When you need to compare measurements over time or across business units, you need to conduct quantitative research. This usually means a survey. We can do it all for you or work with your in-house research department to provide help in developing the right questions and helping develop recommendations based on our detailed analysis.
The types of surveys we can help you with include:
- Communication audits assessing the effectiveness of messages and channels.
- Readership or viewership surveys for publications and electronic communications.
- Knowledge tests.
- Pre- and post-tests to assess the effectiveness of a communication intervention.
- Climate or attitude surveys addressing all aspects of the employment experience.
- Benefits and compensation surveys.
- Customized surveys.
How We’re Different
- Our questions focus on effectiveness, not just satisfaction.
- Our survey findings lead directly to actionable results.
- Our reports are written in plain English; they’re concise and incisive.
- Our reports are highly visual, suitable for sharing directly with executives and employees.
Sample Projects: Surveys
Communication Audit Surveys
With the wealth of actionable data each survey provides, it’s hard to pick just one to showcase. Here is a sampling of the different types of information a number of clients learned from their communication audit surveys:
- About one-fourth of operational employees in one company said they had no access to required safety meetings. We were able to identify which facilities were not conducting them; the client is now matching that list with the facilities having the worst safety records.
- On the topic of another company’s new strategy, the single most preferred source of information for its employees was senior management. However, the survey also showed that just under 50% of them felt that they themselves understood the strategy, leaving them ill-prepared to conduct that communication without additional preparation.
- In a high-tech company where all employees have access to the intranet and email from their own computers, over 40% of employees reported wanting more information from print sources than is currently available.
Knowledge Test Survey
We developed a 25-question knowledge test on one company’s retirement benefits and investment education principles. It has been placed online, and each month several hundred employees are randomly invited to visit the site. At the end of the test, respondents can view their results and see how well they did. Over an 18-month period, the company is providing a variety of educational communications about these topics and will track improvements in knowledge after each “flight” of communications.
Project Effectiveness Surveys
A communication department set up along PR-agency lines used to measure its effectiveness in terms of informal feedback. We developed a post-project customer satisfaction form for them to identify what parts of the consulting process are working well and which could be improved on future projects. The forms are analyzed collectively as part of the department’s annual review and are used by individual consultants as part of the planning process for projects with repeat customers.