You might wonder who B2B survey respondents are and how those people are relevant in B2B market research. Surveys which are a valuable part of your business comprise a big part of research for the industry. They can help you uncover insights about customer experiences, satisfaction, and opinions. You can use this information to improve your marketing strategies and increase conversion rates. However, B2B surveys for due diligence are not without their flaws. For example, B2B survey respondents may not always answer negatively to a question – even if they are unhappy with the product or service offered. They may also be confused by questions in the survey or simply forget to answer them.

As you conduct hundreds of surveys, you’ll begin to notice patterns in your respondents. From the rule-breakers to the speeders and everything in between. Here are some of the different types of B2B survey respondents that you should be aware of:

You Can Count on the Professionals

Professionals are B2B survey respondents that fall under the “good" category. When it comes to surveying responses, they treat it as a job. They have their preferences, which leads them to specific companies and brands that pay them to participate in their surveys. 

The professional B2B survey respondents have usually different preferences. Those preferences may not seem like a problem at first sight. Still, there is a catch: they don't answer all questions truthfully but try to give answers they think you want to hear. Additionally, their recurring participation causes biased results over time. For example, suppose you ask them about a large brand they worked with; they might give higher ratings because they don't want to lose access to the survey. If you ask them about a small company, they can provide lower ratings.

Be Aware of The Rule-Breakers and the Speeders

One of the most common types of B2B survey respondents is rule-breakers. Sometimes, these rule-breakers are not intentionally breaking the rules but could not understand questions or provide invalid answers to open-ends. This type of respondent is tricky to decipher in your data because it's hard to tell if the respondent is lying or just not understanding the questions. To remove respondents who are rule-breakers and provide invalid data, you should use a validity filter to filter out responses based on their answers.

The second type of survey respondent is speeders. Speeders move too quickly through a survey and provide little thought to their answers. Most speeders aren't intrinsically motivated but only complete a survey to receive their incentive. 

If your concern is that respondents are completing your surveys too quickly, you should implement a quota based on the time it takes for them to meet your survey. Additionally, for more information on surveys you could check out this article.

Straightliners Are Troublemakers

Straightliners, also called flatliners, always choose the answers close to the end, like "strongly agree" or "strongly disagree." They can be overly optimistic straightliners or negative straightliners. Because they tend to score everything in the extreme, straightliners are the most challenging B2B survey respondents. 

The key to dealing with them is having a good response bias question in your survey. The "I have never taken this type of survey before" question is a common question to use. You can exclude people who select the bottom-box answer.

Look Out For Posers and Cheaters in B2B survey respondents

One of the most difficult low-quality B2B survey respondents to identify are posers. They wanted to seem clever or liked and didn't provide honest feedback. Posers are tricky because they often choose to follow the group discussions due to social desirability bias. Social desirability is a cognitive bias that makes people think of the socially acceptable answer first instead of what they genuinely think on a topic.

Some surveys are more likely to have posers than others. Suppose a topic has a "right" answer, such as medical research or political polls. In that case, posers may feel like they need to give the correct answer even if it's not what they think. 

Survey cheaters give false information to receive a reward or fill in fake answers to speed up the process. Real cheaters are real people who want tips without filling out surveys. Fake cheaters are bots programmed to fill surveys automatically in exchange for compensation.

Conclusion

Identifying B2B survey respondents who are not genuine or valid members of your target audience can be a challenge. Hiring a reputable survey company like GrapeData will help you avoid these pitfalls, thereby guaranteeing the accuracy of your research. GrapeData will help you get reliable data for making informed business decisions.