How To Lessen Cheaters In Online Surveys

Online surveys are considered powerful. However, there are a few  promotional tools that are a bit subtle for the services or products in question.  One instance is that if you ask about a product’s positive features such as “How vital is Pepsi’s great taste?”, you are thereby setting a positive connotation on the respondent’s mind. And by taking census on your existing consumers, you are simply reminding them of the item that they have already liked yet might have been dis remembered until the survey came.    

Despite online survey’s ample advantages, it is unfortunately capable to provide fraud which is one of its major disadvantage. The authenticity of survey statistics rely greatly on panel integrity.  To be able to do so, survey companies can make use of various security measures to minimize survey cheaters and keep up the panel’s integrity.

Invitations. If respondents are only invited to answer the survey, this will provide the firm an opportunity to verify their personal details. This process ensures that similar name and info is not assigned to another email addressee in the survey firm’s system.   

Mailing address. Let the respondents submit their mailing address where coupons and reward points will be forwarded to.  Again, if similar address appears on the system in multiple accounts, then a cheater may have penetrated your panel.

Time frame. You can set a time frame in filling out online surveys. This can eliminate cheaters who tend to cross through just to answer questions randomly.  

Straight-line responses. Make use of software that can automatically remove surveys with answers that consist of similar numbers or letters on all the questions given.  

IP address. If by chance, you caught someone cheating, have their IP addresses blocked. In doing so, this will disable such addresses to submit any responses on other future surveys. Another thing, it’s also clever to limit the number of surveys for a particular IP address to get rid of multiple submissions.

Demographics. Evaluate the respondent’s information for consistency. If their responses don’t jibe with the other answers, then such user isn’t reliable and should be blocked from the system.

Last but definitely not the least, is the use of open-ended questions. You can include at least one essay-type question that doesn’t even require long answers - these can be used and analyze for  thoughtfulness. At most times, cheaters don’t exert effort to reply to such questions many times in an online surveys with different significant answers on it.