Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) is a unique tool that allows businesses to promptly respond to any market changes. The presence of a personal mobile device in almost every person enables the efficient conduct of social surveys, obtaining feedback from customers, and learning the opinions of current and potential clients directly. Thanks to telephone marketing research, you can quickly obtain honest assessments, find ideas for development, and save money on expensive analytics. In this material, we will explore in detail the features and rules of conducting CATI surveys and discuss the advantages of telephone surveys for business development.
What is Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)?
Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) are interviews conducted by phone with the participation of an interviewer who, while communicating with the respondent, asks survey questions and enters the answers into a database through a software interface. In modern conditions, surveys are conducted using software and hardware tools, so the term CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) has become widely accepted. The use of such systems allows for the semi-automatic (with the direct participation of the operator) dialing of a large number of subscribers in a relatively short period.
CATI surveys are an effective tool for sociological and marketing research, providing a high level of control over information collection and its quality. CATI software capabilities enable the efficient conduct of telephone surveys: automatically dialing respondents, controlling the number of responses, recording interview audio files, and organizing the collected information into an electronic database. Computerized telephone surveys undoubtedly expedite and facilitate marketing research, social opinion studies, and more.
Tasks Addressed by Telephone Surveys (CATI)
Telephone surveys (CATI) are equally effective in marketing and conducting social research. In the business sector, CATI can be used for the following research:
- Determining the Net Promoter Score (customer loyalty index)
- Conducting customer satisfaction surveys (Customer Satisfaction Index)
- Identifying reasons for termination or refusal to cooperate with the company
- Determining criteria for choosing suppliers and cooperation conditions
- Assessing the willingness to work with your company
- Evaluating the quality of telephone consultations (Mystery Calling)
In the B2C sector, telephone surveys (CATI) allow monitoring the overall market situation: brand recognition, frequency of purchases, elasticity of purchasing power, and so on. CATI is also an excellent method for conducting marketing research on consumer behavior (CES), their interaction experience with the company (CSAT), attitudes towards innovations in the market of goods/services, and evaluating the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and loyalty programs.
Telephone Sociological Surveys
CATI surveys are a convenient solution when it is necessary to obtain a cross-section of public opinion or survey consumers of a particular product, residents of specific areas, managers, and employees of companies. A short interview (no more than 15 minutes) with a concise list of questions allows processing a large sample in a short period. During a sociological CATI survey, you can find out:
- Public attitudes towards election campaigns (whether they plan to vote, whom they would choose, etc.)
- Level of trust in a particular candidate, party, or social movement
- Quality of agitation programs, etc.
As a result, the main audience and its perception of the current situation will be formed.
During telephone sociological surveys, it is possible to survey population segments that are difficult to access for face-to-face interviews. At the same time, it is easy to control the accuracy and quality of interviewer work and immediately enter the answers into the database.
Features and Rules of CATI Conducting
In Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI), IP telephony is typically used for surveys, a technology that combines the capabilities of regular telephony and the Internet. Special CATI software allows increasing the productivity of agents, avoiding errors during interviews, and analyzing research results.
Features of CATI Conducting
Although CATI surveys are conducted using special software, an interviewer still participates, and the so-called “human factor” cannot be ignored. Therefore, when selecting operators/agents for research, it is necessary to consider that, for example, young interviewers more often receive evasive answers than older employees.
The gender of the interviewer can also affect the correctness of the answers. For instance, male interviewers more often receive refusals to answer questions, and an ideal telephone interviewer is a middle-aged woman.
Another feature of CATI survey is a low Response Rate—the number of respondents who agreed to answer questions. Generally, 13-15% of respondents agree to answer questions, so it is crucial to consider factors such as the age of respondents, the time for the survey, question formulation, etc., during the preparation of the survey.
Rules of Conducting CATI
As we have noted, telephone surveys (CATI) are quite dependent on the competence of interviewers. To conduct successful marketing research and avoid mistakes, contact center operators/agents must adhere to the following rules:
Study the questionnaire: A good interviewer should understand the purpose of the research, know the target group, identify weaknesses in question formulation, and choose a tone of voice to maintain respondent attention.
Be open and empathetic: These are essential conditions to engage the respondent in answering questions and ensure the most reliable research results.
Maintain politeness and professionalism: CATI surveys can catch respondents during working hours or in inconvenient circumstances, so it’s crucial to handle negativity skillfully and be persuasive. Politeness and courtesy are key, especially when conducting surveys on behalf of a brand.
Avoid influencing answers: The telephone survey questionnaire is like a track that the interviewer guides the respondent along without influencing its direction. The operator’s opinion should not interfere, so answers should be accepted without approval or criticism. Adhering to the questionnaire and maintaining neutrality is crucial, as it directly affects the final data.
Attempt to get answers to all questionnaire questions: The answer “I don’t know” does not bring any benefit and negatively affects survey results. The task of a qualified operator during CATI is to encourage the respondent to provide more accurate or specific answers to all questionnaire questions.
Why Choose CATI Surveys at Global Bilgi?
At Global Bilgi, we have our own contact center staffed with professional operators. With 15 years of experience in conducting marketing and sociological research in various languages (all EU languages), we have developed modern CATI survey software that helps efficiently conduct all types of marketing and sociological research.
In addition to Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) of the mass consumer segment, our company has rich experience in conducting telephone surveys for enterprises and organizations of various profiles (B2B segment).
We ensure complete quality control of the collected data. Experienced telephone survey managers check the completeness of questionnaires for each interviewer and guarantee audio recordings of each conversation.
Global Bilgi has the expertise of a research agency, allowing us to conduct CATI telephone surveys, providing the client with an analytical report and interpretation of the results.
Discover the possibilities of data analysis based on Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) from Global Bilgi. Improve your business solutions, enhance customer understanding, and stay ahead of competitors. Contact us today to harness the transformative potential of our experience – let’s turn data into actionable results together!
