Life Science Customer Survey Resources to Enhance Your Marketing Strategy

Science marketing is a give and take. A brand can produce as much content as they want, but without audience participation, it’s like mixing two noble gases—not likely to produce a reaction. 

That’s where customer feedback comes in. There is a multitude of reasons to invest in market research. Gaining insights from your current and intended audiences is the best way to evaluate whether you’re producing the content they want. Interactive market research can come in the form of one-on-one interviews, focus groups, or, as we’ll focus on in this post, surveys and polls. 

Digital surveys, such as those conducted through websites, email, and social media, are quick, easy, and inexpensive to conduct. They also provide straightforward data that’s easy to analyze compared to qualitative methods, such as interviews. 

The average response rate for a digital survey is 30%, but that rate increases for well-structured and user-friendly surveys. For help creating compelling survey content, read our previous post on Four Steps to Create a Compelling Online Survey. For resources for making the most of your surveys, read on. 

Types Of Online Surveys for Market Research 

Surveys for market research are an affordable and reliable way of gathering information from your target audiences. It gives you feedback on what customers think, feel, want, and need. Below are several categories in which market research can give you insightful feedback: 

1. Customer Experience and Satisfaction: Life science customer surveys evaluate the customer experience and determine whether they are happy with your product or service. 

2. Product-Based: See what consumers like or dislike about your product or service. As a marketer, this informs which parts of your brand’s story you choose to highlight in top-line messaging.
   
   
3. Brand Awareness: Marketers, this one’s for us! Find out how well your marketing efforts are performing by evaluating your audience’s perception of your brand.
   
   
4. Competition: Discover what your target audience thinks about your competitors. This can inspire you with new ideas or lessons on what to avoid. 

Determining which types of surveys your organization needs to conduct most will help inform your platform of choice. Another thing to consider is usability on both the front and back ends. How is the user experience for your customers? And which types of features does the software give you for analyzing data?  

6 Survey Platforms for Science Marketing

With so many different options out there, it can be difficult to know where to start. Below we’ve rounded up six platforms for life science customer surveys and the unique benefits each one offers.  

1. SurveyMonkey

With over 40 million registered customers, SurveyMonkey is the leading survey platform, and for good reason. Its flexible functionality for survey design and analytics response makes for a streamlined user experience on both ends. Plus, its data collection and analysis are excellent. 

SurveyMonkey offers a free basic plan and tiered pricing plans that range from $19/month to $119/month for individual, while team plans start at $25/month per user. 

2. Typeform

With its focus on user interaction, Typeform offers an elevated, user-friendly approach. Typeform specializes in logic jumps—specific answers that lead to alternate paths in the survey. This is what sets Typeform apart from other online survey tools, so if you plan on designing surveys with logic jumps, this may be a good choice for you. 

Typeform’s plans range from $25/month for basic to $83/month for a business account that allows for 10,000 responses per month. 

3. JotForm

Choose between more than 10,000 templates in drag-and-drop format with JotForm, which also provides HIPAA-compliant forms (a plus for chemical and life science customer surveys) and robust product support. 

JotForm is modestly priced with a free basic option and pricing that goes up to $99/month.

4. Formstack

Like Jotform, Formstack offers drag-and-drop survey-building. Formstack also offers A/B testing—and what marketer doesn’t love that? Other functionality includes document generation and digital e-signatures. Subscriptions start at $50/month. 

5. Google Forms

As the most accessible survey platform, Google Forms offers a simple interface—and it’s free for all users. The disadvantage is that customization is limited, and the resulting survey may not have the same polish as those created with paid platforms.

6. Social Media Polls

For instant results and fun engagement, try incorporating social media polls in your survey strategy. Social media polls not only help you get immediate, targeted data, they’re also a way of reinforcing thought leadership by showing you care about a topic, and giving something in that space for your audience to engage with. 

By asking direct questions to your social audience, polls are a great way to help curate your content to what your audience is interested in. Because social media polls display results to users in real-time, they encourage engagement more than surveys. Plus, they’re fun and can offer you a chance to show a more lighthearted side of your organization. 

Polls are already available on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, and can be an easy way to meet your audience where they’re at. 

No matter what platform you decide to use, choosing to use polls and surveys for market research is an excellent way to boost engagement and get honest answers from your audiences—leading to better content.