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Think of a soft launch as a test run for a larger study. When creating a survey it can be beneficial to perform a soft launch—testing the survey on a small percentage of the total sample size to ensure the success of your study when it’s time to fully launch. Note: To soft launch a survey, you must reach out to our team, as users are unable to soft launch on their own.

If you’d like to discuss whether a soft launch would be beneficial for your study, our team will be happy to assist you in the process.

 

Soft Launch

What is a Soft Launch? A soft launch is when a survey is placed in the field, but the sample size is capped at a specific amount, such as 5% or 10% of the total sample. This allows the survey to pause automatically once the 5-10% has been reached, and it lets the researcher review to decide if any changes need to be made before launching to collect the full sample.

Can edits be applied after a soft launch? If edits are needed after a soft launch, those changes can be made to the existing draft only if they are NOT considered structural changes. A structural change would mean that the survey requires being cloned, edited, and relaunched. The sample collected in the soft launch may still incur fees.

  • Examples of structural changes are adding questions, adding answers, swapping stimuli. 
  • Examples of non-structural changes include updating text.
Why soft launch? Soft launches make it possible to check conditional routing such as hide or show if logic and collect survey metrics such as IR and LOI. The soft launch can also help give an idea of how well open ended questions are being answered.

 

 

What to expect

Before approaching a soft launch, it is always a great idea to thoroughly review the study in detail. The preview feature, offered in the editor page, is an excellent tool to scout out any possible programming errors. Once you’ve completed testing, you’ll be ready to reach out for a soft launch.

  1. When your programmed survey is ready for soft launch, reach out to your account manager with the Survey ID, your total N, and the N of completes desired for your soft launch.

  2. The survey will then transition to the Panel Operations team, who will monitor both the soft launch and subsequent full launch. 

  3. When your soft launch is complete, we’ll reach out for you to review and complete a data check.

  4. When you are ready, let our team know to proceed with the full launch.

  5. In the case that adjustments must be made before the full launch, we can discuss options and pricing to improve feasibility or narrow the search, as appropriate.

If you have any additional questions please reach out to support@aytm.com or click the chat bubble at the bottom right to start a conversation. We look forward to hearing from you!

Learn more about Soft Launching surveys on Lighthouse Academy!

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