Disconnected Listening: An EFM Case Study

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In 2003, a customer came to us reporting that web surveys had become so successful that they were now a problem!  The customer was an automotive manufacturer and had originally used Perseus SurveySolutions for conducting course-evaluation surveys.  One enterprising department then realized that they could use the software to conduct a survey of all their dealers.  This was the first emailed survey invitation sent to their dealers, and most of the dealers eagerly answered the questionnaire.  With the huge response rate, the customer was thrilled at the depth and quality of the data they gathered.

The success of that survey quickly became well known within the organization.  Many departments had needs for insights from the dealers, and web surveys became commonplace.  Some departments used Raosoft EZSurvey, some used Websurveyor or other online tools. 

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the response rates to the surveys declined, the enthusiasm of the dealers waned, and in fact dealers complained about receiving too many surveys.   Web surveys had become a victim of their own success. 

Here were the problems our customer reported:

• "We're asking more and getting less"
• Response rates to surveys are declining
• The same questions are being posed by different groups
• The results from the surveys are not being shared
• "We've lost control over timing, frequency and branding"
• No integration with the dealer information system
• "We're concerned that employees are running consumer surveys that gather data that violates our privacy policy"
• Concern about data security on low-end hosted survey systems

We later took to calling the overarching problem "disconnected listening".  Too many organizations have islands of isolated feedback, resulting in valuable information not being shared.

Based on the insights of this particular customer and others like them, we pioneered enterprise feedback management.  EFM systems solved the problems of disconnected listening for this firm:

• Centralized touch management of all dealers enabled them to start surveying random samples rather than inviting everyone to every survey, resulting in fewer surveys per dealer
• Commonly asked questions were built into dealer profiles so that they did not have to be re-asked but could be used to segment dealers
• A common workgroup provided a central virtual location for all dealer surveys, so that users could see and share other survey results before starting a new survey
• By standardizing on one system and blocking the IP addresses of low-end survey systems, the IT department eliminated its data security concerns and its concerns about privacy-policy compliance.

As a result of resolving these issues successfully, and preventing web surveys from being a victim of their own success, the auto manufacturer has renewed their annual subscription for our EFM system four times now.  Enterprise feedback management systems can transform "disconnected listening" into "connected listening".