In this article, I explain how much money you need to conduct an opinion poll and which technique you should use depending on the context.
In the market research sector, opinion polling is an indispensable tool. It is most often used in B2C but can also be used in B2B. After briefly explaining use cases, I will explain how to budget for different surveys (online, telephone, face-to-face, etc.). To put opinion polls in a broader context, read our article on market research pricing.
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When should a survey be conducted?
As a survey is a quantitative technique, the most common uses are:
- Determining the size of a market
- Defining market segments
- Verifying hypotheses (price, strategy, brand awareness, etc.)
The list is far from exhaustive. The most important thing to remember is that a survey is worth conducting when:
- You are sufficiently advanced in your marketing thinking
- You are asking yourself questions whose answers will be essential to your decision-making
What is included in the survey budget?
The components of a survey budget are as follows:
- Questionnaire design
- Questionnaire testing, validation, and iteration
- Questionnaire programming
- Administration and follow-up
- Results extraction and quality control
- Results analysis
- Reporting
There are, therefore, many stages, some of which can be quite time-consuming. In our experience, the questionnaire design phase can be particularly time-consuming. Indeed, we regularly observe that the customer’s internal processes for enriching and validating questionnaires are long and difficult. It is not uncommon to spend up to 16 hours on this phase.
What is the budget?
The budget for an opinion poll depends mainly on 2 variables:
- Sample size
- The mode of administration
In the following paragraphs, I detail the budgets for the 3 main types of surveys.
| Method | Minimum price | Average price |
|---|---|---|
| CAWI (online) | 5000€ | 7500€ |
| CATI (telephone) | 5000€ | 12000€ |
| CAPI, PAPI (face-to-face) | 5000€ | 10000€ |
Online surveys
Online surveys are also known as the CAWI method. It is one of the most widespread quantitative approaches and one of the most affordable. There are several variants.
Costs are reduced when the survey is conducted on a customer-provided database. This is the most common type of customer satisfaction research. In this case, the average cost is €7,500. This budget covers questionnaire development, programming, administration, and results analysis.
When a panel is used to conduct the survey, the panel rental costs must be added. This is most often the case for brand awareness or market demand research. You cannot interview customers in this situation, which would skew your results. The average price for this type of project is €8,500.
Telephone surveys
Telephone surveys ( CATI method) are much more expensive than their online equivalent. The reason is simple. Therefore, this approach has a low response rate and requires calling many people to achieve the desired sample size. Therefore, the cost of a telephone survey is directly linked to the number of responses required, i.e., the sample size.
Depending on the target (B2B or B2C) and incidence rate, the price per successful call and questionnaire will range from €20 to €100. The smallest CATI project will start at €5,000, with the average costing €12,000.
In-person surveys
The final type of survey involves interviewing people face-to-face. These are CAPI (“computer-assisted personal interviews”) and PAPI (“pen and paper personal interview”) surveys. This type of survey is mainly conducted:
- In the street, when interviewing people in a specific catchment area
- At trade shows
- At points of sale (so-called “checkout” surveys).
In this type of survey, the budget is strongly influenced by the number of people you deploy in the field and their profile. Some market research agencies use students to keep costs down, but as they are less well-trained, they will have lower response rates, and the quality of open-ended answers will suffer. Whatever the case, this type of survey cannot be conducted on budgets of less than €5,000, given the logistical and human aspects involved. For survey campaigns lasting several days and involving teams of several people, the budget will generally be in excess of €10,000.
Is it worth the expense?
The profitability of the investment (because it is an investment) in conducting a survey depends on the company’s maturity. It is pointless for a start-up or project owner to launch into a telephone survey or a “physical” survey. On the other hand, an online survey (especially in B2B) will provide insights that can save tens of thousands of euros, by avoiding marketing targeting errors, for example.
In all cases, surveys can also be coupled with an outbound marketing approach. You can use the opportunity to present your company in the case of online or telephone surveys. This could lead to new prospects and a direct return on your investment.
