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How to Avoid Survey Fatigue: Using AI Adaptive Questioning to Keep Respondents Engaged
Summary: This blog post identifies survey fatigue as a challenge to data collection and examines different types of survey fatigue, including pre-survey fatigue and survey-taking fatigue.The blog suggests that AI adaptive questioning can improve survey quality by probing respondents with dynamic follow-up questions and offering a more human-like conversation. The blog post concludes that AI adaptive questioning can lead to shorter surveys, deeper insights, and reduced human bias, ultimately helping to combat survey fatigue.
Surveys are a great way for controlled & consistent data collection. It helps you get valuable responses from your target audience for important decision-making. But wait, getting sufficient responses through your survey is a challenge in itself. Respondent’s Survey fatigue can further worsen the situation, resulting in low-quality data.
In this blog, let’s get deeper into the problem of survey fatigue and also find out how it can be fought with a compelling solution.
Types of Survey Fatigue
Your survey respondents may be prone to Survey Fatigue when they feel tired while they encounter surveys. I have listed 2 dominant types of survey fatigue below.
Pre-Survey Fatigue
Stop bombarding your respondents with emails to take the survey. This leads to survey fatigue even before taking the survey. This is called Pre-Survey fatigue. This creates a negative brand perception. You must know what channels to use and when to send survey emails to your respondents.
Survey-Taking Fatigue
This is the kind of tiredness that respondents experience while taking the survey. There can be many reasons for this fatigue, which I have discussed in the next section. Learn the nuances of survey creation and aim to create surveys your respondents love to take. This will make all the difference.
Reasons for Survey Fatigue
Let’s explore a few reasons for survey fatigue.
Frequent Surveys
As we discussed in the previous section, sending frequent survey requests is the main reason for pre-survey fatigue. Invent intelligent ways to send survey requests without offending the respondents. For example, post-event surveys can be sent immediately after the event, whereas this is not the case with customer research surveys.
Lengthy Surveys
Lengthy survey is the reason for survey-taking fatigue. To overcome this problem, create short and sweet surveys that are to the point. Ditch unwanted questions. Follow a minimalist approach while creating your survey questions. Also, keep a watch to ensure your survey questions don’t sound repetitive.
Complex Surveys
This is another reason for survey-taking fatigue. Your questions should be easy to understand. Do not overload your questionnaire with jargon that your respondents cannot understand. Keep your target audience in mind while framing your survey. Use Jargon only when it is unavoidable to present your case.
AI adaptive questioning: Solution to Survey Fatigue
AI adaptive questioning is a technique used to probe your respondents with dynamic follow-up questions to gather the right data. It is also called “AI dynamic questioning” or “AI follow-up questioning”.
Human-like Conversation
AI adaptive questioning triggers a humane conversation with your respondents dynamically. Your follow-up questions are tailored dynamically to the specific responses received from your respondents. It probes the respondents with relevant questions and creates a human-like conversation, tremendously thwarting survey fatigue.
Do you know? BlockSurvey uses the OARS communication framework. “OARS” stands for Open-ended questions, Affirming, Reflective listening, and Summarizing. It also has plans to roll out 5 Why’s writing framework.
Shorter Surveys
It is the responsibility of the survey owner to thwart survey fatigue. With AI adaptive questioning, the survey becomes minimalistic. Questions are tailored for each response dynamically. Shorter surveys naturally lead to happier respondents. Respondents no longer have to live with survey fatigue.
Do you know? At BlockSurvey you can select the number of probing questions for the parent question. Currently, survey administrators can choose between 1 to 5 survey questions. The administrator can decide the number of probing questions based on their requirement.
Deeper Insights
For the survey owner, AI adaptive questioning means deeper insights. Not all responses are the same. Why should the questions be? This AI technique takes a layered approach to getting to the root of the response. With AI, human bias is reduced. The collected insights make to actionable decisions.
Use cases
Customer Feedback: Starbucks
Consider Starbucks (a popular global coffee retailer) wants customer feedback post-purchase. Starbucks wants to collect actionable data to improve its premium offering. They want their customers to feel heard instead of experiencing survey fatigue. AI adaptive questioning can be a great lifesaver in this case.
Market Research: Brand Awareness
As a startup owner, do you want to create market research surveys? You no longer need to overwhelm your audience with survey fatigue. I have stitched together a blog that explains how AI adaptive questioning can help fatigueless Brand Awareness surveys.
Final Thoughts
Remember, AI cannot replace Humans. However, AI can definitely speed things up and beat respondents’ survey fatigue. Join BlockSurvey’s plethora of customers who are using BlockSurvey’s AI adaptive questioning to solve their respondents’ survey fatigue problem.
How to Avoid Survey Fatigue: Using AI Adaptive Questioning to Keep Respondents Engaged FAQ
What are some strategies for avoiding pre-survey fatigue, beyond simply reducing the frequency of survey requests?
Pre-survey fatigue can be mitigated by using various strategies that go beyond just limiting survey frequency. These include personalization, incentives, clear value proposition & channel optimization.
Can you elaborate on how AI can reduce human bias in gathering insights?
AI algorithms, by their nature, are not susceptible to the same cognitive biases that humans possess. For example, AI is free from confirmation bias (the tendency to favor information that confirms pre-existing beliefs) and anchoring bias (over-reliance on the first piece of information received). When AI is used to analyze survey data, it can identify patterns and relationships that human researchers might overlook or misinterpret due to their own biases. This leads to more objective and data-driven insights.
How does the OARS framework contribute to creating a more human-like conversation in AI-powered surveys?
The OARS framework, which stands for Open-ended questions, Affirming, Reflective listening, and Summarizing, is designed to facilitate engaging and empathetic conversations. In the context of AI adaptive questioning, the framework helps ensure that follow-up questions are: Open-ended: Encouraging respondents to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings, promoting a sense of genuine dialogue.3 Affirming: Acknowledging and validating respondents' perspectives, making them feel heard and respected. Reflective Listening: Demonstrating understanding by paraphrasing or summarizing respondents' answers, fostering a sense of connection. Summarizing: Bringing key points together, ensuring clarity and providing closure to the conversation.
How does AI adaptive questioning improve the survey experience?
AI adaptive questioning reduces survey length, eliminates redundant questions, and provides a more personalized survey experience for respondents.
While AI adaptive questioning offers benefits, are there any potential drawbacks or limitations to consider?
Although AI adaptive questioning presents numerous advantages, it's important to be aware of potential limitations: Data Dependency: The effectiveness of AI adaptive questioning relies heavily on the quality and quantity of data used to train the algorithms. Insufficient or biased data can lead to inaccurate or misleading insights. Unexpected Responses: AI algorithms may struggle to handle unexpected or highly nuanced responses, potentially leading to irrelevant or confusing follow-up questions. Human oversight and intervention may be necessary in such cases.
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Sarath Shyamson
Sarath Shyamson is the customer success person at BlockSurvey and also heads the outreach. He enjoys volunteering for the church choir.
