16 Best Survey Software to Up Your Marketing Game

Survey software are online tools to help you collect data from a pool of respondents, and then generate data-driven insights for your business.

The data collected from surveys typically includes customer feedback, responses, and opinions. All these can help you understand the consumer perception of your brand and guide strategic decisions over time.

The applications for online survey software are many – not just as customer questionnaires, but also for internal business organization and development.

For instance, you can use the same survey tools to measure employee engagement and satisfaction.

Below, we cover in-depth details about survey tools: what they are, the general features included, and how they can benefit your business.

And if you’re looking to run your own result-driven surveys, we also put together a list of the 16 best survey platforms to try out.

(Skip straight to the survey software tools below.)

What is survey software?

Survey software refers to any type of application that helps gather information through the creation of forms, polls, or questionnaires.

With survey tools, you can create and design surveys using templates and drag-and-drop features, distribute and then collect the information from respondents, and then use built-in tools to track and analyze the results.

Software platforms offer different types of surveys and options to cater to specific audiences. For instance, there are customer-centric surveys that include NPS (Net Promoter Score), CES (Customer Effort Score) and CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score).

There are also survey tools geared specifically for market research or employee engagement.

Features of survey software

At its core, a survey software tool makes it easier and faster for you to set up and run surveys. You can automate most of the process from end to end, including distributing, collecting, and analyzing survey results.

You also get the benefit of accurate, real-time data that can be easily filtered and segmented based on your needs. The most popular survey tools share a few key features:

1. Done-for-you templates and customization features

Survey platforms usually provide ready-made templates you can customize to your requirements. You also have the option to create your own surveys from scratch.

In both cases, you can choose the types of questions and answer formats based on the information you want to gather.

2. Conditional logic and piping features

Without getting too technical, conditional logic and piping features make the survey more meaningful and relevant for the respondent. For instance, at a very basic level, these features make it possible for a respondent to skip a question that doesn’t relate to them or insert user responses into upcoming questions (i.e., name, location).

It also allows marketers to easily weed out irrelevant responses and achieve faster survey completion times.

3. Analytics features

Survey tools aren’t much of a benefit if you can’t analyze the data you received. Most software platforms on our list come with built-in analytics features to filter and segment data into reports you can use to improve your business. Some will even enable custom reports that you can work with offline.

4. Sharing and exporting features

Your surveys should be offered at all customer contact points. Most survey software offers you options to share through a link, embed the survey on your website, or add them as pop-ups when the customer visits your website.

Plus, most tools will have different methods to export the survey results, the most basic of them being PDF.

Is a survey software tool right for you?

Surveys can can be a real game-changer for businesses of all industries and sizes. You can conduct research prior to a launch, understand how customers view your business, or gain insight into how a product or service is doing.

And using specialized survey platforms can make the entire process much easier and allow you to see results faster. With accurate and real-time data at your fingertips, you’ll have a better grasp of your customer and be able to make smarter decisions to grow your business.

The right software tool, however, will depend on the size of your business and the type of surveys you want to conduct. You can always start with a single survey to test the waters.

Then, once you’ve done some initial surveys and want to expand your strategy, a survey software that offers long-term plans will make more sense.

Survey software: The evaluation criteria

Have you decided that survey software is the right choice for your business? Our team has researched and compiled the best survey software tools. Read how we evaluated our list, and then browse through the reviews below:

Top 16 survey software tools

Our top 16 list features popular survey software tools for businesses of all sizes, including small businesses, startups, enterprises, and agencies.

Note: The software is not listed in any order of rank or recommendation. Our aim is to put together a carefully selected source of survey solutions, and give an accurate picture of the available options.

Let’s dive in!

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular, and most economical, tools on the list. According to the blurb on its website, the company currently has a user base of over 330,000 organizations comprising more than 98% of the Fortune 500.

SurveyMonkey’s core offering has expanded beyond surveys to more specialized products for CX, HR, and marketing verticals.

Key features

• Fast and easy survey creations: Choose from a large library of templates and expert-written question types to easily and quickly set up your surveys.
• Powerful analytics features: Use automatic charts, analyze text responses, filters and cross-tab reports to analyze results and make data-driven decisions.
  Easy sharing: Share surveys safely and securely through flexible permission controls, and export data through a variety of formats such as CSV, XLS, PDF, PPT, and SPSS.

HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot’s customer satisfaction surveys feature is offered as part of its Service Hub toolset on its CRM platform. Aside from the surveys, the CRM platform includes conversational tools, help desk automation, knowledge base functionality, reporting, and more. HubSpot is a name that really needs no introduction when it comes to online marketing.

Key features

• Built-in scoring methodologies: HubSpot’s surveys provide options for both NPS (Net Promoter Score) and CES (Customer Effort Score) to measure customer loyalty over time and how easy it is for customers to obtain the support they need.
• Track and improve customer experience: Customer feedback is organized on a single dashboard to enable easy tracking of the customer experience over a period of time.
• Customizable survey tool: Choose the right type of survey tools for your specific needs with customization for the feedback tool and delivery method.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is actually an email marketing services provider that also offers a free survey tool for small businesses. As part of its packages, the tool integrates with Mailchimp’s CRM, email, and Customer Journey Builder. Use the software to get marketing insights from your chosen target audience of customers or prospects.

Key features

• Turn surveys into actionable data: Choose the contacts who should receive the surveys and tag responses. You can also collect data on demographics, customer satisfaction..etc, and then create segmentation for follow-up campaigns.
• Collect email addresses: Use the email collector question type to automatically add survey responders to your Mailchimp audience even if you have no email list currently to speak of.
• User-friendly: Surveys can be set up in as little as five minutes.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact provides online survey tools as part of its email marketing services packages. The packages are inclusive of powerful email marketing tools, customizable templates, an easy-to-use editor, tracking, as well as reporting.

Key features

• Easy-to-use: Simply use the pre-written questions or create your own, choose the question type, add your logo and colors, and share online.
• Real-time tracking: With the platform’s polling tools, you get real-time insights into customer feedback so you can make strategic decisions to increase customer satisfaction.
• Works for individuals or for trends: View individual results from respondents, or track general data trends from your social media or email survey

Birdeye

Birdeye is a popular option with a lot of attractive features for customers interested in adopting a survey tool. For instance, you can convert your surveys into conversations with customers on their phones or engage in two-way interactions using text, email, video, or chat.

It also has all the standard key features including survey builders, customization of questions based on user responses, reporting, and customer insights.

Key features

• Out-of-the-box surveys: Start with surveys straight away by using pre-loaded industry standard NPS/CSAT surveys.
• Create follow-up tickets: Create tickets based on reviews or specific keywords, which team members can follow up on heightening the consumer experience, reducing customer churn, as well as decreasing the load on your contact center team.
• Get new reviews: Link the survey to Google’s review requests using the platform’s direct integration with Google’s private API.

AskNicely

AskNicely is a platform wholly devoted to the customer experience. The AskNicely Feedback product helps you obtain real-time feedback from your customers via email, SMS or web, and connect it to your teams, systems, and processes.

Key features

• Helps you track any customer metric: Including NPS, 5-Star, CSAT or Customer Effort Score.
• Customer feedback system that publishes to multiple channels: Including mobile apps, TV dashboards, Powerpoint, Slack, and over 40 CRMs including Salesforce.
• Action and advocacy functionality: Make use of built-in responses, tools for management of escalation and workflows, and respond quickly to customer feedback.

Alchemer

Alchemer offers three options for surveys: Online Poll Creator, Online Survey Questionnaires, and an Online Survey Platform with other survey tools. Each product comes with its own set of exhaustive features and applications.

Polls are great for market research, event planning and feedback, course feedback, and audience engagement, and NPS. The questionnaire software gathers, analyzes, incorporates, and consolidates feedback data collection to aid solution generation.

Key features

• Unlimited surveys and questions: No additional payment to be made over the subscription. Works across the board for simple surveys as well as complex surveys for market research purposes.
• Exhaustive list of logic and branching operations: Options include advanced logic conditions, option, page, question piping, and standard skip logic.
• Multiple integrations: The platform integrates with API, API Access Control, SalesForce, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Learning Management Record System integration, and webhooks.

JotForm

JotForm is a user-friendly online page builder platform. It offers multiple different customization options to select different types of forms, tables, online payment options, apps, integrations, and form widgets.

Key features

• HIPAA-compliant forms: Options to create HIPAA-compliant forms with a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) to collect health information safely and securely.
• Integrates with over 100 applications: Including Paypal, MailChimp, Hubspot, Zoom, and Google Forms.
• Form widgets: Choose from a large library of form widgets for e-signatures, PDF embedder, checklists, image sliders, and so much more.

SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow prefers using the term “omni-channel experience management platform” as opposed to being just another survey solution. And it does offer a variety of survey types, which can be applied to many different functions, such as customer experience, employee experience, product experience, as well as the marketing and sales experience.

Key features

• Insightful reporting: Make use of real-time reporting, cross-tabulation, advanced report filters, report scheduling, email notifications, and PDF/SPSS export options to use offline.
• Seamless sharing options: Share within your emails, via a unique share link, via SMS. Embed in the form of pop-ups, a chatbot or anywhere on your website. Share via social media channels and also create QR and email embed codes.
• Offline survey tool: Simply create your offline survey, install the offline app, switch over to the kiosk mode and your data collection. The data syncs automatically once you’re back online.

Nicereply

Nicereply supports CSAT, NPS, and CES surveys for support teams. The survey software helps your team fix issues like customers not filling out surveys, not getting relevant feedback, among other things.

The software also provides options for in-signature email surveys where you can ask customers for feedback at the end of every email, and post-resolution email surveys where you can survey customers automatically after their ticket has been resolved.

Key features

• Customization options: Create your own ratings (thumbs, smileys, or stars) CSAT surveys, automate your trigger settings, adjust wordings on your survey questions as needed, have inbuilt over-surveying protection for your customers, and so much more.
• Analysis tools: Key features include open and response rates stats, rating feeds, trend charts, histograms, and data sampling options.
• Set up support: The platform is easy to set up and the company offers extensive support for your setup and ongoing success. Make use of the free set up call if needed, the dedicated account manager and help center resources.

Reputation

Reputation provides next generation innovation as part of their customer experience survey platform. The surveys are designed to give in-depth information on your customers, generate more responses, and turn sentiment into action.

Key features

• More and faster feedback: Reputation’s survey tools increase survey completion rates and the option to send surveys by text means that you will get responses in a matter of hours.
• 24/7, 360-degree feedback: Adding Reputation’s feedback button to your website can help you generate survey feedback on autopilot.
• Stream-to-site feature: Stream your more impressive survey results to your website to generate social proof and improve your search rankings.

SurveyLegend

SurveyLegend, as the name suggests, has a legend-like list of exhaustive features perfect for discerning survey creators. Included in the software are survey creation tools, survey question types and fields for choices, media, or text, question customization, logic and branching, design tools, data collection and response, analytics, data export and sharing, and so on.

Key features

• API and integrations: Includes RESTFUL API, Google Sheets, MailChimp, and SalesForce.
• Multiple survey sharing options: The survey can be shared using a hosted short-link, hosted link with external ID, embed into web pages or share via email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, and more
• Multilingual customer support: Live chat, email and telephone support available in 11 languages including English, Swedish, and German.

Wufoo

A SurveyMonkey product, Wufoo helps you to easily create online forms for multiple purposes (including surveys) and businesses. According to its website, Wufoo is currently used by over three million users including some of the world’s most recognizable brands such as Disney, Microsoft, Amazon, National Geographic, and Twitter.

Industry-specific solutions are also available for the education, nonprofit, and event management niches.

Key features

• Easy-to-use platform: The survey software is an easy-to-set up form builder and you can make use of a large library of survey templates and forms.
• Automatically collect payments: Collect payments online through the platform’s payment partners such as Paypal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net, etc.
• Customizable design: Design the look and feel of your surveys to match your brand aesthetics without having to code.

Nextiva

Nextiva’s survey software helps you design long or short surveys with ample customization options to match the look and feel of your brand. The powerful survey builder makes it easy to set up and run surveys easily and effortlessly.

Key features

Easy set-up: The survey builder makes everything easy to build, design, and set up.
Analytic reports: Analyze your survey results in real time and create customized reports for your needs.
Multiple applications: The platform’s surveys are great for customer satisfaction, market research, employee satisfaction, and event planning.

Typeform

Typeform is an online survey tool that you can get started with for free. It has an easy-to-use and well-laid-out interface that respondents find engaging. Typeform is a great survey tool to try out if you’re on a budget.

Key features

• Impressive visual layout: Make use of the library of photos, videos, layouts, and themes to bring your brand and surveys to life.
• Conditional logic: Forms can be designed to ask the right type of follow-up questions and skip the irrelevant ones.
• Easy share options: You can embed the survey on your website, launch via an email, or simply share the link.

Outgrow

Outgrow’s surveys come included in its Interactive Content suite comprising calculators, quizzes, polls, assessments, recommendations, and chatbots among other things. The simple no-code tools are designed to help you acquire qualified leads.

Key features

• Maximize response rates: The fully customizable lead generation forms help you get the best possible response rates.
• Plug-and-play templates: Pick and choose from the platform’s library of survey templates for your needs.
• Embed surveys in multiple locations: Link to surveys on your social media pages, embed on your website or use as pop-ups to reach customers wherever they are.

Alternatives to survey software

Not sure if survey software is best for you? There are other good alternatives to help get a pulse of your audience. Check out these alternatives:

• Customer success software: Gather customer data (like survey software), but over a much broader scope, and often without directly contacting customers. This type of software focuses on using data to understand and retain customers, including projecting whether customers will stay loyal or churn.
• Customer engagement software: A broader category of software that enables you to collect feedback, but also includes tools like behavior analysis software and customer messaging software.
• NPS software: A specific type of survey software, focused on finding out how likely customers are to refer their friends to your business.