In light of Google's recent release of Google Surveys 360 [https://analytics.googleblog.com/2016/10/announcing-google-surveys-360-newest.html]—a groundbreaking addition to its Analytics 360 Suite—it's worth noting what this new market research tool gets right (and wrong).
According to real-time mobile polling platform Pollfish [https://www.pollfish.com/], while Google Surveys 360 is a positive first step for enterprise-level market researchers, there is room for improvement.
TV ad recall is great—but it could be better
One of the benefits of Google Surveys 360 is its ability to ask questions about TV ad recall both during and after broadcast—a quick and accurate way to gauge consumer sentiment immediately after an ad plays. But ideally, survey tools should allow consumers to watch and compare videos within the survey itself—making it possible to capture sentiment in real-time and completely eliminate recall bias.
A survey tool is only as powerful as its audience size
Although Google Surveys 360 is a powerful tool, it is hamstrung by the relatively small pool of 10 million respondents it is able to reach (for perspective, that's just 3% of the U.S. population). By reaching respondents where they spend hours everyday—on their cell phones—mobile-only platforms have the benefit of real-time access to a significantly broader pool of 320 million people or more (more than 100% of the U.S. population).
In a digital world, speed is everything
Unlike most other survey tools, Google Surveys 360 equips market researchers with everything they need to create and deploy their own statistically significant surveys—not in weeks or months, but in days. But in today's digital environment, sometimes key decision makers have only hours and minutes to work with. Marketers should be able to obtain consumer insights in less than 24 hours—and indeed, the technology exists to make that happen.
By capturing data in a real-time, non-intrusive way, market research on mobile devices could yield much more accurate and actionable insights than suite-based tools. Consider that companies like Pollfish are currently doing the following:
1) Reaching more than 320 million mobile phone users all over the world
2) Deploying surveys in minutes and generating results in hours (not days)
3) Providing real-time interactive infographics of poll results (for example, this infographic [https://www.pollfish.com/infographics/elections/presidential-candidates/Sep-2016/33] of voter sentiment in the lead-up to the 2016 elections)
4) Allowing for real-time tracking and updating of sentiment
5) Targeting voters based on behaviors rather than simple demographics
The next generation of surveying tools will more intelligently capture and target key consumers segments, which will allow companies to better allocate their budgets and generate the results they need to better serve their customers.