FAQ

Welcome to the SySurvey Frequently Asked Questions section.

This page has been put together to help answer any questions you may have regarding SySurvey. Note the first section contains the most popular questions about SySurvey.

Top Questions

Who uses SySurvey?

Is there a limit to the number of surveys that I can create?

How secure is SySurvey and the payment mechanism?

How many respondent groups can I maintain at once?

How do you cope with respondents who do not have email or internet access?

How do I get started with SySurvey?

Could I get your system to create an extract file specifically for my company’s use?

Can I upload a spreadsheet of my respondents from another source, or do I have to create my respondent list manually?

Can I try SySurvey without charge?

Can I send out reminders to respondents who have not responded to my survey?

Can I grant access to individuals to certain sections of my SySurvey system?

Can I cross-tabulate a demographic against a question?

Can I analyse my data while the survey is "live"?

Are there ways of maintaining a panel-based survey?

Top Questions

Who uses SySurvey?

SySurvey is suitable for market researchers, marketers, HR managers and students alike. Because it caters for almost every type of survey scenario SySurvey's clients cover most areas of business.

Is there a limit to the number of surveys that I can create?

No. You are charged for the number of emails you send or web-based responses that your receive. If you had 100 credits, you could send 100 surveys to one individual, or one survey to 100 individuals. You decide.

How secure is SySurvey and the payment mechanism?

SySurvey uses the WorldPay secure system for credit card transactions, which is is one of the world's leading eCommerce solutions companies. For more information on WorldPay please click on their link in the left-hand column. SySurvey or Syclick do not hold any credit card details at any stage of the process. The SySurvey system itself is also very secure. Each page of code is wrapped in ASP that checks to see that the user is logged in (so it is not possible to randomly type in an address and enter that way). SQL Server also uses it's own unique encryption features throughout the process. The data on the SySurvey server is backed up regularly.

How many respondent groups can I maintain at once?

There is no limit to the number of respondent groups you hold.

How do you cope with respondents who do not have email or internet access?

Using CATI technology (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) the admministrator may call the respondent and complete the questionnaire on their behalf over the phone. A 20 question survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete over the telephone.

How do I get started with SySurvey?

To the right of your screen is a button that takes you straight into the registration process. After the simple sign-up wizard you'll be ready to start compiling your first questionnaire.

Could I get your system to create an extract file specifically for my company’s use?

Yes. SySurvey is constantly looking for ways to improve our system, so contact us if there’s a format into which you would be interested in downloading your SySurvey results.

Can I upload a spreadsheet of my respondents from another source, or do I have to create my respondent list manually?

You may do either. The source of information is irrelevant - providing it is cut and paste into a spreadsheet and saved either as a .CSV or .TXT file then uploading respondent data is made simple. It is also possible to create the file manually.

Can I try SySurvey without charge?

Yes. You'll have to sign up as a guest user but this only takes about 30 seconds. Click on the "Open An Account" link on the right hand menu.

Can I send out reminders to respondents who have not responded to my survey?

Yes. A reminder can be sent out at anytime and will only go to those people who have not yet responded. The system automatically sends out a reminder 24 hours before the cut-off date.

Can I grant access to individuals to certain sections of my SySurvey system?

As a system administrator, you can create as many users of your SySurvey system as you wish, and grant different levels of access to your datFor example, you could create a user who is only able to download results files from surveys, or a person who can only create questions on existing surveys. Or perhaps you want to create a generic user so that you can grant read-only access to your respondent lists. With SySurvey’s clever administration system, you decide who views or users your data, when, and for how long.

Can I cross-tabulate a demographic against a question?

Yes. The cross-tab facility allows you to cross-tabulate any question against any demographic you have held against your respondents.

Can I analyse my data while the survey is "live"?

Yes. Thanks to the "real-time" processes of SySurvey, once you have gained 1 response to your survey, you are able to begin analysing your results immediately.

Are there ways of maintaining a panel-based survey?

SySurvey was originally developed for exactly that purpose. The system not only records respondent demographics and responses to questions, but it also allows each respondent to accumulate points depending upon how many surveys they have completed. This is ideal for incentivised panels (which is always advisable). The system allows for respondents to retire from a panel at any time, or you may do this on their behalf as the administrator. Uploading of new respondent files is also easy, allowing the administrator to add, append, overwrite or delete previous respondent files. This allows for newly recruited respondents to be added easily.

I'm A Market Researcher

I am a market research professional. Does your service provide the facilities that I need without the need for web technologies?

Absolutely. Indeed SySurvey was developed by market researchers and the system does all the hard work for you. The extremely user-friendly interface makes questionnaire creation AND collation easy. An understanding of web technologies is NOT required.

Who uses SySurvey?

SySurvey is suitable for market researchers, marketers, HR managers and students alike. Because it caters for almost every type of survey scenario SySurvey's clients cover most areas of business.

Are there ways of maintaining a panel-based survey?

What kinds of questions can I ask?

SySurvey allows you to ask a variety of open and closed questions. You can formulate your questionaires with classic question types, such as radio buttons, numeric-only, large textboxes, and pull-down menus, and also use specialised and more sophisticated question-types, such as matrices, points-based questions, and pre-populated questions.

How do you cope with respondents who do not have email or internet access?

Do you provide any extract files that are more sophisticated than a simple CSV file?

Yes. We currently offer two extract file formats, for Continental Research and IPSOS. These are groups of text files that are downloaded from SySurvey and uploaded into their respective systems for analysis.

Technology and Security

Are there any special hardware requirements?

No. All you need is a computer with internet access and Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape 4 or higher, and a username/password. Because the whole process, from questionnaire design, respondent uploading, and results compilation are performed online there is no requirement for software installation. This is a huge saving in IT support, software updates, data storage and general maintenance normally associated with desk-top software.

What drives the SySurvey engine?

Database: SQL Server 7; Language: ASP, HTML, JavaScript, VisualBasic

How secure is SySurvey and the payment mechanism?

How does SySurvey cope with stringent firewalls?

The system allows you a number of different delivery options. If you know your respondent can receive attachments then you may deliver the email with an attached HTML file. It is also possible to send the email as an HTML email, allowing you to further cu

What is an ASP?

An application service provider (ASP) is a company offering individuals or groups access over the Internet to applications and related services that would otherwise have to be located in their own personal or enterprise computers. ASP services are an important alternative, not only for smaller companies with low budgets for information technology, but also for larger companies as a form of outsourcing and for many services for individuals as well.

What is ASP? Part 2

ASP also stands for Active Server Pages, which is a programming language used widely on the internet. It is the code that communicates between the database and what you see in your browser (HTML).

What database do you use?

SySurvey's backbone is the powerful and industry-leading Microsoft SQL Server 7.

Who can access my data?

Only who you grant access to. SySurvey adheres to a strict Privacy Policy, which you can read here[insert link to policy page].

Can I grant access to individuals to certain sections of my SySurvey system?

Does this cost extra money?

No. This functionality is available to any system administrators, no matter how many or few emails or web-responses you have purchased. We just ask that you manage your users in accordance with our Terms of Use.

Email Surveys

Can I create an email-based only survey?

Yes. You will need to upload a respondent list to the system (a very simple upload procedure that takes 2 minutes to complete) and of course the respondent list should contain names and email addresses, but once this has been loaded up you may email surveys to this list as many times as you wish.

Can I decide whether a survey is in html or text format?

Yes. An HTML email will allow you to include a banner for branding as well as specify the background and text colors. A plain text email is particularly useful for recipients who may sit behind a firewall or who can't support HTML email.

Can I send a survey as a link or does it have to be an attachment?

You can send both. In fact an attachment will contain a link anyway, just incase the recipient can't open the attachment.

Can I send out reminders to respondents who have not responded to my survey?

Yes. A reminder can be sent out at anytime and will only go to those people who have not yet responded. The system automatically sends out a reminder 24 hours before the cut-off date.

Can I change the address of where the survey is coming from (i.e. from "myname@mysurvey.com")?

Yes. Whatever email address you give the survey is the email address that appears in the recipient's inbox.

Can I create a points-system, to incentivise my respondents to remain on a panel?

Yes. By creating a points-based panel, you can allot points to panelists based on the number of surveys they have answered. These points can be reset at anytime (e.g. you want to hold a monthly competition for a panel that you use throughout the year).

Can resignation from my panels be automated?

In some instances you may want to offer the recipient the opportunity to resign from your panel of respondents. This may be done by clicking on a link in the email. SySurvey captures this information and displays who has resigned within the 'Respondents' section of the system, allowing easy viewing of respondent status.

Can I add new email respondents to an existing respondent list?

Yes. The system will allow you to upload, append, or overwrite a respondent list.

General

How do I get started with SySurvey?

To the right of your screen is a button that takes you straight into the registration process. After the simple sign-up wizard you'll be ready to start compiling your first questionnaire.

What is the maximum number of questions that I can have in a survey?

There is no physical limit but we recommend no more than 50 questions and have based our ratecard on an average of 20 questions per survey.

What is the maximum number of answers that I can set up for a single choice or multiple choice question?

There are no physical limits but we do not recommend having more than 10 or 15, as your surveyees should be able to see all the answers in front of them at once.

Is there a limit to the number of surveys that I can create?

What kind of surveys can I create?

SySurvey covers a multitude of research requirements. It is used for undertaking employee satisfaction surveys, getting important marketing intelligence and feedback, recognising training requirements, deploying customer relationship management strategies, carrying out traditional research such as omnibus opinion polls, print and banner advertising pre-testing, pop-up web-based surveys, and voting and elections.

Can I reuse questions from old surveys?

Yes. A simple search procedure allows you to copy and paste old questions into a new survey. This is particularly useful if you are undertaking a tracking study over a period of months.

Can I reuse old questionnaires?

Yes, it is very easy to copy old questionnaires. This is particularly useful if you are undertaking a tracking study over time, or if you wish to republish the survey in another language.

Can I add or remove questions and answers once the project is "live"?

No, simply because results would become invalidated. If you gain a 10% response to a question within the first morning of going live, and then decide to take out that question the remaining 90% would not be included in your results.

Can I make selected questions mandatory?

Yes.

Can I control whether or not certain questions are asked, according to the respondent's answers?

Yes. This technique is called 'routing' as it directs the respondent through a specific route of the survey. SySurvey allows the administrator to construct the survey so that only certain questions are asked depending upon their previous answer.

Can I add pictures or files to a question?

Yes. SySurvey allows you to display images relating to a specific question (gifs and jpegs). It also allows you provide a link to a file, which opens in a new window. Files types catered for include xls, doc, pdf, ppt, swf.

Can I change the text of a question after I’ve completed the question creation process?

Yes. You can edit any part of the survey (from cut-off date to email text) providing you have not alread distributed it.

Can I control the "look" of my surveys?

Yes. SySurvey's Survey Details section allows you to change the color of the background, the color, size and face of the text and upload banners to personalise the survey.

Can I preview a survey before I make it "live"?

Yes. A 'Preview' button will open a new window, displaying the survey exactly as your respondent will see it. This is a particularly useful feature whilst completing the questionnaire creation process.

Can I send a survey in another language?

Yes. SySurvey allows you to customise every bit of text that your respondent may read, including 'send' buttons and other instructions.

Is the SySurvey system itself available in multiple languages?

Not yet. All system buttons within SySurvey are in English, but it is an area that is under consideration. If you have any specific language needs, please contact us.

I have a survey I would like to send out in multiple countries in multiple languages. Can I do this?

Yes and no! SySurvey won't automatically send out a questionnaire in multiple languages. You would need to set up a seperate questionnaire for each language and each questionnaire would be a seperate survey. However it is possible to copy an entire questi

Can I create pre-populated answers in my surveys?

Yes. In fact this is one of SySurvey's features that sets it aside from the competition and is an extremely powerful tool. It is particularly useful for updating databases, for example a contact database where various facts about your contact change regularly. By uploading a database to SySurvey you are able to ask the question "Is this your name?" rather than "What is your name?". The advantage in this is that there is less interaction required from the respondent and saves them time, making the questionnaire easier to complete.

Can I create a survey that simultaneously uses email and web-based methods to complete a survey?

Yes. You can create a survey that uses any combination or number of email and web-based surveys. And with our respondent management system that allows administrators to complete individual questionnaires, you could even incorporate a CATI survey, where respondents' answers are collected over the telephone or in person.

Web-based Surveys

Can I create a web-based only survey?

Yes. Rather than delivering the survey as an email, SySurvey automatically generates a link to the survey. Simply activate this link and anyone can hit the link to complete the questionnaire. Web-based surveys are ideal for capturing site vistor opinions and profiles.

What is the response rate like on a web-based survey?

Of course it depends entirely upon your target market and the popularity of your web site, but generally if targetted corrrectly web surveys yield extremely high response rates and for a popular web site may be completed between 24-48 hours.

If I don't want to invite specific respondents, but I want to put a link to the survey on my web page, how do I find out what link to use?

A. As soon as you set up your survey the system will automatically generate a unique link for your questionnaire. This may then be used as the link on your web site.

Can I turn a web-based survey on or off manually?

Yes. It is possible to 'activate' or 'deactivate' the survey. When it is inactive the respondent, upon clicking the link, will be presented with a window telling them that the survey is currently not collating information.

What if more respondents fill out a web-based survey than I had allowed for? Will I be charged for the excess?

No. The system allows you to set a maximum amount of respondents and automatically switches off the survey when it reaches this maximum.

Demographics

Why would I want to capture demographic data?

Gaining an insight into your target audience is one of the most valuable benefits of research. It allows you to group people into specific sets and make clear distinctions between these different groups. Analysing demographic data helps all aspects of the marketing mix, from optimising your advertising budget to an effectively targetted customer relationship management strategy.

How does a demographic work?

Currently you can hold any number of demographics against your email respondent list. These have to be uploaded within the respondent upload file (a simple spreadsheet or text file) before the survey is sent out. It is not possible to hold demographics against a web survey because the methodology simply doesn't allow you to input this data prior to publishing the survey (if you don't know who is going to answer your survey then how can you know their demographics?). However it will be possible in the very near future to assign a specific question to be a demographic question. For example, Question 10 could be "What is your age?" where a drop-down list of age brackets is given for the respondent to select. Question 10 would then become one of your demogaphic values.

Can I hold demographics against my respondent list?

Yes. There is no limit to the number of demographics you hold against your respondent list.

Can I cross-tabulate a demographic against a question?

Yes. The cross-tab facility allows you to cross-tabulate any question against any demographic you have held against your respondents.

Data

Can I analyse my data while the survey is "live"?

Yes. Thanks to the "real-time" processes of SySurvey, once you have gained 1 response to your survey, you are able to begin analysing your results immediately.

Can I view my data without exporting it?

Yes. SySurvey’s "top-line results" facility allows you to quickly and easily look through your entire survey and view percentage results, and chart them online using dozens of different chart-types. For free-text questions, you can just as easily return a list of all the responses. Moreover, SySurvey provides an online cross-tabulation system that allows you to cross tabulate between questions in the survey or with demographics that you are holding against a respondent group.

Is there anywhere I could keep reports that I’ve created for a given survey?

Yes. Each survey has an area for related files, which allows you to keep a library for any relevant files for that survey, be it a presentation you’ve created for your boss, or files you keep for your own records.

Can I export my data to my favourite analysis package?

Yes, you can download a CSV file of top-line results or results by respondents (for email-based surveys) at any time, so that you can analyse your data offline or upload it into your favourite package.

Could I get your system to create an extract file specifically for my company’s use?

Yes. SySurvey is constantly looking for ways to improve our system, so contact us if there’s a format into which you would be interested in downloading your SySurvey results.

Costs

How much does it cost to use SySurvey?

SySurvey uses a sliding scale rate card, based upon the number of credits you buy (a credit is either one email recipient or one web-survey respondent). This means that the more credits you buy the cheaper a response becomes. For more information on pricing and the listed rate card cost, please go to SySurvey Pricing.

Can I try SySurvey without charge?

Yes. You'll have to sign up as a guest user but this only takes about 30 seconds. Click on the "Open An Account" link on the right hand menu.

What happens if I run out of email or web-survey credits and need more?

No problem, you can "top up" the number of credits that you need at any time. Simply press the "my account" button in the administration section and follow the links for "adding credits to my account".

SySurvey developers are members of the Media Research Group

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