Snap SurveyShop
December 2001
Whether you use Snap to create surveys or analyze them, or simply have questionnaires that need processing, SurveyShop’s flexible approach to data entry, analysis and handling overflow work from its twin service centres in the UK and the US means it has something to offer for everyone involved in research or feedback activities.
While some SurveyShop customers bring their work to the service bureau because they do not have survey software like Snap to do the work themselves
While some SurveyShop customers bring their work to the service bureau because they do not have survey software like Snap to do the work themselves, many of SurveyShop’s regular customers either are or become Snap users too. In this Focus On article, we examine two such SurveyShop customers.
Scottish Equitable uses Snap itself for smaller projects, but when complex jobs come along, it always enlists SurveyShop’s help. Snap files are exchanged electronically at both ends - Scottish Equitable even send a Snap file containing the questionnaire at the start, which reduces error and saves on set-up time and cost.
The Daily Telegraph has moved towards installing and using Snap for itself - which is a typical progression for many of SurveyShop’s customers - but only after its surveys has been entered and processed reliably by SurveyShop.
The Daily Telegraph gets closer to its two million readers with help from SurveyShop
With over 2.3 million readers each day, The Daily Telegraph has the largest readership among Britain’s quality daily newspapers. Its upmarket readership has traditionally made the paper attractive to advertisers. But it would be a mistake to consider two million readers as belonging to one homogeneous group: they cover a broad spectrum of ages and interests, and often focus on quite different parts of the Telegraph’s content. This is what a range of surveys carried out by the newspaper, and processed by Snap SurveyShop, are demonstrating. It is information that advertisers find compelling.
The process started ten years ago, when the newspaper surveyed people applying to job advertisements in its recruitment pages. Though creating the questionnaires and distributing them was something the Telegraph’s Research and Strategy team could manage internally, coping with the deluge of responses and producing any meaningful analysis was another matter. The newspaper turned to SurveyShop who, speedily and effortlessly, were able to transform a pile of several thousand questionnaires into the analysis the team was looking for, much to everyone’s relief.
What started as a one-off study became an annual project. Over the years, the range and size of surveys has grown dramatically. Last year, SurveyShop entered and processed eleven different surveys for the Telegraph, consisting of some 40,000 questionnaires. Each survey is designed and mailed out by the seven-strong Research and Strategy team, using a sample drawn from a large internal database. The researchers usually make use of SurveyShop’s business reply service, so that respondents mail in completed forms in prepaid envelopes direct to SurveyShop who then handle all the receiving, carry out any coding of open ended questions, key in the data, set up and run the analysis.
"I am not sure what we would have done without SurveyShop. We are not equipped in house to be able to do everything ourselves..."
Steve Millington, The Daily Telegraph’s Advertisement Research Manager commented: "I am not sure what we would have done without SurveyShop. We are not equipped in house to be able to do everything ourselves. This kind of work needs to be done by a reliable, efficient supplier. What it gives us is the capacity to do this kind of research — and to do it more often. We can get much deeper insight than we can from standard published data sources, which is useful for us and for our advertisers."
As the newspaper has increased the number of sections it produces over time, the team decided to ask readers more detailed questions about their reading habits.
"We were one of the first newspapers to seriously investigate the readership of the different sections of the newspaper," Steve explained. "Like all good research, it backs up with facts the hunches you already had. Our motoring section tends to be read by younger male readers whilst our review section in Sunday Telegraph is preferred by females; personal finance is read by older, more investment literate readers, and so on. However, it gained us a lot of PR mileage with the advertising agencies. We have repeated this three times now, and used SurveyShop each time."
SurveyShop always provides the Telegraph’s researchers with a full set of printed tables and an electronic version of the survey in Snap format. This avoids the need to go back to the supplier simply for extra tables by a separate filter or a different cross-break. All of the researchers have been trained to use Snap to produce extra tables, which Steve considers another benefit. The latest initiative is to do some of the questionnaire design work using Snap as well.
"These days, we originate a lot of surveys," Steve said. "And SurveyShop do quite a lot for us. It works well: the service is good and the price is competitive."
Speed and sensitivity from SurveyShop on Scottish Equitable’s employee surveys
Scottish Equitable is a major provider of life, pensions, protection and investment products, based in Edinburgh. It is also a large employer with a commitment to best practice in employee relations. The firm has successfully been using surveys among its employees, keyed in and processed rapidly by SurveyShop, to achieve effective staff consultation and monitor the impact of company initiatives upon its workforce.
For Libby Taylor, market research manager at Scottish Equitable, speed is of the essence in staff surveys. "It is the timeliness of our reporting that enables managers to decide what has to be done, so that any issues which may arise can be dealt with promptly. If, by the time the results come back, they are out of date, there is a danger that things have moved on. In fact, there is a negative effect if people do not see their involvement having a benefit. Our results go out while the survey is still fresh in everyone’s mind – and that is important for the ongoing commitment of staff."
Given the sensitivities of surveying employees, there is an added advantage of involving SurveyShop in the process
Given the sensitivities of surveying employees, there is an added advantage of involving SurveyShop in the process. Employees place a completed questionnaire into a sealed envelope which is despatched unopened from the mail room direct to SurveyShop, who then open the envelopes and key in the data entirely in confidence. Only anonymous results are returned to the in-house research team.
Scottish Equitable uses Snap, the same software used by SurveyShop. This simplifies and streamlines both the set-up and the analysis stages. Rather than receive any printed tables from SurveyShop, the data are provided electronically to the Scottish Equitable.
"We run our own analysis – we like to mull over the data and decide how to cut it," said Libby. "We find that approach works well for us."
The most recent staff survey involved 3500 questionnaires, sent blind to SurveyShop. The forms were despatched to employees at the end of July, for completion by 10th August. SurveyShop then had to enter the data and deal with two completely open ended questions which had gathered a very wide range of lengthy responses.
There was an added complication from a battery of 18 questions in the survey, used to build a proprietary lifestyle segmentation model. Libby feared this would require a lot of time consuming manual processes on paper to incorporate it in the analysis. However, SurveyShop handled the entire process electronically.
SurveyShop extracted the relevant questions and sent a file to the company that had pioneered the lifestyle model. This company returned a matching file of segmentation codes which SurveyShop merged back into the data using the Snap Join utility. The analysis could then proceed, and Libby was able to circulate the results towards the end of September.
"We had a tight deadline, but SurveyShop met it, which was great for us. It is a big exercise, and it is something we do not have the resources to do ourselves. We also know SurveyShop have accurate checking procedures: they verify 10% of questions for us to ensure they have been coded and keyed correctly. You need to know the actions you are taking come from accurate data."
Libby is impressed with the personal service she received from SurveyShop. She has two contacts with whom she has dealt exclusively for several years.
"I find it good to work with them," Libby commented. "They are very friendly and very experienced. I’ve never had a problem getting a response from them - they always phone back. We would always tend to use SurveyShop whenever we have more than 100 questionnaires to process."
How SurveyShop can help
SurveyShop offers a complete range of survey processing services
SurveyShop offers a complete range of survey processing services: coding, editing, data input right through to setting up and running the analysis for tabulations, reports and charts.
The "business reply service" for self-completion surveys is a popular and useful service - SurveyShop will act as the delivery point for mail-in surveys, and handle all the logistics of opening the envelopes and preparing the forms for data entry. These are tasks that can overwhelm the in-house researcher, like 3000-strong surveys carried out by The Daily Telegraph.
SurveyShop will also confidentially destroy questionnaires, so that sensitive projects like Scottish Equitable’s employee surveys will achieve higher participation because respondents are assured confidentiality.
Clients depend on SurveyShop’s speed and accuracy, but they also rely on the experience and practical know-how of SurveyShop’s skilled consultants and the continuity of knowing you will be dealing with the same person each time.
As many customers have found, SurveyShop brings the speed and flexibility of Snap to those who don’t necessarily have the technology themselves – but it also acts as a lifeline to those who do.