QuickTake offers Internet surveys

do-it-yourself survey tool last week that enables users to gather what

it calls ’digital opinions.’

Here’s how it works: the surveys are created by logging onto

QuickTake.com; identifying a survey title and description; selecting a

target audience; choosing from approximately 40 pre-formatted questions

or developing customized questions to build the survey; and providing

billing information.

The survey then goes out to web sites whose users match the audience

targeted for the survey.

The price of the survey depends upon the number of responses a company

wants to gather and how targeted the demographic is. But GM Mark Hardy

said that a survey meant to gather responses from 250 general Internet

users would only cost dollars 1,000. Users can request up to 500

responses in increments of 50.

As for the way PR might use QuickTake.com, it’s not hard to imagine

agencies attempting to gain market knowledge before a new business pitch

or testing ideas before a campaign is launched.

While the results are far from scientific and are not intended to take

the place of formal research (Hardy referred to the surveys as ’global

water-cooler research’), they keep in line with the growing trend toward

conducting online surveys rather than using traditional methods, such as

telephone interviews.

According to Electronic Commerce World, 2% of survey research was done

online in 1999, up from less than 1% in 1998. The figure will reach 50 %

within five years it predicts.