If you are going to conduct a telephonic interview, you probably know there are a few challenges to overcome. Using a CATI software for telephone interviews will get you rid of some of them and enhance your overall strategy.
Here you will see why and how this survey methodology can be useful for your company and how to use it for maximum efficiency.
Table of Contents
What is a CATI software?
This is the acronym of Computer Assisted Telephone Interview and it’s a survey methodology that combines human interaction and web based precision in a questionnaire. That can help you overcome some of the most frequent problems with telephone (or in-person) data collection.
A good software will provide you with great efficiency, will help interviewers being clearer and quicker and will eliminate some issues for your survey.
Challenge n.1: misunderstandings
When conducting a complex survey, you can face misunderstandings on the user’s part. That leads you to unuseful or wrong information and a lot of frustration. That’s where a CATI software can help.
Interviewers have both questions and answers on their display and, with the right training, they know your survey’s goals inside and out. So, when a user doesn’t understand a question, they will simply word it differently or explain it in greater detail. This way you will have more correct and precise answers, which is your primary goal.
Challenge n.2: mistakes in transcriptions
When some of your staff conduct telephone interviews without a software, they will need to write down every answer. And that can easily become confusing. Written words are not always intelligible, quick writing can make it worse.
Solve this problem with an intuitive and easy-to-use CATI software. This kind of system has clear ways to type answers to both multiple or open questions. The first will only need a click, for the latter you will have keyboard shortcuts in order to type more quickly. The conversation will be fluent and natural, without weird interruptions to write the answers down, while the responses will be correctly collected.
Challenge n.3: contact lists
Your contact list is one of the most valuable possessions for a good and targeted telephone survey. But what happens if the interviewer loses it? Or the contacts are not correctly written down and segmented?
A good CATI software can be of help here, too. It will integrate names and telephone numbers with other valuable information you have on every prospect or customer. This way you will be able to segment your audience and reach just the right people with your questionnaire. Also, an automated system provides you with easy ways to delete useless or no longer interested users, store their infos and collect them for future use.
Challenge n.4: scheduling appointments
Leading an entire team of interviewers can be frustrated. Lots of people don’t answer the phone, or need you to call them later, and every single staff member needs to write it all down. And what if the interviewer changes and doesn’t know what happened with the previous call?
CATI softwares have a great system for managing Inbound and OutBound calls, automated calendars for scheduling appointments and dedicated spaces to write down valuable information about a specific customer. This way whoever is on the phone knows exactly everything they need to know before dialing a number. Also, predictive dialing allows the system to automatically re-call a number and transfer the call to the first available agent.
Challenge n.5: data analysis
After conducting your survey, you obviously want to analyze the data interviewers collected. But how can you do that if every member of the team writes it down in a different way? This won’t be a problem with the right, accurate software.
Every agent will see the same layout and fill in the information the same way. Then every data will be collected in easy-to-read reports and charts and will be accessible to team leaders and managers.
Is there any problem with CATI softwares?
Any mistake and error is only possible when people use the CATI software incorrectly. For instance, if the questions and answers are wrongly written. This possibility is increased in open-ended questions, which still require a little transcription. Depending on the CATI software, it may be difficult to change questions once submitted, so try to choose a flexible one that allows you great personalization and multiple changes along the way.
Also, be sure the software you choose is compliant with national, European and international laws regarding data collection, protection and storage. See the newest GDPR policy and every national and international law about your specific area in order for your users to be as safe as possible. Always be careful with stating your goal and purpose when conducting a survey and notify users if their calls are being recorded and why.
