Postal Surveys

Postal, the most inclusive survey technique

Although somewhat eclipsed nowadays by other methodologies there are times when postal surveys have an important role in data collection. They can reach tightly defined geographical communities or the digitally excluded who can’t be reached online or through technology. They can also reach groups that are difficult to engage with through other approaches. If you need to ensure everyone within a certain geography / neighbourhood is given the opportunity to take part, or where you might want to send a sample product for people to try or in situations where the respondent needs time to be able to answer the questions then a postal survey is the best option.

Diverse Range of Audience
There is no limit to the scale of postal surveys, they can range from small, highly targeted surveys in a neighbourhood or alternatively they can be county-wide and beyond. They can also be used to reach a diverse range of audiences, e.g. Consumers, Employees, Residents, Customers and Businesses. Postal surveys can also offer anonymity and are often a preferred method of communication among older age groups.

The response rate, representativeness and accuracy can be enhanced even further by offering respondents the option of completing the same survey online by providing a website address in the covering letter. This is something we almost always offer nowadays as it adds very little to the cost of a project but gives another opportunity for people to engage.

We can manage the whole process quickly and efficiently, namely, designing a questionnaire that is visually appealing and easy to complete in order to maximise the response rate, the printing and distribution of the questionnaires into the postal system, recording returns to manage reminders if required, incentivising respondents, through to the collation, data entry, analysis and output of the survey data.