Surveys play a critical role in validating your benefits communication strategy, whether it’s aligning company spend with employee priorities, benchmarking overall employee satisfaction, or capturing open-ended feedback.
So, how do you maximize the impact of your benefits survey? Here are three recommendations to take your upcoming benefits survey to the next level.
1) Discover your employees’ communication preferences
Everyone likes to consume information differently. That’s why we always recommend a strategic benefits campaign that shares your message in a variety of ways. Getting your team’s feedback after your campaign will point you in the right direction for future communications decisions.
Whether your employees prefer email communications, a comprehensive benefits guide, or live information sessions, you’ll find out which communication pieces delivered. Plus, when you leverage the appropriate communications channel, you’ll likely find that satisfaction levels increase simply because your employees understand what’s offered.
Tip: Include a survey link in your communications deliverables for instant feedback.
2) Use word clouds and sentiment analysis to summarize open-ended questions
Open-ended questions invite employees to share their thoughts and perspective. The answers you receive will give you an intimate look into your benefits program’s end-user experience and provide an avenue for feedback that is not limited to yes or no answers.
Distilling those responses into high-level takeaways will give you usable data to improve your employees’ benefits experience and uncover any blind spots. There are two strategies to maximize impact:
- A word cloud is a great way to spot recurring keywords. If you missed something in your survey, you will likely find it referenced here.
- Sentiment analysis groups comments by their shared sentiment or common word choices. You can then look at a heat map to learn your populations’ overall feelings or review sentiment-based groups to spot trends, as shown here:
3) Package your survey results with great design and share them with your employees
If you took the time to ask, and they took the time to answer, now’s the time to package that feedback up and distribute it company-wide. Sharing the results shows that leadership cares about employees’ opinions. Giving survey results is also an opportunity to show your employees how their priorities compare to their peers. The education here goes both ways.
Tip: Provide your survey participants with a 2–4-page summary and results newsletter designed to match your branding and benefits campaign.
The takeaway
A one-time survey is a great start, but it’s only the beginning. Establish your benchmarks and commit to ongoing measurement throughout the year. Our recommendation is a bi-annual survey to make sure you’re on the right track.
Whatever cadence you choose, the key is to commit to a cycle and then make use of the data.
Let CPI help you achieve survey greatness
Looking for a superior survey experience for your company with shareable results?
CPI can work with your team to determine your goals and develop a winning strategy. We’ll create the initial questions in various formats, add question logic, info buttons, and survey intro and exit verbiage. Your survey will even include your branding and logo.
From there, we can provide you a link to share with your employees on your intranet or microsite, create a QR code for your benefits guide, or you can give us an email list and we’ll send it on your behalf.
Ready to get started? Contact us today.