Ask Idealware: What Online Surveying Tools are Available?

Rian asks: Do you have a perspective on the different online surveying tools out there, that a nonprofit might use to conduct a survey of constituents? How does something like SurveyMonkey compare to other options?

Simone Parrish of Innovation Network says:
We’re a nonprofit consulting firm that offers evaluation training, consulting, and tools for other nonprofits and foundations. As an evaluation firm, we do a lot of surveys. We have been using Zoomerang for about six years and have always been happy with it, but there has been quite a bit of expansion in the field since we chose it, and I have been casually looking for a new solution. Before you start comparing packages, think about:

• How many surveys you expect to do over the course of a year. This could affect your pricing.
• How many responses you expect to receive (total). This is a sneakier pricing variable; some services charge for overages.
• Whether you want to use skip logic (e.g., If I answer A to question 1, I skip to page 2; if I answer B to question 1, I skip to page 3). This is an often-requested feature, but many lower-end solutions don’t offer it.
• What kinds of analysis you want to do with your results. If you’re just looking for percentages and a list of short answers, no problem. If you want more complex statistical analysis, you’ll need to check the features.

Most nonprofits we have worked with have fairly basic survey and reporting needs, which would be served by any of the below (the links go to the feature comparison pages):

• New player Survey Gizmo offers a free version that allows for 250 responses per month and a “personal” version for $19/month. These omit some desirable features, like skip logic. For their more fully-featured offerings (“Pro” and “Enterprise”), they offer a 10% discount for an annual contract and a 40% discount for nonprofits—so you could get the Pro package for $25 a month if you’re willing to commit for a year. The support forums are lively, with most questions answered within a day or two. I haven’t used it myself, but it’s getting great reviews.
• Survey Monkey is inexpensive ($19.95/month for up to 1,000 responses) and highly capable. There are some rumblings in the blogosphere about support being somewhat lacking, but it’s a solid solution with a lot of fans.
• QuestionPro offers a lot of features, including skip logic, in its free-to-nonprofits “Web Professional” version (normally $15/month) in exchange for a reciprocal link on your website’s home page. (Only you know whether having someone else’s logo on your home page is worth saving $5 per month.) QuestionPro looks less committed to ease-of-use than the other solutions.
• Zoomerang is a bit more expensive ($99 for three months or $350/year for nonprofits and educational institutions). It offers robust templating and sample surveys, which can be a big help if you’re not sure what kinds of questions to ask.

In short: If you think you’ll need to do a lot of surveys with complex reporting needs or statistical analysis over the next couple of years, check out Zoomerang and Survey Gizmo. For a twice-a-year customer satisfaction survey, look at Survey Monkey and QuestionPro.

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