How SurveyFish Works in Practice


This case study describes the benefits of undertaking surveys using SurveyFish.

It is based on a business. Of course, the benefits apply equally to any organisation or individual needing to take decisions based on sound evidence. This can range from a department in a large corporation; include not-for-profit organisations, through to people studying for qualifications – and anything in between.

We hope you will all find the case study helpful.

Case Study

The Problem and the Approach

A small, ambitious company was experiencing a fall in sales. It wasn’t sure why. It decided that it needed to understand more about what its customers thought about (a) its products and (b) its customer services.

It was agreed to undertake two online customer satisfaction surveys – each targeting a different group of customers. It was also decided this needed to be done as quickly as possible.

SurveyFish had already been purchased for the company’s regular staff surveys and, based on that experience; it was decided to use SurveyFish for the two new surveys.

How it Worked

Getting Ready

Having decided the aims of the surveys and identified the target audiences the next job was to prepare the email lists. The addresses needed were extracted from the company’s CRM application and imported into the SurveyFish email address book.

Then the questionnaires were prepared. Two questionnaires were selected from the Questionnaire Exchange – “Customer Service 4” and “Product Experience 2”. Using SurveyFish the questionnaires were quickly modified to meet the exact needs of the two surveys.

It proved even quicker to present the questionnaires for viewing. One of the special pre-prepared Style Templates was applied to each questionnaire – formatting them in just a few seconds. Their online presentation was then checked using the online questionnaire preview button. After some minor adjustments everything was fine.

Launching the Surveys

The company was ready to launch its surveys. But these were the first online surveys it had undertaken. Fortunately, there was no need for concern as no technical knowledge was required.

To make life as easy as possible it was decided to use the free online survey hosting service provided with SurveyFish – so there was no need to set anything up. And then all that was required was to follow the steps in the online survey wizard and click on Launch. That was it. All the invitations would be sent out.

First, the “Product Experience” survey was quickly launched. The company was then able to immediately launch its “Customer Service” survey without needing to wait for the “Product Experience” survey to be finished. In fact, if it wished, it could run up to ten online surveys at the same time.

Collecting the Data

As customers completed their questionnaires all the survey data was returned to the SurveyFish database on the PC – so no-one needed to enter the data manually.
SurveyFish automatically created a list of people who hadn’t responded to each of the two surveys. It could be seen in an instant who hadn’t replied and reminders were quickly sent. That meant that after only three weeks the company had met its target for the number of replies it wanted.

Managing the Results

So after just three weeks the company was ready to look at the data that had been collected.

It could now be seen which issues motivated customers to buy particular products and how satisfied they were with particular aspects of those products – such as design, ease of use and performance.

It could also be seen how satisfied customers were with the service they were receiving from the customer service department. For example, how easy it was to contact a representative, how well problems were actually resolved.

And all issues in both surveys could be studied by customer profile, e.g. age, gender, income group, etc.

Taking Action

The result was the company was able to accurately identify key areas of improvement. SurveyFish was then used to prepare an action plan that ensured those areas of improvement were efficiently and effectively addressed.

Over the following months the company was delighted to see the decline in sales reversed and a return to the rate of growth it had previously enjoyed.

Keeping it Going

Now it was back on track the company realised the value of the surveys it had undertaken and decided they should be repeated every three months.

Thereafter, the company was able to spot changes and trends in customer satisfaction – and respond to them quickly.

The last that was heard things were going very well for them.

Would you like to try SurveyFish for yourself?

Click SurveyFish to download the free 30-day trial

Would you like more information?

Click Product Features for a list of the main SurveyFish features
Click Online Surveys for more information about online surveys
Click Quick Demonstrations to view short demonstrations of key features
Click Prices for information about prices.