One advantage of online surveys is that interviewer effects such as social desirability are eliminated because respondents are in an anonymous situation. This means that respondents answer more honestly and are less inclined to give an answer that they think the interviewers “want to hear”. In addition, with online studies, respondents have the opportunity to decide for themselves when they have time and want to participate in the survey.

Compared to CATI studies, online surveys have the great advantage that visual elements and illustrations such as logos or even videos can be included when designing the questions. This makes it easier for respondents to differentiate between different companies or organisations or enables campaign tests to be carried out easily with video or other pointing material.

Through computer-assisted implementation, certain complex methods, such as conjoint measurement or maximum difference scaling, can be integrated into the survey.

Online surveys can be carried out much faster than face-to-face or telephone surveys, especially with large samples.

The collected data is immediately available. As a rule, clear interim reports with the most important results can be generated at any time.

Online surveys can be conducted in several languages without much effort. Respondents can choose their own survey language.

Online surveys are usually significantly less expensive than telephone or face-to-face surveys.