What is different? 

The NexGen Online Surveys look nothing like the traditional approach. The way customers use the web, and the way that Companies present themselves, have changed enormously over the last five to ten years. Yet online surveys seem stuck in the dark ages, using the same old interfaces from the birth of the web. Why is that?

Traditional

Most Online survey systems look, and work, like this...

NexGen Style

Our Next Generation survey system looks, and works, very differently...

Why is the NexGen system better?

Obviously our system looks much nicer, and more in keeping with today's web experience. But that is just a start! Here are some of the other advantages:

In the NexGen system you can click anywhere in any of the boxes. Try out the Food question above. In the NexGen version you can click anywhere that your mouse shows the "clickable" cursor (normally a hand icon with a pointing finger). Compare this with the tiny click zone on the traditional question. In this particular example the NexGen click area is 306 times larger! As a result it is MUCH easier - and faster - to use. Which is why Respondents love it so much.

The images aren't just for visual effect. They clearly demonstrate that more time has been spent designing the survey. We believe this translates directly into Respondents spending more time completing the survey. So you get better quality data.

- Additionally images can add real value to the survey quality. For example they could be pack shots - enabling Respondents to precisely indicate which product variant they buy. Plus most Companies spend large sums of money perfecting their brand image - should this be completely ignored when we collect market data? At NexGen we don't think so!

- Of course the images don't have to be of brands. They could be famous movie stars to get a better qualitative understanding of how your Customers view your brands. Or pictures of places, or colours, or textures, or animals, or words... The only real limit is our imaginations!

- All of that said - you don't have to use images at all if you prefer. You can still benefit from all the other advantages. Also we can embed sound clips, video files etc. For such a visually inspiring system it might surprise you to know that the NexGen system is very suitable for Respondents with sight disabilities. But talk to us about this and we can show you how we can embed sound clips along with the images.

- As well as this simple "click" question we have an amazing range of "drag and drop" questions. As just one example these allow you to drag brand photos onto preference scales - even in two dimensions simultaneously! Check out the menu on the left of our website.

- Virtually everything in the NexGen system can be customised. We don't just have a few colour schemes or the ability to add a logo (or two). You can change fonts, colours, positions, sizes, behaviour (when clicked, dropped etc) - even the fading effects after an image has been dragged. You name it - we can change it!

- Finally our system is built in Macromedia Flash (using a Microsoft SQL Server database to store the information). Flash uses a special component that has to be installed on a Computer before it will work. No Flash (specifically we use Flash 8 or above) and the system just won't work - at all. That sounds like a disadvantage - but it isn't! Most traditional survey systems use things like HTML and Javascript. The problem with these is that they often "kind of work". But, in reality, different computers/operating systems/screen sizes etc etc will display your survey differently; often VERY differently! This often results in the Respondent seeing something different than expected. But it CAN result in answers not being displayed at all or completely unpredictable behaviour. The best you can then hope for is that the Respondents Computer crashes so that the contaminated data never reaches you! Now see what we mean when we say that Flash cleanly working (or not) is a good idea? Of course we have an HTML version as well. So, if you want, we can auto-detect the presence of Flash and use an HTML survey if the Respondent can't use Flash.