Survey Tools
Summary
As user experience research professionals, we have some specific requirements for survey tools that can complement but not be exactly the same as those of our market research colleagues. Come to this session, hosted by Surveys That Work author and acclaimed surveys expert Caroline Jarrett, to hear about how leading vendors help us to handle challenges such as integrating their panels with our user research panels, surveys that are associated with other types of research activity such as usability tests, and working with colleagues and respondents who have specific access needs. We’ll also learn from vendor Survicate about their vision for survey tools, and how their product helps put that vision into practice.
Key Insights
-
•
Survey tools now span a spectrum from simple form builders to integrated enterprise CX platforms.
-
•
Many survey tools have expanded beyond basic surveying into feedback loops, research repositories, and VOC platforms.
-
•
AI fundamentally improves analysis of open-text feedback by enabling theme detection and sentiment clustering at scale.
-
•
Continuous, contextual feedback gathering at multiple digital touchpoints is replacing ad-hoc one-off surveys.
-
•
Survey fatigue is a real and growing problem; tools and strategies like throttling and contextual targeting are needed.
-
•
Acting on feedback is the hardest but most important step, requiring cross-team alignment and system integrations.
-
•
Survey data acts as valuable zero-party data for personalized marketing communications.
-
•
Organizations are moving away from third-party CDPs toward owning and managing their customer data internally.
-
•
Micro-surveys (very short, context-triggered feedback) increase response rates and capture fresh impressions.
-
•
Survey methodologies should start with qualitative interviews before large quantitative surveys for effective question design.
Notable Quotes
"It's almost impossible to do a survey without using some kind of tool nowadays."
"There are over five hundred tools that call themselves survey software on G2, making it one of the largest software categories."
"Survey tools are no longer just survey tools; the boundaries between categories are increasingly blurry."
"Simplicity can be a differentiator, as shown by Tally, which gained traction as a free, easy form builder."
"Advanced logic, matrix questioning, AI survey design creation — these are baseline capabilities you should expect from any modern survey tool."
"Continuous feedback requires collecting responses tied to the same user across multiple channels with behavioral targeting."
"AI changes everything in unstructured data analysis; before it was painful manual work, now it's automated theme detection and clustering."
"The hardest part is acting on feedback, which requires integrating tools and aligning multiple teams like research, product, marketing, and customer success."
"Survey data should be treated as zero-party data that fuels personalized communications and lifecycle marketing."
"The key to combating survey fatigue is short surveys triggered at the right context, making respondents feel listened to and valued."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The outcome of this method really makes the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
Anne MamaghaniHow Your Organization's Generative Workshops Are Probably Going Wrong and How to Get Them Right
March 28, 2023
"Sometimes our most valuable work isn’t the insights we produce, but the conditions we create for shared reasoning across paradigms."
Kurt McCullochFaster alone, further together: Rebuilding collaboration in the age of AI research
March 10, 2026
"The Ministry of Culture will be the only government office totally open for public use."
Sofía Delsordo Kassim VeraPublic Policy for Jalisco's Designers to Make Design Matter
December 8, 2021
"I’ve sat on both sides of the table. I’ve sometimes help both jobs at once which I don’t recommend."
Christian CrumlishIntroduction by our Conference Chair
December 6, 2022
"Design ops is a way to care for the people who design."
Ebru NamaldiDesigning the Designer’s Journey: Scaling Teams, Culture, and Growth Through DesignOps
September 11, 2025
"Critiques help teams stop being the lone ranger and instead iterate faster together with purpose and clarity."
Joseph MeersmanSweating the Pixel: Scaling Quality through Critique
June 10, 2021
"We didn’t want to develop yet another model but rather a customizable approach to support diverse clients with innovation portfolio management."
Milan Guenther Benjamin KumpfThe $212 billion ‘so what?’: unlocking impact in development cooperation
November 20, 2025
"If you have to choose between doing bad research or no research at all, you’re better off not doing it — Lisa Reichelt."
Kathleen AsjesResearch Democratization: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
March 10, 2022
"AI delivers signals, not hard truths. They’re dream machines designed to imagine what could happen next."
Josh Clark Veronika KindredSentient Design, AI, and the Radically Adaptive Experience (1st of 3 seminars)
January 15, 2025
