Qualtrics Blog

Qualtrics users have found many different ways to use our software. The Orlando Magic piloted a new use when they started putting data into Qualtrics during their games via iPod Touches. They had representatives wander the arena and ask guests about their experience (the mascot, in-game music, etc.). This information was available to managers to make in-game changes and improve the experience of their clients.

Since then, many organizations have used our on-the-ground capabilities to gather competitive intelligence, improve events, and collect other information. This capability comes standard with Qualtrics and is available to all users. Contact your account representative if you need any help implementing it.

Qualtrics offers a polling tool as part of its research suite. Since a poll is a simple multiple choice question (either single or multiple choice), the interface is quite intuitive. Editing the question, including its look and feel, is done in the toolbar to the right. Here you can also view the results as respondents access the poll.

When you are ready to put your poll up on your web page, click the green "Add This Poll to Your Website" button. This will provide javascript for you to put in the site's html, and the poll will be displayed.

A tip regarding polls. If you need to set up a link to a poll, but don't have a site to place the poll on, you can grab the poll's URL out of the javascript and go directly to the poll via its direct URL.

Also, if you know someone that needs a poll but does not have a Qualtrics account, send them to Pollmo.com. This is a site sponsored by Qualtrics. There are some small differences in the interface, but people can create great looking polls without giving out any information.

Working at a survey software company is quite interesting. At Qualtrics we frequently use our own product. If we want to know anything, we send out a survey. If the developers want to know which potential new features are most requested, they send out a survey. If the design team wants to know which colors work best in the look and feel options, they send out a survey. If we want to know who will be playing in the company basketball tournament, we send out a survey. We use our surveys to collect feedback from our website, invoice requests from our sales reps, and even as a training tool in which our new hires answer mock emails.

You can use Qualtrics survey software to collect almost any kind of data. Be creative and you will find many uses for your organization.

When creating an advertising survey, the researcher will focus on the comprehension, effectiveness and results of the ad message.  Ads involve five key messaging elements.  These are Who (Spokesperson), Says What (Advertising Message), To Whom (Target Audience), How (Which Media Channel), With What Effect (Desired Outcome).

When any advertising research is conducted we must have in mind the "advertising effect" or desired outcome.  If we can determine the effect, the other four questions can be easily answered.

When creating a survey to measure the effectiveness of an advertisement, a series of ad components are evaluated. The following are a sampling of items from different advertising evaluations based on a hierarchy of values approach.

Communicated Messages About Product – Service Attributes

What attributes or features does this ad communicate?

*           Taste: This drink has great taste
*           Energy: This drink provides an energy boost
*           Reliability: This computer is reliable and trouble free
*           Features: This computer has the features I’m looking for in a laptop
*           Cost: This computer is less expensive than most major brands
*           Style: This coat is attractive and stylish

Communicated Benefits
What benefits does this ad communicate?

*           Comfort: This car is comfortable to ride in
*           Value: This car is a good value for the money
*           Origin: This car is superior to most imports
*           Quality: This car is a quality vehicle

Personal Values
What personal values does this ad communicate?
This ad reminds me that…

*           Need Fulfillment: This car will meet my driving needs
*           Caring: This company cares about my needs
*           Trust: I can trust the car I drive
*           Understanding: The company understands the needs of this car’s buyers

Higher Order Values
Higher order values are the over arching values that drive behavior and give meaning to life.  Products and services are more likely to be purchased if they are consistent with these values.  Measures of these values should be included in advertising studies.

This ad brings to mind…

*           Accomplishment: The good feelings of personal accomplishment
*           Peace of Mind: The good feeling of having peace of mind
*           Personal Satisfaction: The good feeling about myself and what I do
*           Security: The good feeling of personal security and well being

Ad Effectiveness
Behavioral and attitudinal goals will vary by ad and include such factors as:

*           Realism: This ad shows a realistic view of President Bush
*           Entertaining: This ad is entertaining to watch
*           Relevance: This ad provides relevant information about the products
*           Ad Reinforcement: This ad reinforces positive feelings about this product
*           Information: This ad makes me want to learn more about this product
*           Purchase: This ad makes me more likely to purchase this product
*           Attention: This ad really holds my attention

These items are often measured using a Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree scale.

Employee job satisfaction surveys allow an organization's management to better understand their employees. Employees often act on the basis of their environment, the behavior of their colleagues, and management policies. Management must be aware of employees' attitudes, opinions and satisfaction. The following are critical and meaningful measures of employee satisfaction that lead to important predictions of success for many businesses.

Employee satisfaction and retention surveys can give management knowledge and tools that directly impact the bottom line and business outcome; these tools also help to build positive employee relations and a positive work environment.  Employee satisfaction and management surveys lead to understanding the drivers within your organization and result in:

• identifying cost-saving opportunities
• improving productivity
• predicting and explaining turnover
• reducing absenteeism
• identifying areas of ethics, honesty and value concerns
• strengthening management skills and training
• evaluating customer-service problem areas and issues
• identifying training needs
• identifying communication bottlenecks and problem areas
• benchmarking your organization's perceived progress relative to competitors in the industry
• gauging employees' understanding of and agreement with corporate rules, policies and mission

Employee satisfaction and retention surveys should consider the following key aspects of employee satisfaction:

• overall job satisfaction
• satisfaction with the work
• coworker performance/cooperation
• pay satisfaction
• benefits satisfaction
• promotions/career advancement
• supervisory consideration
• supervisory promotion of teamwork and participation
• supervisory instruction/guidance
• communication
• human resources/personnel policies
• concern for employees
• productivity/efficiency
• training & development
• physical working conditions
• customer service
• strategy/mission
• job stress
• other job options and comparative information

Additional topics of current importance to your organization should also be considered during the evaluation period.  These topics might include the need for or prioritizing of resources, specific issues related to a physical or organizational work environment, interpersonal relationships and co-worker support, mentoring and training needs, and the development, measurement and recognition of successes.

Employee exit interviews are an important part of HR management and monitoring employee retention and satisfaction. Just as it is important to hold a sales interview to find out why you did not get an account, it is important to understand why an employee leaves and what information you can use to avoid future employee losses.

Avoidable losses result from employee job dissatisfaction, poor management practices, the lack of advancement opportunity, and sometimes personal harassment by or conflict with a co-worker or manager. A recent employee retention survey suggests that nearly 70% of employees leave their jobs because they do not feel valued!

Another purpose is to help employers avoid litigation down the road, caused by illegal activities or by "disgruntled" employees.

Employee exit interviews can change the climate of the organization by changing management style, making changes that reflect employee opinions, and creating value recognition programs where needed. One key to increasing the employee’s opinion of the organization is in the management of expectations. Realistic job expectations are important and management should focus on creation of proper expectations.

Employee exit interviews provide a window to view and benchmark employee expectations regarding:

· Job responsibilities and performance
· Employee job orientation and training
· Mentoring programs
· Working conditions
· Opportunities for skill development career advancement
· Training and development programs
· Supervision and Management
· Work Satisfaction
· Workload Distribution and Schedule Flexibility
· Salary
· Benefits
· Organizational Culture
· Organizational and Work Group Communication

Employee exit interviews should focus on retention by identifying the reason the employee is leaving and also determine if the company’s level of performance or the employees’ unfulfilled expectations are at issue. Just as consumer retention views fulfillment from products or services as “delightful” or as a “failure”, employment environments similarly delight or fail.

Failing environments with low levels of employee retention reflect low levels of job satisfaction and come at a great cost to the organization. Not only is it expensive to hire and then train new employees, but can have a negative impact on productivity and morale.

360 degree employee feedback is different from traditional annual performance assessments in that it provides performance feedback from an employee’s supervisor, peers, reporting staff members, co-workers and customers.

The employee will often be given the opportunity to respond through a self assessment. 360 degree feedback provides the employee with a view of his or her effectiveness as an employee, co-worker, or staff member.

Feedback should be based on viewable skills and behaviors desired in the organization to accomplish the mission, vision, and goals. For consumer-oriented employees, the feedback should focus on skills and behaviors related to customer expectations.

Those who provide feedback generally interact routinely with the employee receiving feedback.

The benefit of 360 degree employee feedback is the deep identification of strengths, weaknesses, mentoring insights and areas needing professional development.

360 degree feedback provides many positive outcomes, including:

• Improved Feedback From More Sources: Traditional performance metrics take into account only the employee and the manager, however 360 degree feedback includes peers, reporting staff, co-workers, supervisors, and even clients.  It is important to understand how all these parties view the employee and rate his or her effectiveness.

• Team Development: What can the employee do to work more effectively with co-workers?  Team members can provide this feedback and help the employee to be more accountable to the team for their communication and performance.

• Organizational Needs Assessment: 360 degree feedback helps the company understand the need for personal and organizational development.

• Mentoring Needs Assessment: What does the employee need to do to enhance his or her career? Career and personal development information are provided by peers and supervisors.

• Supervisor Risk Control: Feedback from a broad number of individuals in a variety of interfacing positions can help manage problem employees, as well as help minimize discrimination based on race, age and gender.

• Training Needs Assessment: Aggregation of employee and rater information provides an encompassing view of the organization's training needs. Training priorities, scheduling of classes and performance goals can be clearly identified and measured.

• Interpersonal Skills Assessment: Frontline employees often struggle to balance the needs of the customer and the needs of the company. Employees need the valuable feedback about the quality of service they provide and how they can improve their reliability, promptness, and quality of their services.

360 degree feedback processes are not, however without problems. The following are identified as points of caution and concern.

• Managing Expectations of a Magic Bullet: 360 degree feedback is exactly that… a feedback system. To be utilized correctly, it must be integrated into a complete performance management system.

• Building the Process: 360 degree feedback must be based on those performance goals important to the organization.  The strategic goals of the organization must be translated into job performance measures that include competencies, descriptions and duties.  These competencies must be measured as part of the 360 feedback and tracked as part of the organization's growth process.

• Evaluation and Supervisor Training: Individuals who provide feedback need training about how to provide constructive feedback. Feedback must be detailed, constructive and actionable so that appropriate actions can be taken by the employee. Additionally, the supervisor must be capable of understanding the feedback so that clarification can be given. Supervisors, HR staff, and other critical managers must assist the employee to understand and develop action plans based upon the feedback.

• Focus on Strengths: Great managers focus on employee strengths, not weaknesses. The key to growing valuable employees through feedback is to chip off a few rough corners and then help them do what they do best.

• Avoid Data Overload: Multi-rater feedback in the form of 360 degree feedback systems must be well organized so that feedback is easily collected and accessed so as to save time and increase the quality of the process.

360 feedback surveys can promote employee growth and development in a supportive organizational environment. When properly used, 360 degree feedback increases positive, powerful problem solving skills and environments and helps to develop more efficient and productive employees.

Employee attitudes, burnout tendencies, passion factors, loyalty, workplace climate, and competitive intelligence are all key indicators of employee satisfaction, retention and productivity.

Qualtrics employee tracking will increase employee satisfaction and reduce employee turnover, thereby strengthening your organization.  Many companies waste their organization’s HR training and mentoring efforts because employees are dissatisfied and leave.  Employee satisfaction can be identified, tracked and improved with timely and accurate survey information.

Key Measures in an Employee Satisfaction Survey

The frontline employee is where company meets the customer. The front line is critical to your business. From the customer’s perspective, your frontline employees are your business. Your organization depends on their service quality, productivity and passion to meet the needs of your customers.

Employee satisfaction surveys help your frontline employees to come together to achieve productivity goals and to provide high-quality customer service and help your company achieve excellence.

Employee satisfaction measures will help craft effective people strategies using our powerful and unique management tools to track indicators of quality, dissatisfaction and customer turnover, and precede actual employee decisions by months.

Find Out How to Measure Employee Satisfaction

By conducting an employee satisfaction survey with Qualtrics, you'll gain valuable information from the people most important in your organization — and fast. The Qualtrics do-it-yourself online survey tools are supported by experts in the survey and HR industry.  Our experts will help you determine how to best measure employee satisfaction and answer questions like:

* What percentage of your employees is happy in their current positions?
* What job related issues are most on the mind of your employees today?
* What changes are most needed to improve morale in your organization?