satisfaction, and monitor it in real time to make sure it doesn't continue to plunge. Now imagine doing this by running
THE ULTIMATE QUEST for Smarter Survey Data
eBook by:
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INTIMI-DATA-ING Let’s talk about data. Don’t worry, this is a safe space. Big, small,
This playbook will show you the tools you need to avoid being
quantitative, qualitative—you can admit to being overwhelmed
confused by your survey data. It will cover common pitfalls and
or intimidated by it.
the four qualities that make survey data easier to analyze and
Data is broadly defined as facts, information, and statistics. It’s basically any type of information that can be collected. What’s
understand. Read on and learn how you can transform your survey data into smart decision making.
so intimidating about that? Not much. But the information itself is not the intimidating part. However, making sense of the chaos, spotting patterns, finding trends, and putting your conclusions to practical use can be flat out daunting.
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S.O.S. SURVEY DATA DURESS
First up, let’s cover the two most common reasons why survey data analysis gets stalled before it can turn into smart decision making and meaningful action.
1. CONFUSING REPORTING Whether you’re trying to measure customer satisfaction, track
The entire purpose of devoting resources to launch a
employee engagement or view the test scores of your trainees,
survey program is to use the resulting data to guide
one thing is clear: your survey data must be easy to understand.
your organization and make informed decisions —
That sounds easy enough, right? Not necessarily. Data in the
decisions that aren’t based on conjecture, but facts.
aggregate is overwhelming, making it difficult to pull out
Because this kind of deliberate decision making is
important trends and performance metrics. Even when data is
rooted in data, it’s more likely to positively affect your
displayed in charts or graphs, your understanding can still be
bottom line. So before you start drowning in data,
muddied by the following:
grab our lifeline.
• poor graphics
• limited time frames
• outdated results
• extra, irrelevant information
For example, if you notice customer satisfaction dipped in December, you need to conduct a historical analysis to see if it’s part of a downward trend, or just an irregularity. Furthermore, once you notice the drop, you have to keep a close eye on satisfaction, and monitor it in real time to make sure it doesn’t continue to plunge. Now imagine doing this by running separate reports for each month and trying to make comparisons by inputting the data into an excel spreadsheet. Long processes that involve different systems and manual data entry are time consuming and filled with opportunities to miss something important.
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2. LACK OF DATA DISTRIBUTION The scope of successful survey programs usually requires the involvement of multiple departments and management levels within an organization. Not only do you need buy-in from the people who are directly tasked with designing and sending the survey, you have get the support of the people who have the power to make changes based on what the feedback reveals. That means the big bosses. For example, if your organization’s HR department is interested in how a new policy influenced employees, multiple people need access to the final survey results. In addition to stakeholders from the HR department, senior leaders will need to see reports, so they can determine whether or not they need to change or modify the policy. This becomes complicated if one person or a department has to serve as a middleman between C-suite executives and the survey program managers. Emailing reports or trying to verbally relay information isn’t nearly as efficient or compelling as allowing everyone to log in and see what they need to firsthand. Oftentimes, the right reports aren’t distributed to the right people because wires get crossed or it becomes too time consuming.
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THE DATA DESIRABLES
2. VISUALLY APPEALING Reporting dashboards, like the dashboards of automobiles, serve as quick, easy-to-understand, visual representations of what’s going on at that moment. When it comes to your survey feedback analysis, dashboards provide a graphical representation of your survey results. They clearly show you key
Now that you know valuable survey feedback can
performance metrics, historical trends, and scoring summaries,
fall victim to confusing reporting or a lack of data
so insights can be gleaned at a glance. Without clean visuals,
distribution, it’s time to learn what makes survey data
it’s hard to process your data.
extraordinary—what makes it a catalyst for smart, informed decision making. Here are the four traits your data needs for maximum effectiveness.
3. EASILY CUSTOMIZABLE When data is correctly and powerfully represented visually, it tells a story. To better understand your survey story, sometimes you need focus on one part at a time. Customizable dashboards let you filter your data and narrow your focus. You can quickly zero in on what an age range of customers thought of your new product, or you can see how a specific department feels about its professional growth opportunities. Customizing data helps different stakeholders slice and dice the results, so they can see what’s important to them.
1. CENTRALLY ACCESSIBLE Housing all of your published survey reports in a centralized location on the web is extremely helpful for keeping stakeholders informed. By letting everyone access the metrics they’re interested in on their own, you’re able cut down on constant emails, reduce room for error, and make it easier for everyone to stay in the loop. Information is power!
4. INSTANTLY REFRESHABLE Your survey program’s feedback is a reflection of your respondents. Since your respondents evolve and change over time, your analysis must stay up to date. With dashboards that can be instantly refreshed to generate the most-up-to-date reports, you’ll be able to track changes, monitor areas of concern, and take action.
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ACTING ON YOUR DATA
Here are some steps to help you get there:
1. SET SURVEY GOALS Before you send out your survey, clearly define its purpose, so you and the other stakeholders are clear about what you want to achieve. Once you’ve laid out your goals, you’ll be
Once your data is accessible, visually appealing,
able to more clearly understand who needs to be involved,
customizable, and timely, you’re ready to complete
what questions need to be asked and what key performance
the most important part of your survey feedback
indicators you should use to monitor your survey results.
analysis journey: taking action.
2. ESTABLISH SURVEY RESPONSIBILITIES WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION Now it’s time to delegate survey responsibilities. The most sophisticated survey reporting technology will even allow you to dole out different data access levels to different people. Your survey program manager should be responsible for generating reports and feedback analysis, but department heads and executives should be able to frequently access results, so they can get in front of potential problems related to customers, employees, or event attendees, depending on what kind of feedback you’re collecting. For example, if you’re looking to analyze customer satisfaction, you should have an action plan in place in you receive feedback from an irate customer. Make sure you have an action plan in place to address your displeased customer and your customer service representative who is underperforming.
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3. MAKE A SCHEDULE FOR MONITORING FEEDBACK
4. ACT QUICKLY AND DECISIVELY
Advanced survey reporting technology will give you the ability
The advantage of easily digestible survey data is to aid your
to set up and send automatic email alerts to notify people within
organization in making important decisions quickly and confidently.
your organization when new data is published, but you should
Here are examples of how smart reporting with easy-to-use
still have a schedule set up to track your feedback. Aside from
dashboards can work to your advantage no matter what kind of
examining the data once your survey has ended, someone should
feedback you’re collecting.
monitor it every day to look out for extremely negative responses (so some follow-up with the respondent) and to make sure response rates are on track. If you notice a slowdown, you can send another reminder.
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VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Be able to say your organization is customer centric and mean it.
Streamline training assessments, evaluations, testing and feedback
Track and view feedback in real time, monitor customer service
throughout the training lifecycle to eliminate program gaps, align
quality and understand what it takes to win your customers’
organizational goals and drive high performance training programs.
loyalty. Collecting customer insights will help you improve the
Get instant testing and training results that show how students and
customer experience and resolve customer issues quickly.
employees are retaining and understanding instructional programs.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
EVENT FEEDBACK
Identify key drivers of employee engagement, so you can make
Exceed attendee expectations by understanding their wants,
organizational changes and monitor the relationship between
needs, and how to improve upon the event experience in
engagement and business performance metrics that reduce
the future. By collecting feedback on topics such as, event
operational costs and increase your bottom line. Glean real-time
programming, keynotes, sessions, location and other logistics
employee feedback stats that drive communication and change.
you can find out what’s resonating with attendees. This will help you increase attendance, generate more revenue and keep attendees engaged throughout the event lifecycle.
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DATA THAT DOES SOMETHING There are a lot of uses for surveys, but their objectives are all the same: to provide firsthand insights that aid smarter decision making. This means that it’s not enough to simply collect an abundance of accurate data—it has to be understood to be insightful. Remember, when assessing your own feedback analysis process, make sure your data is centrally accessible, visually appealing, easily customizable and instantly refreshable. If it’s not, it’s time to seek a new solution for your reporting and dashboard technology.
PORTALS AND DASHBOARDS: YOUR MISSION CONTROL Inquisium’s Portals & Dashboards provide users with a private website where their organizations’ survey stakeholders can log into to view survey results in a visually appealing, easy-tounderstand manner. Our live, customizable dashboards include a variety of widgets that can be hand selected, so users get a personalized view of the data analysis that matters most to them.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, SIGN UP FOR A DEMO TODAY!
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ABOUT INQUISIUM Inquisium helps businesses of all sizes, across all industries create compelling feedback programs that glean actionable insights. With our easy-to-use feedback management platform and specialized survey expertise, our customers are able to better understand the world around them. At Inquisium, we understand human connection like few other organizations--and since people are at the core of every data point, we have a big advantage over traditional survey companies. We're actually a division of Cvent, a comprehensive event management platform. In addition to the many ways organizations use Inquisium, Cvent's customers rely on our survey technology to help them collect feedback before, during, and after their events.
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