iVoted – Gauge Your Audience

Have you ever wondered what your coworkers thought of a presentation you gave? How about what your students thought of a course you taught, or what readers thought of a newspaper article you wrote? iVoted is an inexpensive way to get real-time responses from anyone at any time.

Before you can review the results of a poll, you’ll have to create one. Register for an account then start a new poll to begin. Type in the question you want to ask, along with any possible responses. Although iVoted doesn’t limit the number of responses you can include, sticking with two or three answers usually produces the best and most accurate results. What makes iVoted different from other voting applications is that your audience doesn’t have to click onto the iVoted site to vote. People can vote in polls by text message, Twitter, email, or by visiting the poll directly online. If you’ve selected a paid package, then your audience can vote by texting or emailing the keywords that you’ve specifically chosen to a predetermined phone number or email address. Otherwise, iVoted will randomly generate keywords that people should use when voting in your poll via SMS, Twitter, or email.

The information that iVoted collects is updated in real-time and reflected in its on-screen graphics immediately. Although free polls remain open for only 24 hours, polls created by users with paid plans can stay open for an unlimited amount of time. Voters, meanwhile, will appreciate iVoted’s dedication to voter anonymity and secure privacy standards. Anyone within the United States and Canada can vote by phone at the current time, however iVoted is continuing to expand in allowing voters in Europe and Latin America to take part in text message voting, as well.

Practical Uses:

• Find out which song the listeners of your radio station like best
• Learn what types of articles your newspaper readers want to see
• Track how well your classroom lectures and lesson plans are working
• Get feedback from people who attended a recent event you hosted

Insider Tips:

• People can reply to @ivoted on Twitter to vote on an open poll
• Polls created by users with paid plans can stay open as long as a user wants
• SMS voting is open to people in the USA and Canada
• Certain polls can be re-opened even after they’re closed

What we liked:

• A user can create a poll in just a few simple steps
• More people are likely to vote in polls when there are many ways to respond
• Audience members don’t have to create their own accounts to vote
• Responses are updated on the iVoted site in real time

What we didn’t like:

• Users with free accounts can only collect responses from 25 voters

Alternatives:

• iQpoll – http://www.iqpoll.com
• Poll Everywhere – http://www.polleverywhere.com
• SMS Poll – http://www.smspoll.net

Company Info:

• Launched: 2010
• Privately Held
• Founded by: Jorge Robaina and Alejandro Sanchez
• Web site: www.ivoted.com

Costs:

• Free plan
• Small plan is $19/month
• Medium plan is $49/month
• Large plan is $199/month

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)