News

How Crowdtech and Eagerly collaborate to enhance Crowdtech Survey's user experience

Crowdtech prioritizes accessibility: making research accessible to and doable by everyone. We are constantly striving to improve the user experience of Crowdtech Insights. To this end, we've partnered with the UX agency Eagerly. Together, we've implemented a series of updates and improvements. Communication updates: smooth guidance Our updated interface now features improved prompts guiding you throughout the research process. These refined cues significantly enhance the ease of finding information and completing tasks. A major enhancement is the increased clarity achieved by consolidating all functions under a single category. This integration makes navigation within the platform more intuitive and user-friendly. Question screen update: focused on your needs The question screen, pivotal in every survey, has been optimized for enhanced visibility and user-friendliness. By eliminating hidden elements and introducing a more logical layout, we've made the interface more appealing and user-friendly. Users can now directly add and select their favorite question types, streamlining the question-creation process. The system also displays your most-used question types, and for inspiration, a selection of less-used ones. Optimized ease of use for your research The updates with Eagerly illustrate the synergy of great ideas and expertise. For instance, the improved buttons and settings enable more logical interactions. This consistency across the platform reduces the need to switch between screens, leading to a smoother research experience. Experience the improvements for yourself Curious about how these improvements translate in practice? Want to see how navigation within Crowdtech Insights is smoother than ever? Explore the new features and updates during a personal demo. Crowdtech is dedicated to ongoing innovation, aiming to optimize the user experience so you can focus entirely on your research. Have any feedback? We'd love to hear it - just use the feedback button in the tool!

New feature: WhatsApp invitations through profile variables

Introducing the latest feature: WhatsApp invitations through profile variables. This addition in Crowdtech Survey is more than a convenient tool; it revolutionizes how you engage with your community. User benefits This new feature offers multiple benefits for Crowdtech Survey users, including: Direct and targeted communication: this functionality allows for more efficient and focused interaction with your community. It simplifies processes like directly inviting a specific group, to a WhatsApp group dedicated to local events. Time saving: this feature eliminates the need for manual sorting and invitation, saving time and effort. This allows you to concentrate on what truly matters: building valuable connections within your community. Impact on community communication Beyond efficiency and user-friendliness, this feature significantly influences community engagement. Its speed and precision enable you to gather more focused insights, encouraging a more active community. Reduced noise: Tailoring communications to specific community groups decreases the likelihood of sending irrelevant information. This approach minimizes distractions for members and focuses attention on messages that matter. Focus on quality: With this targeted method, communication becomes not only more efficient but also more meaningful. You can delve deeper into conversations and discussions, knowing that the right participants are involved, enhancing the sense of engagement among community members.

Crowdtech successfully conducted a pilot with Conversational Survey

Currently, Crowdtech is developing an innovation that enables conducting online surveys in a chat format. To test the effectiveness and usability of this innovation, our sister company, MWM2, was tasked with conducting a field test. The results of this test have been promising and provide valuable insights for further development. What is Conversational Survey?Conversational Survey allows you to conduct your questionnaire entirely in the form of a chat conversation. This is made possible by utilizing a Machine Learning algorithm. The algorithm can recognize which pre-programmed answer corresponds to the text typed by the respondent. In case of uncertainty, the system prompts the respondent to confirm their answer. As more respondents participate, the algorithm becomes more intelligent. Key Highlights of the Field TestMWM2 conducted an AB test with 630 respondents. Half of them filled out a traditional online survey, while the other half answered the same questions through the chatbot. Both groups were placed under the same conditions to ensure the comparability of the results. Crowdtech aimed to gather insights on various metrics, including the appreciation of the method, response length for open-ended questions, survey duration, and dropout rate. Key FindingsSeveral findings were identified, with the most important ones being as follows:1. There were no differences in response patterns between the traditional survey and the chatbot. This suggests that the data collection method does not impact the nature of the received information, although further research is needed to confirm this finding.2. In terms of appreciation, the chatbot scored 8.1, while the traditional online survey scored 8.2 - indicating no significant difference. Interestingly, younger respondents (aged 18-34) rated the chatbot higher with a score of 8.3. ConclusionThe results of this field test are promising and indicate a bright future for the implementation of conversational AI in market research. While further refinement and testing are required, it is clear that Crowdtech's chatbot holds great potential as a powerful tool for gathering valuable data and enhancing the survey experience for respondents.

How Crowdtech Survey helps with product development

If you want to launch a new product or improve an existing one, it's helpful to know what consumers think before you release it. It's important to create an accurate and well-targeted proposal. With the help of Crowdtech Survey, you're able to get feedback from consumers, ensuring that the product meets their high expectations in 2023! A large number of products are launched every year. But how can you determine if it will be a success? Market research greatly increases the chances of your product's success. A commonly used research method is quantitative research, by collecting data from respondents through the use of questionnaires. This method provides valuable feedback from consumers in an efficient, fast, and easy way. Data is necessary to persuade the internal organization, such as: • How many people show interest in the product?• Is it a growing or shrinking market where the product is positioned?• How many consumers are willing to spend money on the product? Quantitative research offers important advantages, including objective results, statistical analysis, reliable samples, comparability and the ability to collect data from a large number of respondents. These insights provide a solid foundation for taking the next step in the product development process. A solution for every phaseCrowdtech Survey supports all stages of product development by providing valuable consumer insights, from concept development to marketing strategy. In the early stages, you use Crowdtech to identify needs and develop concepts. During the development phase, you can test user experiences, and in the final phase, you can use it for brand positioning of the product and to determine which marketing and communication strategies are most effective in promoting and selling the product. By collecting feedback from your target audience, Crowdtech Survey helps businesses create products that fulfill consumers’ needs and improve their chances of success in the market. Benefits of quantitative researchNumerous large international companies, such as Coca-Cola, Amazon, Procter & Gamble, and McDonald's, use Crowdtech Survey for product development. These companies are interested in understanding consumer preferences and finding ways to cater to their needs. Organizations that involve consumers in product development prioritize customer satisfaction. Crowdtech Survey offers benefits of quantitative research for start-ups and scale-ups as well. The software helps identify opportunities and increases the chances of success in the market. What are the benefits of Crowdtech Survey for you?Crowdtech Survey is designed with the respondent’s needs in mind, resulting in an intuitive and easy-to-use platform for all users. The respondent is at the center of all design choices. Surveys are designed to be visually appealing, creative, and user-friendly. Crowdtech Survey also complies with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) requirements to ensure digital accessibility. The entire research cycle, from questionnaire design to data analysis and dashboard management, can be completed on one user-friendly platform without the need for programming knowledge. With the Crowdtech Academy, you can learn how to set up a professional survey in just one hour. Crowdtech's hosted platform allows you to access your surveys on any device without the need to download any software. In addition, our ISO 27001 certification guarantees the security of your valuable data.

Survey Tool - Superior, more functional and more beautiful

"Survey 2.0", is our name for the next phase development of our survey software and will send even better-looking questionnaires to respondents. Visually attractive questions are a key component of gaining higher response rates. In addition, it is important that, for example, complex surveys that traditionally work better on pc’s and tablets function seamlessly on mobile phones. Survey 2.0 allows you to create one questionnaire layout that reads perfectly on all device types and browsers, meaning you can send out a survey without the extra step of testing across differing devices. We will have our new version Survey 2.0 live in the summer" Better integration with other data sources "With Crowdtech we offer an integrated platform for all forms of research, but it is also important to be able to link our platform to other systems. After all, modern day market research consists of many sources, so it is important to bring this together in a smart way. We are doing this with the development of a Rest API laying the foundation for customers to fully integrate questionnaire data from Crowdtech into CRM systems or other databases. For example, two way integration into Salesforce or Zapier is fully automated in an efficient and easy to implement manner." Real-time data loading into surveys "For an integrated platform, we also require tools that fit together perfectly. This is why we are launching an even smother collaboration between our panel management system and our Survey tool and this will be available in the coming quarter. This will allow you to load real-time data from the Research panel into Survey, enabling flexible and efficient use of this data in questionnaires, communication (e-mails) and data analysis". Quicker "To keep innovating, the platform needs natural maintenance. We rolled out an upgrade earlier this year to make test automation easier. This is an important step towards building more functionality in the future. With more automated tests, this is a faster and less error-prone process. Additionally, we continuously implement non-functional upgrades in the software ensuring the platform complies with the most recent security standards".

Create Your Own Style

With our upgraded Survey technology, you can adjust the layout of your survey. Previously one of our support team had to create new layouts where now you can do this with just a few clicks. Add a company logo Customise the background color with RGB colour codes Choose many different fonts Add a favicon Upload and edit background images Customize button colors and progress bars Add text to encourage respondents ‘e.g. only two more questions to go’ From this flexibility you can adapt your questionnaire to your look and feel giving your survey a fresher more recognizable look. Greater flexibility allows user to bring in new styles and approaches meaning that multi and repeat surveys can have a different look making engagement easier. We have also added in ‘encouragement’ so a ‘You’re almost there’ comment helps deliver a higher completion rate.

New Responsive Survey

How do we ensure higher responses and better data quality for our clients? This was the challenge when we started the redesign of the Crowdtech Survey over six months ago. Our team of programmers, researchers, account managers and UX designers picked apart each element of the Survey platform. The result is a whole new and more attractive environment making it easier for respondents to complete your survey. In today’s world the majority of respondents complete surveys on a mobile device, and this is especially true for a younger audience. Our mantra become ‘mobile first’. The designs, thinking and approach focused on making it work on mobile first. A larger font, larger buttons and all the standalone responsive elements ensure a seamless experience on mobile. Importantly, the mobile Survey matches the look and feel as the desktop view. We have always prided ourselves on making surveys captivating and simple to complete and we have built upon our gamification principles to incorporate more layouts, colours, and flexibility to really guide respondents through the questionnaire. For example, the matrix question has been shaped differently. The problem with the Matrix question is that a respondent often sees a long list of questions causing high dropouts and encouraging straight lining. In the new Survey solution respondents see one statement at a time and only upon completion does the next grid appear. Beta tests showed respondents are more motivated and conscientious delivering greater reliability.

Survey tool for the visually impaired

There were an estimated 253 million people with visual impairment worldwide. This number is much higher if you include elderly people and those suffering from poor vision. To engage this audience our new Survey is designed so this group can easily participate. In developing our upgraded Survey tool, we included these key ingredients: Observability: We have ensured a minimal text size and used contrasting colors Controllability: The user interface is also easy for the visually impaired to control. We have added a lot of visual cues, so it's clear which answer the respondent has chosen Intelligibility: our new Survey is programmed so that the questions can also be read out by reading programs Robust: Respondents can access the survey on different browsers Finally, our Surveys can also be operated by a keyboard Importantly this new feature adheres to the EU ‘WCAG’ (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) guidelines helping our Client compliance to these standards. WCAG is designed to better reach a wider audience with this greater accessibility so samples can be richer and a more roust and representative sample is achievable.

Do You Use US Cloud Services?

Without being aware of it, many companies have been violating European privacy rules since this summer. Working with US cloud service providers is no longer covered by the GDPR rules. This is because the European Court of Justice has declared the Privacy Shield agreement invalid. The agreement regulates how the US handles processing of user data covering European citizens and was created to ensure you could continue to use cloud services provided by US companies. However, it now turns out the Privacy Shield is not sufficient after all. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that personal data may not be simply transferred to individuals or organisations based in countries outside the European Economic Area (third countries), such as the US. This is only allowed if the level of personal data security guaranteed by the GDPR is not undermined in those third countries. The Court of Justice holds that the Privacy Shield cannot guarantee an adequate level of protection. This is because, under US law, the intelligence and security services there have the right to access and use EU citizens' data. Therefore, if you want to comply with the GDPR rules (and of course you must), it is no longer possible to store customer data with, or work with US cloud services. In short: If you work with research tools from the US, you are not working according to the GDPR rules. You may also be working with American parties without realising it. For example, if your suppliers process the data via American cloud services you are not working to the GDPR guidelines. To ensure you are doing the right thing, we recommend verifying all your suppliers to remain compliant. Do you use Crowdtech technology? Then you’re covered. Our platform complies with the GDPR rules. We do not outsource our hosting to third parties. Our hardware is located in our data centre in Amsterdam and our technology is developed and maintained by ourselves. So, your data always stays within the EU and you comply with the GDPR rules.

We speak your language

There is a Czech proverb that says, ‘Learn a new language, gain a new soul’. At Crowdtech we wholeheartedly embrace the many diverse languages represented on our globe, and hence recognize the need to conduct research in respondents’ home tongues. We understand that engaging in one’s preferred language makes respondents feel more comfortable and better valued, which in turn results in deeper research and richer insights. To this end, we have developed our new multi-language feature, which dramatically changes the translation phase of the research process, for clients and respondents alike. Predominantly used for research surveys across multiple languages, the feature is also applicable to other arenas including external samples, client databases, website links and of course, panels and communities. Enhanced experiences for respondentsOne of our primary focuses at Crowdtech is to ensure that we deliver an optimum experience to each of our respondents. Calvin Olland explains, ‘We understand the value in keeping our respondents happy, so that they stay engaged in our panels and communities. They are literally the backbone of our system… without respondents, we would have no research.” The new multi-language feature enables respondents to choose their language before starting the survey – thereby playing an important role in making them feel valued and recognised. Increased efficiencies for clientsTypically, clients wishing to conduct multi-lingual research had to upload translated questionnaires in each required language – with every translated version having to be coded separately. Once the research had been conducted, the output then needed to be merged into a single language, prior to analysis. Our new offering changes this process in a number of ways. By leveraging our advanced technology, our multi-language feature enables various tasks to be carried out much more easily than before: Clients can upload a multi-lingual questionnaire in just one language, relying on our intuitive technology to upload and code the translated versions automatically Once the survey translations have been uploaded, clients can easily toggle between languages to check scripts as required The output in all its different languages will be collated together, enabling the research to be delivered back to clients in a single language, ready for analysis Naturally all of these elements massively reduce time wastage for clients, making the research translation process smoother, more efficient and more cost-effective. These elements can literally be done at the click of a button, making them very user-friendly. If however, there are any queries over their implementation, our support team is always available to help, at every stage of the research process. Applicable to both multi-country and single-country surveysAs globalisation increases, the ability for research surveys to operate across countries becomes increasingly important. Crowdtech’s advanced technology places us in a strong position to conduct multi-country research – and including a variety of languages is one way of enhancing this offering. Multi-country research is not however the only format that requires this capability… countries with more than one commonly-spoken language will benefit just as much from this feature. Such a feature is perfectly suited to the likes of Switzerland or Belgium, as well other countries globally, where respondents hail from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Constant innovation is the name of the gameOur project managers and technical team deem panel management a high priority. They are constantly innovating to find ways of keeping our surveys fresh, dynamic and easy-to-use. And what better way of making the experience easier, than to allow respondents to engage in their preferred languages? “We’re very excited about this new addition to our stable,” says Olland. “Our teams are always on the look-out for how we can add to our bouquet of features and enhance the user experience. Offering a multi-language solution is one way of doing this. What’s amazing about this tool is its simplicity and efficiency – we’re looking forward to rolling it out to more clients.”

Helping you with WCAG compliance

It is indisputable that digitization is becoming prevalent in every industry and transforming every business function. Already a global trend pre-Covid-19, the digitization of the world as we know it has sky-rocketed due to the effects of the pandemic and its lockdown. Crowdtech has been at the forefront of research technology since its inception. And whenever new developments take place in the digital world, we pride ourselves on embracing them in an agile manner. What are the WCAG? The WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) were first published in 2008, but recently gained traction as the digital global revolution took hold. They are a set of documents which explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. A global set of guidelines, their purpose is to standardise web content and ensure that it is accessible to as many individuals, organisations and governments as possible. To date, different countries have adopted and enforced the guidelines to different degrees. In many areas across the EU, it is legislated that government websites conform to these guidelines, with many other countries adopting a similar approach. How do they make the web more accessible? The guidelines seek to mitigate any elements of a website that might be difficult for users with disabilities. Spanning disabilities including sight, hearing, physical and cognitive impairments, the guidelines address a multitude of items. Examples include making sure that text is big enough for those who are hard of sight, or that all functionality is available by keyboard for those who cannot use a mouse. How does this relate to Crowdtech? Crowdtech’s technology is used to deeper human understanding through a tool kit of research techniques. Naturally, this is an area that holds huge potential for inclusivity of people with disabilities, as the WCAG guidelines have brought to the fore. Crowdtech has worked hard to develop survey tools that ensure that digital surveys are WCAG compliant. With additional programming and also additional human resource to check the output, we can safely say that our surveys hold up to the most stringent WCAG checks. Catering for a range of disabilities In addition to examples such as provision of larger text and keyboard navigation, our platform contains features that ensure all images have text descriptions, that any colours used are easily distinguishable, and that images are bold and clear. In terms of hard of hearing respondents, the researcher designing the survey can make sure that every video used has subtitles and there are no sound clips without descriptions. Addressing cognitive disabilities, the platform can ensure each screen is shown for sufficient time to allow respondents to read everything within the survey text. It is important to ensure that questions are clear and easily understandable and that there is no ambiguity in them. Additional checks are carried out Simply adhering to the guidelines by means of programming is important, but this on its own is not enough. At Crowdtech our business policy is to go the extra mile when it comes to client support. In our efforts to ensure full WCAG compliance for our clients, we also offer a thorough additional check on surveys once they have been programmed by our WCAG consultants. One of the considerations of the team will be the idiosyncrasies of the language that is used. For example, phrases such as ‘as you will see in this image’ may be considered exclusive or even offensive to the hard of sight. Instructions such as ‘navigate to the answer button’ may be difficult for someone with a physical disability. Having combed through lots of surveys with a watchful eye, the more it becomes clear how commonly used phrases and words in everyday language can exclude those with certain impairments. It is this additional checking phase that we feel sets our WCAG offering apart from others. A more inclusive digital future As more and more countries roll out enforcement of these guidelines, companies and other institutions will start to adopt them as common practice. The effects of this are already becoming evident: Naturally, this opens up digital surveys to a notable subset of the population, in some countries as much as 18%. But more than this, it fosters a culture of inclusion, and encourages individuals and companies to embrace differences. Such ways of thinking are vitally important to progressing diversity for all consumer segmentations.