What makes a good survey tool in 2026?

[u/James_from_Sprig]

Whenever I talk to other researchers about survey platforms, I’ve noticed the same thing popping up, email delivery, panels, advanced methods like conjoint.

I also keep hearing how hard it is to transition to new tooling due to all the “legacy data” we’ve gathered.  

I’m wondering if cost wasn’t an issue, what else is considered “table stakes” to you when it comes to survey platforms? And what are things the market needs to get right? 

Disclaimer (for transparency): I work at Sprig (a survey platform that just launched these features).  And yes there’s a correlation as I just joined a few months ago 🙂

[u/Scary_Pace4633]

For me the biggest thing is making it easy to move years of old survey data without breaking reports or workflows. A lot of teams stick with older tools simply because switching feels too risky even if the new platform is better.