Google announced a new API for Google Consumer Surveys built on Google Cloud Platform to let developers create and integrate surveys as part of their mobile or web apps.
“We’ve spoken to research and non-research companies who are really interested in bringing the power of our Consumer Surveys tool into their own applications, and with this launch it’s finally possible,” says product manager Dylan Lorimer. “We imagine many different use-cases to tap into the millions of respondents our platform can connect you with, across a dozen or more markets around the world.”
“Leading up to our launch we worked closely with a handful of trusted testers who provided valuable feedback,” he says. “These have included proprietary solutions to manage studies conducted on the Google Consumer Surveys platform (Kantar), predictive analytics solutions (Predictvia), and solutions that help customers visualize their Google Consumer Surveys data (MarketSight). We look forward to working with developers to build unique solutions that empower individuals and businesses to make better data driven decisions.”
You can find everything you need to know about Google Consumer Surveys here.
Back in 2012, Google launched Google Consumer Surveys, which a survey-based revenue share program for publishers. Now, Google is letting publishers self-sign-up to take advantage.
Publishers can use the surveys in place or pay walls, so they can get something out of readers who may not want to pay to read an article, or even take the time to register. When a reader lands on a page with premium content, they can answer a question to get to the content.
“In exchange for access to your content, your visitors answer a few short surveys, earning you money for each question answered,” Google said in a Google+ post (via Marketing Land). “As a publisher, Google Consumer Surveys is easy to implement and control – you choose where and how often survey prompts appear as well as how much content to make available.”
“All Google Consumer Surveys publishers must have an AdSense account in good standing, an audience that is ages 18+, and must adhere to our Publisher Program Policies,” it added. “We’ll start accepting publishers in the US today, followed quickly by the UK and Canada. More countries to come in the months ahead!”
According to the company, “hundreds” of sites are already using the product to “successfully” monetize their content.
Harris Interactive announced that it has collaborated with Google and its Google Consumer Surveys on a new market research product.
A spokesperson for Harris tells WebProNews that the product “allows businesses, both large and small, to compare themselves to industry benchmarks at a fraction of the cost of traditional market research.”
“Google and the Harris Poll will be performing benchmark studies on an ongoing basis,” she adds. “The benchmarks will be collected and delivered, free of charge, within the Harris Poll and Google Consumer Surveys Platform.”
Google launched Consumer Surveys back in March to offer a solution to the problems of publishers looking for revenue sources and market research lacking in quality.
Google’s Matt Cutts had this to say about the surveys at the time:
When a visitor lands on a page with premium content, they can answer a question to get to the content (much friendlier than asking people to pay for content directly). Publishers earn money and visitors get higher-quality content. Meanwhile, market research and polling gets easier, faster, and cheap enough that almost anyone can do it.
I really like that this is a new option to help produce higher-quality content on the web. It’s like micropayments, but users don’t have to pay with money–they can pay with their time or opinions.
“We are excited to be involved in a venture that has the potential to reinvent the manner in which market research is conducted,” said Harris Interactive President and CEO Al Angrisani. “This is a unique opportunity to bring together Google’s innovative Consumer Surveys product with Harris Interactive’s expertise in delivering credible insights to the global business community.”
Paul McDonald, Senior Product Manager at Google added, “This is a really great addition to our self-service offering. Thousands of large and small businesses, in dozens of industries, have used Google Consumer Surveys to get easy, affordable and precise market insights. I’m thrilled that we’re working with a leader like the Harris Poll to give businesses access to a new benchmarking offering. We believe it’s a huge validation of our technology, a huge boost for businesses of all sizes.”
Mike de Vere, President of the Harris Poll said, “By joining the Harris Poll, one of the world’s most recognized and trusted barometers of consumer opinion, with Google’s new self-service market research tool, we have the opportunity to be a transformative force in the market research industry by making credible, consumer research more accessible, affordable and actionable.”
The first study to utilize the offering looks at customer satisfaction in the banking industry. Take a look.
Last week, Google launched Google Consumer Surveys. These were designed both as a way for publishers to potentially make a bit of revenue, as well as a way to easily and cheaply collect market research.
So far, at least Googlers themselves are running some interesting surveys. We already reported on one Matt Cutts ran, finding that only one in five Americans have heard of SEO.
Now Google’s Justin Cutroni has posted the results of a survey where he asked if businesses should be able to anonymously track your actions on their website. The results? 84.7% said no.
“I was a bit surprised!” exclaimed Cutroni in a Google+ post. “I did not think the percentage would be that high. It also tells me that there is strong opposition to all tracking, even anonymous tracking. There were no demographic segments, based on location, age or income that agreed. Nobody wants to be tracked.”
“We in the analytics industry really need to explain what we do and why we do it,” he added. “This is a great opportunity for the Digital Analytics Association to help spread information about what we do and why we do it.”
Google’s head of web spam, Matt Cutts, used the product to put out his own survey about SEO in which he determined that 1 in 5 in the U.S. have heard of SEO.
“In my world, everyone I talk to has heard of search engine optimization (SEO),” he says on Google+. “But I’ve always wondered: do regular people in the U.S. know what SEO is? With Google’s new Consumer Surveys product, I can actually find out. I asked 1,576 people ‘Have you heard of ‘search engine optimization’?”
“It turns out only 1 in 5 people (20.4%) in the U.S. have heard of SEO!” he says.
“The survey also turned up an interesting gender difference: almost 25% of men have heard of SEO, but only about 16% of women have,” Cutts notes. “Doing this sort of market research in the past would have been slow, hard, and expensive. Asking 1,500 people a simple question only costs about $150.”
The survey may only be a small set of people compared to the actual population of the country, but my guess is that’s not that far off. In my experience, outside of work, most people have no idea what SEO is.
Google has introduced Google Consumer Surveys, trying to kill multiple birds with a single stone. Those birds would be publishers looking for revenue sources and less-than-stellar market research.
With the product, publishers can use this instead of a pay wall , so they can get something out of readers who may not want to pay to read an article, or even take the time to register.
“The idea behind Google Consumer Surveys is to create a model that benefits everyone,” says Google product manager Paul McDonald. “You get to keep enjoying your favorite online content, publishers have an additional option for making money from that content, and businesses have a new way of finding out what their customers want.”
Publishers get paid for hosting surveys. A number of publishers, such as the The Texas Tribune, the Star Tribune and Adweek have already started running these microsurveys on their sites.
So what’s the point of these questions? From international brands to local food trucks, every business owner wants to make important decisions with their customers’ feedback in mind. That’s why we’ve created Google Consumer Surveys, a new business-facing product that makes custom market research easy. It enables companies to ask questions (the ones you’ll later see on your screen) and get back quantitative results quickly, accurately and cost-effectively. Companies have already been using it to research everything from online shopping behavior (Lucky Brand Jeans) to gluten-free baking mixes (King Arthur Flour), and to assess brand awareness (Timbuk2) and inform product development (479 Popcorn). Google shares the money these companies spend with our publisher partners.
Problem: Newspapers and publishers want more funding options so they can produce premium, high-quality content.
Problem: Market research is slow and broken in many ways.
Solution: When a visitor lands on a page with premium content, they can answer a question to get to the content (much friendlier than asking people to pay for content directly). Publishers earn money and visitors get higher-quality content. Meanwhile, market research and polling gets easier, faster, and cheap enough that almost anyone can do it.
I really like that this is a new option to help produce higher-quality content on the web. It’s like micropayments, but users don’t have to pay with money–they can pay with their time or opinions.
It’s pretty straight-forward (shamelessly pulled from their site [1]):
1. You create online surveys to gain consumer insight
2. People complete questions to access premium content
3. Publishers get paid as their visitors answer
4. You get nicely aggregated and analyzed data
I’ve watched this product grow from a kernel of an idea to a full-fledged product and think it has great potential.
Google’s Chris DiBona says, “I think this is actually a super important product for writers and publishers.”
At least we know Googlers like it.
Here’s an example of one being used (from LimaOhio.com):
