Cost of polling

[motomonkey]

Using offshore outbound centers, cost can be reduced by 40%.  If the center is only making calls and asking questions the cost can be considerably less than $4,000.  Here are some of the costs that go into polling by phone:

1.  Development of questionairre (client can provide this)
2.  List providing.  This is very important.  No poll is better than that data called and the outline of the respondants.  In other words, there needs to be work done to make sure the responders are a statistically representative sampling of the voter pool.  For instance, calling in NC to "likely Democratic voters" will give you a far different result than insuring that the responders are statically representations of subgroups such as age, income, race, education, rural/urban etc.  The more accurate the responders mirror the target voter pool, the more accurate the poll.  The more complex, the more calls need to be made to get the required number of "completes."
3.  Number of attempts, completions and length of call.  The call center ultimately has to reduce the project to number of hours dialed.  Domestic outbound is about $15 per hour.  Offshore about $10 per hour. (minimums and set up charges may apply)
4.  Development of data capture.  If the client already has a portal or questionairre software this expense can be avoided. 
5.  Compilation of results.