Best Practices

AI vs Traditional Surveys: Which is Better?

Quick Summary AI surveys can adapt in real time to create conversational, personalized experiences that improve engagement and data quality. Traditional surveys ensure consistency that is ideal for benchmarking, regulatory compliance, and longitudinal or comparative studies. AI accelerates analysis and insight generation, automatically coding responses, analyzing sentiment, and summarizing key themes. AI vs. Traditional Surveys: What’s Changing and Why It Matters You have questions that need answers. So, you design a questionnaire to collect information, focusing on what to ask. When you consider the full research process — beginning with questionnaire design but including sampling, data collection, analysis, and reporting — you move into the realm of surveys. Surveys bring focus to how the information is gathered and interpreted to generate insights. Until recently, questionnaires and surveys were traditionally offered by phone, in person, or by mail. Technology moved these tools online. Today, AI surveys further transform what can be done by offering adaptive questioning and personalization along with faster, richer analysis and insights. To guide the AI vs. traditional survey decision, this article provides a practical framework and clear use cases to determine which format best suits your needs. Ready to lead CX in your organization? Spend 15 minutes with us and we’ll show you how. Request a Demo What’s the difference between AI and traditional surveys The differences between AI and traditional surveys start with design. A traditional survey has a static form with consistent questions and structured scales to collect consistent data. AI surveys are adaptive, allowing […]