faster, more direct responses lead to timely results and higher response rates. 10 to 20 question surveys have completion rates between 87 to 89%. And shorter surveys get higher completion rates. Up to the 90% range in Swytchback’s experience. (link to Story of Swytchback)
Test Your Concepts: Fast and Easy
Swytchback has successfully worked with multiple companies to predict fashion trends and to analyze customer style choices. One large retail clothing customer was able to survey their customers using vivid images of their clothes and parse out the difference between what customers identified as fashionable and what they were actually purchasing. The information provided relevant data insights into how social environmental events affected customer purchasing decisions.
Further visually driven surveys helped another customer identify which of their products would best appeal to a younger audience. The product images were exhibited in a way that allowed for fast, relevant insight results. And the customer was able to make agile decisions about the upcoming design trends for their products, saving themselves time and money.
Visually driven surveys from Swytchback allow you to test video gaming user experience, procedural user interface, clothing fashion trends, and even help you predict how, why, and when people will be eating out.
Surveys with Visuals are Surveys with a Vision Towards the Future
Visually driven surveys appeal to an up and coming audience of users that are used to living life on their mobile phones and other screens. They are used to being inundated with visuals and are used to processing them faster. By using visual elements in your surveys, you will get those higher completion rates. And images and videos help you plan for future products and possible sales forecasts.
Swytchback’s extensive, practical experience in the realm of image rich surveys has proven time and again that they simply work better and provide the results and insights that will add vision and value to your customer surveys. Contact us today and let us show you the beauty of visually driven surveys.
