Survey Tool for Meetings: Why an Online Poll May Work for Your Group

Whether you're an NGO, real estate board, events planner, youth group, or golf club, carrying out surveys and polls within your organization is inevitable. You might have to elect a new board member, the president of your group, or decide on a club activity. No matter the scenario, an online survey tool can come in handy for any type of vote within your group meetings.

Here are five reasons why online polls may work for your group.

Casting a vote online is more convenient than having to show up in person for polling. Group and audience members can cast their poll vote anytime and from anywhere–this is especially useful for members who are located far away or have a busy calendar schedule.

With online voting, there is also usually a higher voter turnout and more audience engagement. This is because it's easier for members to participate in the poll when they can do it on their own time and from the comfort of their own home.

In addition, online voting tools usually offer voter engagement tools like SMS alerts and emails about poll resources along with survey software. These features also help increase voter turnout and make your election data more valid, so if the poll you're about to conduct is absolutely vital for your organization, using an online tool can help you ensure that it's successful and valid.

An online polling system is also more cost-effective than traditional methods like paper polls. This is a major benefit for new organizations that might not have the budget, time, or expertise to carry out paper-based polls in their meetings.

With online voting, you don't have to worry about the cost of printing ballots, hiring election staff, or renting out a space at an event center to host the live poll meeting. You also don't have to worry about the cost of mailing ballots to audience members who are located far away.

Additionally, many online voting tools come with free trial periods so you can test out the software before making a decision on which survey software to invest in.

When you use an online poll, you can be sure that your votes and data are being counted accurately with election analytics. This is because online voting tools often use extensive security measures to protect the vote. These poll security measures can include encryption, two-factor authentication, and audit logs.

Online voting tools also offer a higher degree of transparency than traditional poll methods. This is because some tools offer real-time election results and allow members to see how other audience members have voted–this interactive engagement and transparency can help build trust within your meetings and group.

Then, many online polls also offer trained and neutral staff to monitor and conduct the election. This staff can help ensure that the election is carried out fairly and transparently, and that any questions or objections are addressed promptly.

Finally, unlike paper votes, online polls can be stored securely and accessed easily at any time. This means an online poll can be verified and audited at a later point in time, making it an excellent option for high-stakes or large-volume elections.

With an online poll, you can often get results within hours–or even minutes of the team vote. This is because members can cast their votes quickly and easily without having to wait in line or fill out a paper ballot. Online polls are also easy to learn how to use and create, making it simple for your audience to participate in the poll.

This is especially useful in situations where you need to make a quick decision, like if there's an emergency within your organization.

In addition, many online polls offer instant runoff voting. This type of poll allows team members to rank their choices in order of preference, which can help speed up the decision-making process and ensure that the winner has broad support from the group.

Did you know that there are different types of voting methods? With an online poll, you have the flexibility to choose the voting method that best suits your needs.

For example, if you're looking to conduct polls with more than two candidates, you might want to use approval voting. This is a type of voting where team members can vote for as many candidates as they like, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Another popular voting method is cumulative voting. This is the type of poll in which members are given a certain number of votes, and they can choose to distribute these votes among the candidates as they see fit.

These are just two examples of the different voting methods that you can use with an online voting system, but there are many more voting methods, and the best one depends on what you're trying to achieve with your elections. Unfortunately, some of these voting methods are complex to execute manually–this is where an online poll comes in. Online voting tools make it simple to carry out even the most complex voting methods, which is helpful if your group doesn't have a lot of experience in conducting elections.