Survey software you’ll never outgrow

Survey software is an online survey platform that helps you get feedback and turn data into insights. You can create engaging surveys and distribute them, analyse the data and produce reports. Professional survey software platforms are compliant with data security regulations, giving you peace of mind that your data is safe and secure.

Snap Surveys, founded in Bristol, UK in 1981, provides survey software and research services to organisations worldwide, including the BBC, NHS, US Department of Justice, and Royal Albert Hall. The platform is also widely used by independent researchers as a complete research solution. Security is underpinned by ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications.

Snap Surveys operates offices in the UK and New Hampshire, USA. In addition to its survey platform, it offers an in-house Research team to support projects and a library of pre-built surveys with instant downloadable reports. Customer support is available via live chat, phone, and email five days a week, with teams based in both the UK and USA.

Paper surveys can be a great tool for getting feedback from seldom-heard individuals that don’t have an internet connection. They can also be difficult to include in your analysis alongside your online survey results. Survey software lets you get feedback at scale, giving you a wider reach with digital distribution methods. The right survey software platform – such as Snap XMP – lets you scan your paper surveys into the software to give you integrated and inclusive analysis.

Survey software offers the chance to get closer to your audience from one platform.

Free form creators like Microsoft Forms and Google Forms are great for short, simple surveys on a small scale. Survey software platforms are professional tools that offer more sophisticated survey features and wider distribution.

Most trusted survey platforms use encryption, access controls, and comply with regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA to keep data secure. The level of protection can differ between providers, so always check their certifications and data storage policies. Look out for recognised credentials such as ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus.

Yes. Most survey software platforms let you add your own branding such as colour schemes, logos, and custom URLs so that your surveys are instantly recognisable. This is a great way to boost response rates by reducing the risk of your surveys being ignored.

Survey software supports a wide variety of question types: such as multiple choice, rating scales, open text, ranking, Likert scales, and more. These can be used to keep your survey engaging and ensure the participant remains interested.

Yes. Advanced tools also include survey logic so participants only see questions and answer options that are relevant to them. You can also personalise your survey with data you already hold on your participants, reducing the amount of questions they need to ask – such as their name and occupation.

Your results can be viewed in dashboards with charts and graphs, exported to spreadsheets, or integrated into analytics tools. Many platforms also offer filters, cross-tab analysis, and sentiment analysis to dig deeper into trends. This gives you greater insights into your data and allows you to make informed decisions.

The benefits of surveys for research include the ability to collect data on a large scale. With the right questions, you cancapture attitudes, behaviours, and opinions that will enable you to make effective changes. You’ll also build trust and loyalty as your audience feels seen and heard as you react to their feedback. Another major benefit is the chance to get ideas and suggestions through open-ended questions that give the participant a chance to speak freely in their own words.

The most important features of survey software are those that make surveys easy to design, distribute, and analyse while keeping your data secure. A good platform should offer an intuitive interface with customisable templates and a variety of question types, including logic, so surveys feel relevant to each respondent.

Branding options such as adding logos and colours help maintain a professional look and brand identity, while mobile optimisation ensures high response rates across devices. Strong distribution options (email, links, social media, or website embeds) make it simple to reach the right audience, and built-in response management helps track progress and send reminders.

Equally critical are reporting and analysis tools that allow you to visualise results, filter data, and export findings for deeper insights. Finally, reliable security and compliance with standards such as GDPR or HIPAA are essential to protect sensitive information and build trust with respondents.

We can’t speak for everyone – but when you choose Snap Surveys you we go above and beyond to make sure you get the support you need. Our dedicated Support Team is based in the UK and is available 5 days per week by live chat, phone, and email. We also have a Support Hub area on our website with webinar recordings, videos, and tutorials to help you. You can also book one-to-one Consultancy sessions with one of our experts by the hour to help you tackle a specific problem if you have one.

Survey software accessibility is important because it ensures that everyone, regardless of ability, can participate and share their perspectives. Features like screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, clear contrast, and alternative text for images make surveys usable for people with visual, hearing, or motor impairments. Include text alternatives for non-text content such as images. You should make all content easy to see: don’t rely on colour to convey information, ensure foreground and background colours are sufficiently contrasting, and account for resizing text up to 400%. You should ensure all functionality on the page can be accessed by a keyboard. You can also help users avoid mistakes by using descriptive instructions, error messages and suggestions for correction. Using emojis for easily identifiable answer options can help people with learning disabilities, while audio descriptions can help people with visual impairments.

Survey software typically stores data in a secure, cloud-based database managed by the platform provider.  When respondents complete a survey, their answers are transmitted over an encrypted connection (usually HTTPS) and saved directly into the provider’s servers. These databases are often hosted on major cloud services (like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), which allow for scalability, backup, and disaster recovery.

Access to the stored data is usually controlled by user permissions within the survey platform, so only authorized administrators or researchers can view, export, or analyse results. Many providers also comply with data protection standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2, ensuring that storage practices meet legal and ethical requirements.

For most platforms, users can download responses data into formats like CSV, Excel, or PDF for offline storage and analysis, while the primary data remains securely hosted on the platform’s servers.

At Snap Surveys, we host our data on ANS servers (UK) and Azure servers (US).

For most survey software platforms, you unlock more features for higher fees. This means if you want a simple survey solution, it keeps the cost down. But the flip side is that you’re required to spend more if you have complex needs. With Snap Surveys, all features are unlocked from day one. You simply pay for user licenses and response-unit bundles. This means you can use the full power of the Snap XMP platform without restriction, while only paying for the number of responses you receive.