BuyerIQ vs Customer Surveys

What people say vs what people actually do

Last updated: October 2025

The stated preference problem

Survey 100 people. 63% say they'll buy at $49/month. You build it. Launch day: 7 actually buy.

This isn't because people lied. Research shows surveys overstate purchase intent by 30-40%. What people say they'll do and what they actually do are completely different.

Comparison

	Customer Surveys	BuyerIQ
Method	Ask people what they'll buy	Predict what they'll actually buy
Accuracy	30-40% overstatement bias	90% correlation (validated)
Time	2-6 weeks	30 seconds
Cost	$500-$2,500 per study	$39/month unlimited
Sample Size	50-500 respondents	100+ segments analyzed
Data Type	Stated preferences	Revealed preferences

When to use each

Use surveys for

• Measuring satisfaction from existing customers
• Gathering qualitative feedback
• Feature prioritization (post-launch)
• Brand perception measurement

Use BuyerIQ for

• Pre-launch market validation
• TAM/SAM/SOM sizing for investors
• Identifying who will actually buy
• Fast positioning iteration

The bottom line

Surveys are useful for existing customers. But for validating new products, the stated preference problem makes them systematically unreliable. BuyerIQ predicts revealed preferences based on 9,300 real purchase decisions.

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