Google explodes into market research with easy-to-use consumer research tool

Élyse Betters | Mar 29 2012 - 11:25 am PT

[youtube=http://youtu.be/90MIiBvXYcw]

World—meet Google Consumer Surveys: Just when it looks like Google has extended its reach into every dark corner of the Internet, the search engine launches a new service to reap more cash online.

It seems like the Mountain View, Calif.-based Company ordered its press-machine into full swing for today’s unveiling. Software Engineer Tessa MacDuff and webspam team head Matt Cutts announced the service on Google+, Software Engineer Brett Slatkin posted a summary on the official Small Business Blog, and Google Insights made the Consumer Surveys page live. Oh, and do not forget the video above hosted on the Google YouTube Channel.

Google Consumer Surveys is available to Fortune 500 companies and even small businesses. Users can create an online survey within minutes and receive their first response in just a few hours. Analyzed reports will come a couple days later.

Slatkin gave a nice breakdown of Google Consumer Surveys in his blog post:

Here’s how it works: people browsing the web come across your questions when they try to access high quality content like news articles or videos. Answering the question gives them near instant access to the page they want. All responses are anonymous; they aren’t tied to users’ identity or later used to target ads. This provides an alternative to the traditional paywall model: site visitors don’t have to pull out a wallet or sign in, publishers get paid as their site visitors respond, and you gain insight into what people think — for just $0.10 per response for the general US population or $0.50 per response for custom audiences.

Google Consumer Insights featured a more thorough explanation of how the surveys work, including tidbits on methodology and accuracy. Meanwhile, Cutts said in his Google+ post that he likes the new service’s ability to 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.”

MacDuff offered her Google+ circles the following survey as an example:

Google advertises 10-cent per response, but the surveys also cost 50-cents per response for demographic targeting and custom audience. A full list of pricing and particulars are available online.